Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala & Riccardo Chailly

In Milan stands a magnificent, beautiful building: Teatro alla Scala. And within it plays a magnificent, beautiful orchestra: the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala. Over the past forty years, it has been led by conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, Carlo Maria Giulini, Riccardo Muti, and Daniel Barenboim. Now, this renowned orchestra is coming to Eindhoven! Riccardo Chailly, former chief conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, will conduct Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, his most dramatic and personal symphony. Alexandre Kantorow will perform Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, his most beloved and sparkling work. Kantorow became the first Frenchman to win the first prize and the Gold Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2019, at the age of just 22—an achievement that had been accomplished only three times before.

Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony is deeply personal. He dedicated it to his patron and dearest friend, Madame von Meck, calling it “an echo of your innermost thoughts and feelings.” The powerful first movement describes life as “an unbroken interaction between harsh reality and fleeting dreams and visions of happiness.” The lively scherzo, played pizzicato by the strings, is lighthearted, while the finale is exuberant. In his Third Piano Concerto, the young Prokofiev showed exactly what he excelled at: driving rhythms, irony, humor, and melodies that stick with you long after.

Program