Budapest Festival Orchestra & Patricia Kopatchinskaja

One of the highlights of the first of two concerts by the Budapest Festival Orchestra, led by Ivan Fischer, is the festival debut of Moldovan violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, a renowned artist described by the New York Times as “a performer of unusual expressive energy, disarming informality, and theatrical ambition,” the Grammy winner shares, “I don't know where the urge to deliver a polished performance comes from. Beethoven, in his teachings, emphasised that each note should carry significance; he was less concerned with technical challenges. I recall an observer noting that Paganini mastered all the complexities of his caprices, if not on the first try, then upon repetition. […] The risk with music lies in adopting mass production and quality control, akin to what has occurred with tomatoes in supermarkets: uniformly flawless, devoid of individuality, interest, or flavour.”

Patricia Kopatchinskaja will perform Bela Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 2. The program also features Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes and Dvorak's Symphony No. 7.