MOZART, HAYDN – BARÁTI KRISTÓF Ferencsik/4

MOZART, HAYDN – KRISTÓF BARÁTI  

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Idomeneo – Overture, K. 366 
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola in E-flat major, K. 364 
***
Joseph HAYDN: Symphony No. 28 in A major, Hob. I:28 
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Symphony No. 38 in D major (“Prague”), K. 504 

Kristóf Baráti violin
Máté Szűcs viola
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Kristóf Baráti

The outstanding violin virtuoso Kristóf Baráti was born in Budapest in 1979. Between the ages of 2 and 12 he lived in Venezuela with his musician parents, who were working in the Latin American country during that period. After returning to Hungary, he studied at the Liszt Academy under Miklós Szenthelyi and Vilmos Tátrai, and he continued his training in Paris with Eduard Wulfson from 1998. He has enjoyed great success in international competition: he won second prize at the 1996 Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris, third prize at the 1997 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, and first prize at the 2010 Paganini Competition in Moscow. A soloist and chamber musician celebrated worldwide, he performs on the “Lady Harmsworth” Stradivarius violin loaned to him by the Stradivari Foundation of Chicago. For several years now, he has also appeared regularly as a conductor. On this occasion, he will collaborate with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra in both capacities. The first two works in the programme were written by Mozart chronologically close to one another: the overture to the opera Idomeneo (K. 366), a dramatic piece from 1781, and the Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major for violin and viola (K. 364) – one of Mozart’s most profound and intimate works – composed in 1779. The lively and melodically inventive Symphony No. 28 in A major was written in 1765 by Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) at the age of 33, when he had already been in the service of the Esterházy family for four years. The concert concludes with Mozart again in the form of the triumphant and perfectly crafted Symphony in D major (K. 504), known as the “Prague” Symphony. It is one of the finest works of the composer’s symphonic output and deserves to be mentioned alongside his final three symphonies. The viola soloist for the Sinfonia Concertante is Máté Szűcs (b. 1978), one of the most distinguished living players of the instrument. Having previously occupied positions in Antwerp, Bamberg, Dresden, Frankfurt and Bremen, he served as principal viola of the Berlin Philharmonic from 2011 to 2018. He is currently professor of viola at the Geneva University of Music.