A new debut: on February Friday 23dr and Saturday 24th, maestro Min Chung  will lead the Maggio Orchestra and Chorus, for a concert in the Zubin Mehta hall. 

“Being for the first time, in the course of my career, on the podium of the Teatro del Maggio leading a Such a prestigious orchestra is truly a great emotion and a great honor. I am also happy for the work we are doing together with Danbi Lee of the Accademia del Maggio, protagonist during Brahms' Rhapsody; he is truly a talent of great perspective. It is also the first time I have tackled the two compositions by Johannes Brahms; coming into contact with them, they were a real discovery for me, their study allowed me to appreciate them greatly and be fascinated by them. The concerts then close with Felix Mendelssohn's Scottish: this composition has always struck me."

Therefore, opening the evening is Rhapsody n. 53 for contralto, male choir and orchestra by Johannes Brahms, written in 1869 following the marriage of Julia, one of the daughters of Robert and Clara Schumann: the content of the piece is based on a fragment of the Harzreise im Winter (Winter Journey to the Harz) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe's text also had an autobiographical and above all existential content, in which Brahms was fully reflected.

Another composition by Brahms follows the first piece of the night, the Gesang der Parzen (Song of the Fates) op. 89, composed by the author around the middle of 1882: also in this case the literary source was a work by Goethe, namely the verses that close the fourth act of Iphigenia in Tauris, and Brahms was probably inspired by the admiration he had for dramatic actress Charlotte Welter, a great protagonist of Goethe's drama.

The show ends with one of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's best-known compositions, Symphony no. 3 in A minor op. 56, the famous Scottish: it was inspired while Mendelssohn was in Scotland during a trip but it was completed over ten years later, at the dawn of 1841, it was dedicated to Queen Victoria and was presented to the public for the first time in Leipzig in March 1842.

Johannes Brahms
Alto Rhapsody for alto, male chorus and orchestra, Op. 53
Gesang der Parzen (Song of the Fates) Op. 89

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, MWV N 18, Scottish

The concert on the 24th February, 2024, will be broadcast live on Rai Radio 3