Knowledge and understanding of the works of great classics still constitutes the foundation of musical education, so the young pianists of the State Music School Complex (ZPSM) No. 1 in Warsaw (who had won prizes in many important competitions and gained popularity with audiences during their numerous performances), as part of the next series of concerts organised with the participation of our Orchestra, will present a monographic concert devoted to the works of Ludwig van Beethoven. The concerto will open with the striking overture to his only ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus (1801).
The Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, first presented in 1808, is a work that seeks new means of expression for a classical form. The beginning of the work: which opens with a short movement by the solo piano, which is taken up when the orchestra enters in piano, heralded a concerto different from any other. The virtuoso element, although present, does not dominate this piece - the solo instrument and orchestral parts are perfectly balanced. The concise second movement has the character of a mysterious intermezzo marked by strong, emphatic contrast in the dialogue parts of the piano and the orchestra. The beginning of the finale is also unconventional - it begins with the orchestra, then followed by the solo piano taking up the lively theme of a free-flowing rondo. In the solo part will be performed by 18-year-old, Kyiv-born, Vasylisa Danylevska, who has been a student at the Marian Sawa Secondary Music School at ZPSM No. 1 in Warsaw in the piano class of Paweł Kamasa. She also has an interesting concert record, and participation in the upcoming January concert will mark her debut as a soloist performing with orchestra.
The composer began work on his Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major (aka the Emperor Concerto) in 1809, and the premiere took place in Leipzig in 1811. The then almost deaf Beethoven did not play the solo part; it was performed by Friedrich Schneider. The first listeners were amazed by the heroic, monumental character of the work. The orchestral part is even more independent than in Piano Concerto No. 4, whose treatment already heralds concertos of the Romantic and Neo-Romantic eras. The piano part, sparkling with exceptional virtuosity, not only traditionally dialogues with the orchestra, but even fights with it for primacy, in tune with the dense symphonic texture. The work will be performed by 17-year-old Rio Ueyama, who began his piano studies as a 4-year-old in Marzena Jasinska-Siudzinska's piano class. He is currently a student at the Władysław Bartoszewski Secondary Music School at ZPSM No. 1 in Warsaw in the class of Irina Rumiancewa-Dąbrowski. He has extensive concert experience and two years ago he also performed with our orchestra Edvard Grieg's Concerto in A Minor.
The concerto will be conducted by Dawid Jarząb, a graduate of symphonic conducting in the class of Professor Marek Pijarowski and choral conducting in the class of Professor Alan Urbanek at the Academy of Music in Wrocław.He is the winner and finalist of many prestigious competitions, and has been performing regularly on Polish philharmonic stages since 2015. From 2018 to 2021, he was conductor of the Lublin Philharmonic Orchestra and Head of its Artistic Department. Since 2022, he has been the manager of the NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra and has been taking an active part in shaping the cultural life of Wroclaw.