Haydn: Symphony in D major (“London”), Hob. I:104 Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor, op. 64 Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C major, op. 21 The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields last gave a concert at the Palace of Arts almost exactly two years ago, and it was tremendous success. As a chamber orchestra, it has the world’s largest discography and its history is intimately interwoven with its founder and Life President, the eighty four year old Sir Neville Marriner who remains profoundly active. Knighted in 1985 he began his career with the encouragement of the legendary Pierre Monteux. When he founded the orchestra in 1958 he conducted while playing first violin and even then, he probably never imagined the career he had before him, or that he would spend half a century with the orchestra. The soloist this evening was celebrated in the German capital by a crowd of 25 000 at the Waldbühne Amphitheatre in a concert with the Berlin Philharmonic. Born in Utrecht in 1978 Janine Jansen is already in demand from the world’s leading orchestras. In 2003, she won the highest award in her own country, the Holland Music Prize and in 2005, appeared in the opening concert of that year’s BBC Proms. At this concert she will play the eternally fresh Mendelssohn violin concerto with her 1727 “Barrere” Stradivarius violin, a work that she has recorded with conductor Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. The concerto will be heard alongside Haydn’s last symphony, which is regarded as the top of Viennese Classicism as well as the frequently humorous First Symphony by Beethoven where we can clearly sense the young lion sharpening his claws.

Presented by: