SZOLNOK SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Some 90 kilometres south-east of Budapest, in the heart of the Hungarian lowlands, lies the town of Szolnok, the district’s administrative centre. The town is also noted for its symphony orchestra, which can trace its roots back to the events held in 1927 to mark the centenary of Beethoven’s death. So it is highly appropriate for our concert in Vienna to feature a classical piece such as Mozart’s Second Concerto for Flute. For a more contemporary work, we hear Alexey Shor’s First Piano Concerto. Born in Kiev in 1970, Shor emigrated to Israel, but nowadays lives mostly in the USA; which is where Dvořák composed the final programme item, the symphony which became one of his most famous works and bore the subtitle “From the New World”.