Beethoven and Schumann ... not Robert, though, but his brilliant wife Clara, will be the composers featured in this concert. The last time we heard a repertoire combining the works of both of them was when Anne-Sophie Mutter visited Wrocław last spring. This time, their works will be performed by other acclaimed artists – Italian pianist Beatrice Rana and the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Gimeno.

The first of Ludwig van Beethoven’s pieces presented tonight is excellent proof of the power hidden in music. His Coriolan Overture is inspired by the story of Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus. This semi-legendary story first appeared in the writings of ancient historians: Titus Livius, Plutarch and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Centuries later, this Roman leader returned as the hero of plays by William Shakespeare and Heinrich von Collin, yet both dramas are little known today. It was only Beethoven who truly immortalized him when he composed his overture, and his work can be treated as a programmatic piece in which this ancient history is musically recorded. The works of Clara Schumann are certainly full of power. Although for a long time her work was viewed almost exclusively through the prism of the works of her husband, Robert Schumann, it is now assessed much more independently – as a mature artist’s achievement, who Clara Schumann undoubtedly was. The Piano Concerto op. 7, in which Beatrice Rana will play the solo part, is her youthful work full of fantasy, which the composer performed at the age of sixteen. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4, which will crown the evening, was described by Robert Schumann as “a slender Greek woman between two Nordic giants” – this is how he referenced the sublime Eroica and the dramatic Fifth Symphony. Schumann was right – despite the dark introduction, its cheerful mood persists throughout the entire work until the triumphant finale.

The Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, based in a tiny but proud principality sandwiched between France, Belgium and Germany, was founded in 1933 at the famous Radio Luxembourg – the same that, thanks to its powerful transmitters, helped the Polish people in the communist era listen to American pop music. But this is a completely different story ... Since 1996, this excellent orchestra has been operating as a public institution, and since 2005 it has had its headquarters in a new philharmonic hall. Gustavo Gimeno, who will lead musicians from as many as twenty countries during the concert, has been Principal Conductor since 2015.