Vienna Symphony / Kremer / Chan

Performers:

Vienna Symphony
Gidon Kremer, violin
Elim Chan, conductor

Musical fairy tales
Elim Chan, currently one of the most sought-after conductors, is Artistic Partner of the Wiener Symphoniker in the 2026/27 season. She was Chief Conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra from 2019 to 2024 and Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra from 2018 to 2023, and in 2025 she conducted the legendary »Last Night of the Proms«. Now she is making her debut at the Wiener Konzerthaus with a fairytale concert.

Prince Charming
She has put together excerpts from Sergei Prokofiev\'s ballet (op. 87) and Suite No. 1 (op. 107) »Aschenbrödel«. Only a few movements have been performed at the Wiener Konzerthaus to date. The story of the girl ostracised by her stepsisters who finds her prince through a shoe lost at the ball is one of the most famous in the world. Prokofiev\'s colourful music, which is both romantic and humorous and whimsical, fits the fairy tale perfectly. Sofia Gubaidulina\'s »Fairytale poem«, a short orchestral piece about a chalk that dreams of drawing marvellous castles and gardens, joins this compilation at the beginning.

Gidon Kremer, Sofia Gubaidulina and Alfred Schnittke
Gidon Kremer is one of the artists who particularly promoted the career of the composer Gubaidulina, who had emigrated from the Soviet Union. Born in Riga and living in Germany, the internationally successful violinist was also committed to the work of the Volga German Alfred Schnittke, with whom he was also friends. The composer, who died in 1998, deliberately juxtaposes different styles, baroque sounds alongside modern expressivity –, as in his fourth Violin Concerto No. 4, which Kremer premiered in Berlin in 1984.

programa

Sofia Gubaidulina

Fairytale poem (1971)

Alfred Schnittke

Konzert für Violine und Orchester Nr. 4 (1984)

- Pause -

Sergej Prokofjew

Auszüge aus dem Ballett »Aschenbrödel« op. 87 und der Suite Nr. 1 aus »Aschenbrödel« op. 107 (Zusammenstellung: Elim Chan)