Iceland Symphony Orchestra plays Fanny Hensel

Mozart’s piano concertos hold a unique place in music history. They rank among Mozart’s most personal works, in which he reached previously unknown heights of inspiration, originality and inventiveness. At the same time, they shaped people’s ideas of what a piano concerto could achieve, creating the prototype that Beethoven and others who followed looked to when experimenting with the form. This concert features one of Mozart’s most celebrated piano concertos, the bright and lucid No. 21 in C major, which gained immense popularity in the late 20th century after its graceful second movement was featured in the Swedish film “Elvira Madigan” in 1967. South Korean pianist Sunwook Kim will be performing on the piano and directing the orchestra from the keyboard, in the same manner as Mozart himself did when he premiered the work in Vienna in 1785.

Sunwook Kim has long established himself as one of the foremost pianists of his generation. He won the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006 at just 18 years old, becoming its youngest winner in 40 years. He regularly performs with many of the world’s leading symphony orchestras but now divides his time equally between piano performance and conducting. In March 2023, he made his debut with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, captivating concertgoers in Eldborg in Brahms’s second piano concerto under the baton of Bertrand de Billy.

Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony has often stood in the shadow of the more dramatic symphonies that flank it on each side— the Eroica and the Fate symphonies, respectively. However, the Fourth Symphony is a remarkably brilliant and engaging work. It is shorter and more refined in form than its sister works on either side, often looking back to the style of Haydn, Beethoven’s teacher, especially in the playful and spirited final movement. The work was destined to inspire later composers of Beethoven’s era such as Hector Berlioz, Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann.

Although Fanny Mendelssohn left around 500 compositions dating from throughout her lifetime, few were publicly performed or published while she lived, with the exception of a handful originally attributed to her brother. This concert will open with one of her few preserved works for a full symphony orchestra, the bright and cheerful Concerto Overture in C Major.