“Until my last breath I shall belong to the great admirers of Mozart,” Beethoven wrote with genuine enthusiasm to the musicologist Maximilian Stadler. While he did not hide that a special place among the works of the composer whom Beethoven regarded as an idol, his 27 Piano Concertos had.

Mozart at that time was living in Vienna, which at the end of the 18th century was “The City of the Piano”.

And in works of maturity such as the Concerto for piano and orchestra no. 24 in C minor, which is at the heart of the Athens State Orchestra’s first concert for the new year, on Friday January 5, Mozart “breathes” a sense of passion, drama and symphonicness.

Performer is the piano virtuoso Michael Pletniov, who is returning to Athens for another partnership with KOA. The world-renowned pianist, whose debut performance with the Athens State Orchestra last year was deeply remembered by audiences and critics, opens the concert by also performing the charming, lively and humorous Concerto for Piano and Orchestra no. 11 in D major, by Joseph Haydn. Of the first concerto that the composer, full of surprises, wrote for piano which at the end of the 18th century was succeeded by the harpsichord, with an obvious desire to exploit all the expressive possibilities of the new instrument.

The evening will close with the music leading down paths of greatness and lyricism in Symphony no. 9 in C major, also called “Great” by F. Schubert under the baton of the experienced and popular Philippe Oguen, who once again ascends the podium of the KOA guaranteeing the high level of the concert.

The program at a glance

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732 – 1809)

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra no. 11 in D major, Hob. XVIII / 11

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Concerto for piano and orchestra no. 24 in C minor, K.491

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Agreement no. 9 in C major, D.944 “Great”

SOLOIST

Mikhail Pletniov, piano

MUSICAL DIRECTION

Philippe Oguen

At 7.30 there is a free introductory talk for ticket holders