The Hallé

The Hallé
Kahchun Wong conductor
Mariam Batsashvili piano

IFUKUBE Japanese Suite for Orchestra (19’)
LISZT Piano Concerto No.1 (19’)
Interval
BRAHMS Symphony No.1 (47’)

The Hallé and its new Principal Conductor, Kahchun Wong, in his first season taking over the reins from Mark Elder, are thrilled to be opening the Classical Sheffield Weekend festival with this programme of carefully considered firsts.

Brahms, a lifelong perfectionist, seemed convinced that he would never write a symphony, maintaining it would never measure up to the likes of Beethoven.

It is therefore understandable that Brahms dragged his feet a little, taking almost 15 years to finish his First Symphony. Following Ifukube’s Japanese Suite for Orchestra, an imaginative arrangement of the prolific Japanese film and orchestral composer’s earliest work, Piano Suite, we welcome Mariam Batsashvili.

Mariam first gained international recognition at the 2014 Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht and here she performs Liszt’s First Piano Concerto. Written over a staggering 26 years, this masterwork remains an audience favourite today.