Haitink and the Mozart Orchestra go out with a bang in Lugano

It is always a risk and a pleasure to programme some of the most well known works in the classical repertoire, and Italy’s Orchestra Mozart, joined by young Venezuelan conductor Diego Matheuz and pianist Maria João Pires, had some of the favourites on show in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Thursday evening.They opened the concert with the effervescent overture to Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro.

It was only through a litany of roster changes that the Orchestra Mozart’s London debut at the Royal Festival Hall took place at all. Beginning with Claudio Abbado and Martha Argerich down to play Haydn and Mozart, a dual cancellation meant Bernard Haitink and Maria João Pires had to step in at what may as well have been the last minute.

An emotional night in London as Bernard Haitink says farewell to London with grand and searching performances of Bruckner and Beethoven, with the distinguished Emanuel Ax in tow.

A concert repertoire played by the fine Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Haitink conducting, was a promising alliance for the last concert of this year’s Easter festival in Lucerne.

A wonderful evening of unforced, smiling music-making from Bernard Haitink, Isabelle Faust and the London Symphony Orchestra. 

Bernard Haitink conducts an extraordinary account of Bruckner's Fourth Symphony.