The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra will be reuniting with British conductor Wayne Marshall today for a concert in Gozo.
The orchestra will also be joined by Armenian cello virtuoso Narek Hakhnazaryan, who won the gold medal for cello performance at the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2011.
Together with the MPO, he will be performing Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, a work for cello and orchestra which is a clear showcase of the Russian composer’s fondness for the classical music which preceded him, particularly that of Mozart.
The concert will also feature works by two other Russian composers, opening with Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, a work the composer wrote in three days to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution.
The orchestra will also be performing Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony, which the composer had written while he was living in Dresden, Germany. The composer had gone through a deep depression after his First Symphony faced a disastrous premiere. Therapy got him back on track, but it was the successful Second Symphony which helped him regain confidence as a symphonist.
The concert, being held today at the Astra Theatre in Victoria, starts at 8pm. Tickets may be purchased online at www.showshappening.com.