KONCERT NOWOROCZNY

PROGRAMME

BENJAMN BRITTEN, WILLIAM WALTON, EDWARD ELGAR, GRAŻYNA BACEWICZ, EDVARDGRIEG

PERFORMERS

Conductor YOEL GAMZOU
Soprano SOPHIE BEVAN
Baritone TOMASZ KUMIĘGA
Piano BENJAMIN GROSVENOR

Chorus and Orchestra of the Polish National Opera 

The end and beginning of the year have a special energy in the world of music. It is a time of rituals, excitement, and programmes put together with panache. The New Year concerts at Vienna’s Musikverein attract audiences with their long-established tradition: listeners know when to clap in time to Johann Strauss I’s Radetzky March and when to let themselves be carried away by the undulating melody of Johann Strauss II’s The Blue Danube. London’s Last Night of the Proms wows with its dazzling repertoire and Edward Elgar’s ever-present Land of Hope and Glory. Season finales, on the other hand, tend to be a showcase of the entire ensemble’s prowess – a moment when institutions turn to a repertoire that is particularly spectacular and engaging.

What would it be like to bring together the energy of these three musical traditions in a single evening? Yoel Gamzou, together with his special guests, will attempt to answer this question. In the spirit of the BBC Proms, the programme will be dominated by masterpieces of English composers: Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra Op. 34 and Les Illuminations Op. 18; Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance; William Walton’s Crown Imperial; and even Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

The highlight of the season’s grand finale will be Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 16, performed by Benjamin Grosvenor, a regular guest at the BBC Proms and winner of the 2020 Diapason d’Or de l’année for his recording of Fryderyk Chopin’s piano concertos. A local touch, and a nod to the distinctly ‘urban’ character of Vienna’s New Year’s concerts, will be provided by Grażyna Bacewicz’s Overture for Orchestra.

The conductor will also be joined on stage by two singers. Soprano Sophie Bevan knows the atmosphere of London’s Royal Albert Hall through and through. In 2024 she performed at the first evening concert of the BBC Proms. On New Year’s Eve she will appear in Warsaw alongside baritone Tomasz Kumięga, who is well-known to the Wielki’s audiences.

It promises to be an evening full of glamour, energy, hope, and glory – or rather, two evenings, as the programme will also return for the New Year’s concert.