Symphonic lunches

Upcoming concerts Past concerts Series

SYMPHONIC LUNCHES CONCERT SERIES
A lunch break that invigorates the mind. The Thursday lunch concerts will be bringing to the audience the best selection of the Friday night programme.

The series opens with Tõnu Kõrvits’ new work, Hymns to the Northern Lights. Featuring South Korean piano virtuoso Yekwon Sunwoo, the program includes the first movement of Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto (arranged for piano) and a favorite among classical music lovers, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Olari Elts conducts.

In November, during ERSO’s centennial jubilee week, maestro Olari Elts has selected Richard Strauss’ philosophical masterpiece, the symphonic poem Also sprach Zarathustra, for the lunch concert audience.

In December, as ERSO prepares for its Austrian tour, the orchestra introduces its tour repertoire to lunch concert listeners. Hungarian musician István Várdai performs as the soloist in Edvard Elgar’s popular and romantic Cello Concerto. Additionally, Jean Sibelius’ majestic Second Symphony will be performed.

In January, the lunch concert is led by the charming maestro Giordano Bellincampi, a long-time favorite of Estonian audiences. The program features true delights for classical music enthusiasts: Carl Reinecke’s Concerto for Harp and Orchestra, featuring ERSO’s own Sara D’Amico, and Felix Mendelssohn’s popular Scottish Symphony.

Popular works also dominate the second lunch concert in January. The program features Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s most beloved orchestral works—Symphony No. 40 and Sinfonia Concertante—where conductor and violin soloist Candida Thompson performs alongside the young Estonian violinist Triinu Piirsalu. The concert opens with the first movement of Igor Stravinsky’s characterful Concerto in D for String Orchestra.

In March, audiences can hear Antonin Dvořák’s monumental Cello Concerto performed by ERSO’s principal cellist Indrek Leivategija, conducted by the Dutch maestro Marc Albrecht.

In April, the soloist for Fryderyk Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is the young pianist Havryil Sydoryk, winner of last year’s “Classical Stars” (Klassikatähed) competition. The program also includes Claude Debussy’s enchanting symphonic work La mer. Bas Wiegers conducts.

To conclude the series in May, ERSO and chief conductor Olari Elts invite listeners to experience the most beautiful excerpts from Joseph Haydn’s oratorio The Seasons. The performance features guest soloists and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.