Symphonic Masterpieces – Spanish-Russian Night

Born in France, raised in the USA, a guest on all the world’s major concert platforms: it is no exaggeration to describe Lorin Maazel as a living musical legend. At the age of nine he shared the Los Angeles Philharmonic podium with Leopold Stokowski. When he was eleven Arturo Toscanini invited him to conduct the NBC Symphony Orchestra. When he became conductor of the New York Philharmonic in 2002, he had already conducted the orchestra more than 100 times, beginning in 1942 – as a twelve-year-old. No fewer than 10 times – more than any other conductor – Lorin Maazel has directed the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic.

In his capacity as music director of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, he has chosen an all-Romantic programme of Russian and Spanish music for his first Abu Dhabi Classics concert: works by Joaquín Rodrigo, Maurice Ravel and the famous, highly demanding Third Piano Concerto of Sergei Rachmaninoff. The soloist will be Russian pianist Arcadi Volodos, considered by many as the most gifted keyboard artist of his generation – famous for his fiendishly difficult arrangements, recalling Horowitz, as well as the timeless poetry of his interpretations of, for example, works by Franz Schubert.