After their triumphant debut at the Elbphilharmonie in 2022, the newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt hailed Concertgebouworkest Young as a »five-star orchestra of young talent«. Every two years, gifted young musicians from across Europe come together to form this exceptional youth orchestra, working alongside world-class artists. This year, they take the stage with the acclaimed cellist Julia Hagen to perform Edward Elgar’s legendary Cello Concerto. Under the baton of star conductor Elim Chan, who opened the BBC Proms in 2024 and continues to enthral orchestras around the world with her infectious energy.
Elgar’s Cello Concerto, composed in the picturesque Sussex countryside, is deeply personal. Known for his grand patriotic works, Elgar instead pours out his sorrow in this work, prompted by his wife’s grave illness and the lingering grief for the victims of World War I. At the same time, his final work for orchestra stands as a grand farewell to his illustrious career as a composer.
Also on the programme is Shostakovich’s gripping Fifth Symphony, a work filled with emotion, composed under the constant fear of repression by the Stalin regime. At first glance – or upon first hearing – the music is stirring, the slow movement incredibly beautiful. And yet it is the musical subtext that has made this work so famous: anger and despair seethe beneath the final triumphant march, while sarcasm resonates throughout the ballet-like third movement.
PERFORMERS
Concertgebouworkest Young orchestra
Julia Hagen violoncello
Elim Chan conductor
PROGRAM
Elizabeth Ogonek
Moondog
Edward Elgar
Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 85
- Interval -
Dmitri Schostakowitsch
Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47
