At the opening concert of Budapest Spring Festival, the Budapest Festival Orchestra will perform pieces of three iconic American composers conducted by David Robertson. Starting of with perhaps the greatest of symphonic jazz, Still Darker America by William Grant, soloing Leila Josefowicz, later to be followed by John Adams' Violin Concerto and finally Charles Ives' Symphony No 2.
“We are proud to perform the opening concert of the 42nd edition of the Budapest Spring Festival. The BFO has a lot to thank the BSF for, including its name. The BSF is one of Europe’s most prestigious all-arts festivals and it was at this festival 39 years ago where the orchestra was established”, said Orsolya Erdődy, Managing Director of BFO. The evening will start with a piece by William Grant Still, the “doyen of Afro-American composers” and an iconic figure of symphonic jazz, and continue with the Violin Concerto of John Adams, one of the greatest composers post-Steve Reich. We could hardly find more authentic performers for the latter than Leila Josefowicz. She collaborates in person with the composer and David Robertson, who made three recordings from Adams’s oeuvre as the musical director of St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Following the concerto with an “endless melody”, the program will conclude with the king of musical references, the symphony of Charles Ives, displaying the most bizarre final chords in the history of music.
