Former Music & Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Andrey Boreyko conducts a program of elemental drama and orchestral colour. Grounded in the traditions that shaped Stravinsky, Liadov’s Kikimora is followed (on 12 & 13 June) by Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto, performed here by ECHO Klassik-winning cellist Maximilian Hornung in his Sydney debut. The concert culminates in the complete 1910 version of The Firebird, the ballet that established Stravinsky’s international reputation following its premiere in Paris by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Hornung will also give solo recitals at UKARIA on 14 June and the Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House on 21 June, before joining the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 on 26 June.

Limelight Editor’s Choice

Based on Slavic folklore, this music evokes a world of enchanted princesses, wicked sorcerers and a mythical creature whose flight brings the story to a spellbinding close. It’s no wonder this music catapulted Stravinsky to global fame.

This program opens with Liadov’s dizzying Kikimora, a thrilling nod to the traditions that shaped Stravinsky, followed by Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto, a work of contrasts with a haunting slow section and a cadenza that speaks straight from the soul. Regarded by Intermusica as one of the ‘most remarkable cellists on the international stage’, Maximilian Hornung makes his Sydney debut in one of the most challenging works in the repertoire.