‘Belgian National Orchestra, Schønwandt & Khachatryan’

Audience favourite Sergey Khachatryan, winner of the 2005 Queen Elisabeth Competition, returns to Belgium for a performance of Max Bruch's famous First Violin Concerto.

The Tatar-born Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina, now 92, grew up under Stalin, received an encouraging speech from Shostakovich at her composition final exam in Moscow and has been living as a kind of hermit near Hamburg since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The title of her orchestral composition Das Gastmahl während der Pest (2006) refers to Pushkin’s drama of the same name.

When Sergei Prokofiev began writing his Romeo and Juliet in 1934, he could not have known how difficult it would be to stage the ballet. As the Soviet authorities were difficult and theatres repeatedly failed him, Prokofiev decided after several years to compile the musical highlights of the more than two-hour score into three symphonic suites.