(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO) will present a concert featuring Brahms' intimate colossus Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major, and de Falla's inspired El Sombrero de Tres Picos (Three-Cornered Hat) on Saturday, May 27, 7:30pm at the Qatar National Convention Centre, Auditorium 3.
Brahms jokingly described the Concerto No. 2 a“tiny, tiny little concerto with a tiny, tiny little scherzo,” which was ironic as the piece may well have been the largest piano concerto written during that period regarding its complexity, thematic variety, and sheer length. El Sombrero de Tres Picos (Three-Cornered Hat) is a colourful ballet with music by de Falla.
The concert will be performed under the baton of Pablo Mielgo, the orchestra will be joined by German classical pianist Gerhard Oppitz.
Mielgo is considered one of the most prominent Spanish musicians of his generation, not only as a conductor, but also as the founder of international music projects. In our days, he is Music Director of the“Madrid me suena” Music Festival, Co-Artistic/Music Director of the Medellin Philharmonic Academy and Artistic/Music Director of the SaludArte Foundation. He has founded since 2003 the following musical projects; BandArt Orchestra (chaired by Sir Colin Davis), Spain-Venezuela Festival (in collaboration with Venezuelan Orchestral Sistema),“Madrid me Suena” Music Festival, Iberopera (Lyric Ibero-american program). For seven years, he was Music and Artistic director of the Presjovem Festival and Academy for Music, where he founded the Presjovem Spanish National Orchestra with the most talented young Spanish musicians.
Meanwhile, Oppitz was born in Frauenau (in the Bavarian Forest) in 1953. At the age of five, he began to play the piano and debuted with a performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto in D Minor when he was eleven. Along with his great enthusiasm for school, especially for science and mathematics, he continued his musical education in Stuttgart and Munich starting in 1966 with professors Paul Buck and Hugo Steurer, and later with Wilhelm Kempff, concentrating on the works of Beethoven. In 1977, he was awarded first prize at the Artur Rubinstein Competition, after convincing an international jury, with Artur Rubinstein himself as its head, by performing the fifth Piano concerto by Beethoven and the First Piano Concerto by Brahms. This event marked the beginning of his worldwide concert activities - recitals in the major music centres of Europe, America and East Asia, as well as collaborations with the most renowned conductors and orchestras.
His main interest is the classical-romantic repertoire, although he has always devoted himself to music of the twentieth century, as well, playing premier performances of several piano concertos. Again and again, he has demonstrated his particular fondness for presenting major groups of work cycles, such as Bach's Wohltemperiertes Klavier, Mozart's eighteen Sonatas, Beethoven's 32 Sonatas, all the solo works by Schubert and Brahms' complete piano works.