Pannon Philharmonic

Conductor

Cristian Mandeal

Having studied piano, composition and conducting at the Music High School in Brasov and the Music Academy in Bucharest, Cristian Mandeal later studied with Herbert von Karajan in Berlin and with Sergiu Celibidache in Munich. He became permanent conductor at the Targu Mures Philharmonic and the Cluj Philharmonic. Between… More

Soloist

About the Programme

“The neighbour’s pasture is always greener” – says a proverb. That might explain why was the ‘fin de sciecle’ France fond of the oriental and exotic culture-wares while Russia of the 19th century looked for the Western-European cultural prodcts – thus, in both cases, the “neighbor’s” were more interesting. So could happen that the Moscow-resident Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky based his works, like The Tempest overture fantasy, which is going to played atthis evening, on Shakespeare tragedies; though, Stravinsky, working in Paris – on a commission of the Paris Russian Ballet – used an ancient eastern folkstale, the story of Petrushka. Albeit one can find som influence of oriental folks in Dmitri Shosztakovich’s Cello Concerto No.1, as well, this work is rather characterised by the composer’s autobigraphical elements and references to the world around him. The concerto was premiered by his close friend, Mstislav Rostopovich, who was the teacher of this concert’s soloist, Sergei Slovachevsky, too.