Chopin / Beethoven, G. Mengoli

Verona's ornate Teatro Filarmonico constitutes a superb venue for a couple of concerts featuring Frédéric Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 and the ever-popular Pastoral Symphony, one of Ludwig van Beethoven's true masterpieces. Audiences can expect outstanding renditions of both works with a quality orchestra under the baton of Giuseppe Mengoli, a former winner of the Mahler Competition for conducting in 2023. With two great works by such esteemed composers and an impressive conductor, these concerts offer a chance to experience some excellent music in a city known for its devotion to culture.
The programme opens with Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11. Alongside the Fondazione Arena di Verona Orchestra is the pianist Arsenii Moon who takes to the Veronese stage. Moon, a pianist who is noted for his technical abilities, was the winner of the 2023 Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition held in Bolzano. Chopin wrote this piano concerto in 1830 and performed it himself at the piano when its premiere took place at the National Theatre in Warsaw, Poland on 12 October that year. Despite the fact it was composed and premiered after his Second Piano Concerto, it is designated Piano Concerto No. 1 because it was the first one to be published. Even though the young composer was just 20 years of age when it first appeared, the work already showed off his compositional skill and mastery of piano music.
Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, popularly known as the Pastoral Symphony, is one of the most famous symphonic works of all time and a regular feature in the classical music repertoire. This work premiered on 22 December 1808 at Vienna's Theater an der Wien, during a concert that also saw the first performance of his Fifth Symphony. The German composer wrote both symphonies simultaneously but the Sixth differs in structure significantly since it has five movements. Although the final three movements of the Pastoral are typically played without a break, this marked a departure from the compositional norms of the day and suggested Beethoven wanted to push classical music into new ground. The programmatic titles for the movements express the composer's ideas with each section depicting different scenes from nature and rural life, including a dramatically orchestrated storm in the penultimate movement.
Thanks to a skilled orchestra, a highly regarded piano soloist and a renowned conductor, these concerts at the Teatro Filarmonico di Verona will impress all attendees.