Enigma

The Ten Basque Melodies, composed by Jesús Guridi in 1941, which envelope the traditional themes collected by Azkue in rich orchestral arrangements, will open this programme commemorating the 90th anniversary of the first Basque Government, followed by Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22, performed by the legendary pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja, a resident of Vienna since 1978 and a world-renowned authority on the performance of the great Viennese classics. Lastly, Polish conductor Marzena Diakun, a prize-winner at festivals such as the Prague Spring and the Fitelberg, will undertake Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Drawing on a melancholic theme, Elgar created fourteen musical portraits of as friends (and a bulldog), combining humour, nobility and mystery around an ‘enigma’ that has never been fully revealed, but which has established this work as one of the most iconic in British music.