Repertoire

Antonín Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 (1895) 40′

ARTISTS

Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC
Narek Hakhnazaryan, cello
Jan Willem de Vriend, conductor

Programme

Before the concert, Jordi Oriol and the Indi Gest company will introduce the work by means of a dramatised presentation explaining its context, in a free, creative format.

Jan Willem de Vriend, a former principal guest conductor of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, returns to lead the orchestra’s performance of a work that changed the history of the instrument: Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto.

Dvořák had always felt that the cello was not a suitable instrument for a concerto and refused to compose one. Finally, on the insistence of cellist friends, and having heard a great soloist perform in the United States, the composer changed his mind and wrote what is recognised as one of the greatest cello concertos of all time. This concerto also alerted many other composers to the cello’s potential and it has become an established solo instrument.