| Víkingur Ólafsson | Piano |
| Berliner Philharmoniker | |
| Kirill Petrenko | Direction |
The first of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s two Proms this season comprises a pair of musical love letters. One is to a person: Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto was written for his wife Clara (whose own concerto is performed on the First Night). It’s a work whose supple and sensual music offers touching insights into one of the most passionate musical romances of the 19th century. The other was written to a country. In Má vlast Bedřich Smetana – one of this year’s Czech anniversary composers, born 200 years ago – transferred all his love for his Bohemian homeland into a majestic sequence of six symphonic poems: pictures of his country’s landscape and history. With the exceptional pianist Víkingur Ólafsson for company, Kirill Petrenko conducts his illustrious orchestra in music that comes straight from the heart.
Seats from £26 to £80 (plus booking fee). On sale 18 May
Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3