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Autumn Concert 2024 - Aidan Chan plays Shostakovich Piano Concerto no.2, + Dvorak, Prokofiev, Bartok

Dvorak Overture: Carnival, Shostakovich 2nd Piano Concerto, Prokofief Suite: Lieutenant Kije, and Bartok Concerto for Orchestra

Presented by: Westminster Philharmonic Orchestra

0	LONDON: St John's Waterloo Church
P	Saturday 19th October, 2024
N	7:00pm

Event information

The WPO is very sorry to announce that Jonathan Butcher, our regular conductor, is unwell and unable to conduct this evening. The WPO is extremely grateful to Marc Dooley for agreeing to conduct tonight at short notice. We are also very pleased to welcome Aidan Chan on the Ivories aidanchanpianist.com

Theme; Farewell and the future
Bartok was forced into exile from his homeland and finding sanctuary in the US, had to adapt to an entirely new culture. His health was failing when Serge Koussevitsky commissioned a new orchestral work. The commission renewed his energy and the resulting Concerto for Orchestra was his final masterpiece, at once a beautiful and nostalgic glance at a home now lost and a boldly optimistic view into the future.
Serge Prokofiev chose to end his voluntary exile and found too late that he hadn’t made the wisest choice. Lieutenant Kije is one of his few film scores, but a highly effective skit on Tsarist Russia. Shostakovich’s 2nd Piano Concerto, written for his son Maxim, is worlds away from the grim struggle of his symphonies.