| Gewandhausorchester Leipzig | |
| Riccardo Chailly | Direction |
| Maria João Pires | Piano |
Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig launch their Barbican residency with Richard Strauss at his most extrovert.
Few orchestral showpieces open as thrillingly as Strauss’sDon Juan – and fewer still match the vaulting ambition of Ein Heldenleben. As the soloist in Mozart‘s 21st Piano Concerto, Chailly’s regular collaborator Maria João Pires will offer poetry amidst Strauss’s soaring orchestral peaks.
It’s a bravura opening to a residency that pairs seven of Strauss’s tone-poems with concertos by the composer Strauss revered above all others: Mozart. The Gewandhaus Orchestra has been a leading voice in the German orchestral tradition for nearly two and a half centuries; this is a rare British opportunity to hear it immerse itself in that tradition under the direction of current music director Chailly.
