The LuganoMusica audience witnessed Alexandra Dovgan's prodigious talent from the very first time she appeared on stage: it was at the LAC the young pianist made her debut in 2019, when she was just twelve years old.

The new international piano star was shaped under Grigory Sokolov's guidance: "Alexandra Dovgan's talent is exceptionally harmonious. Her playing is honest and focused. I foresee a great future for her." That future has arrived, and despite her young age, Alexandra has already made her debut at the most prestigious concert venues, from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris and from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to the Konzerthaus in Vienna. In Lugano, she will be accompanied by the Kammerorchester Basel conducted by Jonathan Cohen in a Mozart programme comprising concertos of outstanding beauty.

The Lucio Silla Sinfonia is followed by the Piano Concerto No. 5, the first concerto with a solo instrument written by another not-yet-18-year-old prodigy. Mozart then broke with tradition and invented a new form of concerto, playing with the virtuosity of the solo instrument through a dialogue with the robust symphonic character of the orchestral score. There are twenty-one Mozart concertos, but the Concerto in E-flat major K. 271 is among the most appreciated for its freshness and variety: qualities that Alexandra Dovgan embodies personally.

At the centre of the programme are two rarities: Bohemian composer Josef Mysliveček's Concertino and the Suite from Thamos, Re d'Egitto, the play written by Tobias Philipp, Baron von Gebler, for which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote between 1773 and 1780 incidental music with an operatic flair.