Yuri Bashmet and the Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra

Running time 1 hour 50 minutes including one interval

The legendary Yuri Bashmet returns to Budapest after a long absence to appear on the stage of the Hungarian State Opera with the Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra, which he founded 14 years ago. The ensemble is one of Russia’s most significant institutions for nurturing young talent: musicians aged between 10 and 22, arriving from a wide range of cities across the country, are admitted through a rigorous selection process.

Over the course of its history, the orchestra has conquered some of the world’s most renowned concert halls: it has performed at the Vienna Musikverein, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Scala in Milan, and has also achieved resounding success in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. This extraordinary ensemble now makes its first appearance before the Budapest audience.

The orchestra will be conducted by its founder: Yuri Bashmet is a world-renowned soloist and a frequent guest at the world’s leading concert venues, from the Berlin Philharmonie to Carnegie Hall, and a recipient of the Sonning Award and the Grammy Award. The concert programme connects three centuries of Russian musical art. Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet – Fantasy Overture offers a dramatic Romantic interpretation. Kuzma Bodrov’s Orchestral Guide – based on a famous theme by Paganini – is a virtuoso series of variations; the composer is a professor at the Moscow Conservatory and served as a jury member of the Bartók World Competition in 2022. The evening concludes with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, one of the most frequently analysed and most powerful symphonic works of the twentieth century.

Conductor: Yuri Bashmet

Featuring: Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra