Dedicated to Živojin Zdravković

Identified with the Belgrade Philharmonic’s golden age, Živojin Zdravković served as its Artistic Director and Chief Conductor from 1961 to 1978. Renowned for his volcanic energy – as described by the great composer Olivier Messiaen – Zdravković led the orchestra on more than twenty tours across fourteen countries, including Great Britain, Norway, Mexico, and Cuba.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold displayed an extraordinary musical gift from the earliest age. While still a child, this prodigy’s ballets were being performed at the Vienna Court Opera in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph I; and at just 19, he composed the music for Shakespeare’s drama Much Ado About Nothing. The vivid, evocative score reveals Korngold’s fascination with the operettas and waltzes of Johann Strauss, while also foreshadowing the distinctive style with which he would later set the standards for film music in Hollywood.

Clara-Jumi Kang also embarked on her performing career at an exceptionally young age. She gave her first concert with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra at the age of just five, and received a full scholarship to Juilliard at seven. Today, she ranks among the world’s most sought-after violinists. Playing a 1707 Stradivarius, she performs one of the most exquisite concertos ever written for the instrument – Samuel Barber’s Op. 14.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s most celebrated masterpiece, the fateful Symphony No. 5 brings the evening to a powerful close under the baton of the rising young conductor Elias Grandy, newly appointed Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Prague Symphony Orchestra, as well as Chief Conductor of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra.