FilHERmonia

At the age of six she performed live on Dutch public television at the Kinderprinsengrachtconcert 2007 in Amsterdam. A year later she made her debut in the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam at the Night of the Promising concert. In September 2016 she became an exclusive recording artist for Warner Classics.

Aleksandra Melaniuk is one of the most promising young conductors in Europe – a fellow of the prestigious Negaunee Conducting Program at the San Francisco Symphony and the Colburn School. She has appeared with leading orchestras such as the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and has worked with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Together, these two outstanding artists will perform Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 – by far his best-known work and a cornerstone of the Romantic violin repertoire. The concerto matured in stages: the first complete version was performed in 1865, but the composer was not satisfied with it. After thorough revisions he consulted Joseph Joachim, who accepted the dedication and gave the premiere of the final version in Bremen in 1867.

Formally the concerto has three movements, but the first is an introduction (Vorspiel) that flows into the rest of the work almost without a pause. This is what sets Bruch apart from the more classical model of the concerto: instead of a broad sonata-form opening, we are plunged straight into dramatic musical material. The middle movement is one of the most beautiful Romantic cantilenas, and the finale draws its energy from dance rhythms and lively motion.

In the second half we will hear the Symphony in C minor by Felix Mendelssohn, written in 1824 when he was just 15. It was his first symphony for full orchestra, preceded by his string symphonies. It was first performed publicly in Leipzig on 1 February 1827. Nineteen days later, the young composer and pianist gave his first public performance in Szczecin, which included the world premiere of his overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream. The 200th anniversary of this event – the most important in our city's musical history – falls in a few months.