Maxim Vengerov - Violin Legend

Festival Composer-in-Residence Alexey Shor’s Seascapes, written in 2014, provides the ideal vehicle for Maxim Vengerov. The superstar violinist joins Sergey Smbatyan and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a score that has already established its place in the concerto repertoire. Guided by the composer's love for and fascination with the sea, Seascapes follows in the long tradition of music inspired by all things maritime. The four-movement concerto opens at the ‘Abandoned Lighthouse’ and unfolds to survey scenes of the ‘Lonely Sail’, the ‘Gathering Storm’ and of ‘Summer Hail’. Maestro Vengerov’s dazzling virtuosity and musicianship can also be savoured in Ravel’s romantic Tzigane. Tchaikovsky was surely right to claim that his Symphony No.6, otherwise known as the Pathétique, represented the best he had to offer as a composer. “In any case,” he wrote in August 1893, “it is the most deeply felt. And I love it as I have never loved any of my compositions.”