Gergely Madaras conducts Brahms, Shor, and Dvořák — With Marc Bouchkov

Completed in 1879, Brahms’s Hungarian Dances are a set of 21 melodic and spirited dances, paying tribute to the traditional folk music of Hungary and imitating 19th-century compositions for two pianists. The dances were later orchestrated by Brahms and some of his colleagues (including Dvořák), and their rich, Romantic tone places them amongst the composer’s most popular works.

The festival’s Composer-in-Residence, Alexey Shor, had a relatively recent, unconventional, yet hugely successful route into classical music. A talented mathematician, Shor started out by writing music for pleasure and has now had his works performed at globally prestigious concert halls, including the Berlin Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall (New York). His Violin Concerto in B Minor is characterized by animated and expressive dialogue between the violin and orchestra, inspired by 18th- and 19th-century classical music. When discussing his compositional style, Shor stated: “My hope is that I’m writing music that is tonal, melodic, makes sense harmonically and still has something of my own voice”. The concert concludes with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, a bold and energetic piece that the composer crafted in a startling two and a half months. Written in the village of Vysoká, the symphony echoes Czech folk melodies and creates an optimistic, light-hearted atmosphere.