JOSEPH HAYDN Symphony No. 84 in E-flat major, Hob. I:84
THOMAS ADÈS Air (Homage to Sibelius) for violin and orchestra
BENJAMIN BRITTEN Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 68

Marie Petříková violin
Julia Hagen cello
Filharmonie Brno
conductor Dennis Russell Davies

The solo violin in Adès’s composition *Air* is filled with light and reaches for the heavens. The cello in Britten’s *Symphony* strikes a darker chord. And Haydn’s Symphony No. 84, “Papà,” keeps the world in balance.

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) spent most of his life in a dependent position as a servant on the Esterházy estates, and his contact with the outside world was rather rare. However, growing interest in his compositions among visitors to the Esterházy residences led to Haydn’s music, with the prince’s consent, being performed and published in Vienna as well, and later—thanks to closer ties between Vienna and Paris forged through the marriage of the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette to the French king Louis XVI— – in Paris as well. In 1784, the Parisian nobleman Claude-François-Marie Rigoley, Comte d’Ogny, commissioned six symphonies from Haydn for his concert society, Le Concert de la Loge Olympique. This gave rise to the cycle of so-called Paris Symphonies Nos. 82–87, which represent the first peak of Haydn’s oeuvre and, together with Mozart’s final symphonies, the culmination of the genre’s development in terms of form, composition, and musical content. They premiered to great acclaim in 1787 and were published a year later.

Principal conductor Dennis Russell Davies, one of only three conductors in the world to have recorded and released the complete set of Haydn’s 107 symphonies, has resolved, in anticipation of the upcoming major Haydn anniversary, to perform and record the entire cycle of the Paris Symphonies with “his” Filharmonie Brno. Following Symphonies Nos. 83, 86, and 87, we can look forward to Symphony No. 84 in E-flat major 71st season.

Thomas Adès, one of the most frequently performed contemporary English composers, as well as an exceptional conductor and pianist, paid tribute to the classic of Finnish music, Jean Sibelius, in his shorter opus Air. He wrote the piece for the legendary violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, who premiered it on August 27, 2022, in Lucerne under the baton of the composer.

A discussion with the artistic director and his guests will take place at 6:00 p.m. in the director’s lounge. Seating is limited; please reserve your spot at besedy@filharmonie-brno.cz by 12:00 p.m. on the Wednesday of the week the concert takes place.

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