Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala
Riccardo Chailly, conductor
Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, violin

Jean Sibelius
Violin Concerto

Robert Schumann
Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120

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Riccardo Chailly: rehearsal with the Filarmonica della Scala and Arcadi Volodos, 2011

The artistic partnership between the Filarmonica della Scala and Music Director Riccardo Chailly has been consolidated in recent years, both through their presence on leading international stages and a choice of repertoire with a clear Central European imprint.

Riccardo Chailly can boast an international career that has brought him to La Scala with a unique background for conductors of his generation. He also shows a symphonic aptitude for ever-renewed interpretations in the wake of the finest conducting tradition.

The musicians of La Scala are certainly much appreciated in Lugano. In this new meeting with the local public, they associate the flat northern landscapes suggested by the music of Sibelius with Schumann's symphonic intentions to represent the world of feelings in a fantastic form. The Sibelius Violin Concerto, played by violinist Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, is one of the repertoire's cornerstones, thanks to its great virtuosity and lyricism. Schumann's Fourth is yet another example of the composer's attempt to reconcile unlimited imagination with complex and grandiose formats. Schumann's endless romantic inspiration enabled him to transform the slightest feeling into musical images. He thus anticipated the orchestral creativity of the 19th century that was passed on to subsequent generations of composers, including Bruckner and Mahler.

Emmanuel Tjeknavorian won the prize for the best interpretation of the Sibelius Violin Concerto at the 2015 Sibelius Competition and counts among the finest musicians of his generation. Born in Austria into a family of musicians, Tjeknavorian started playing the violin at the age of 5 and gave his first public concert when he was 7. A scholarship awarded by the Vladimir Spivakov Foundation enabled him to perform two years later at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. These events opened the doors to an international career.