The Hallé in Bradford: April 2020

Beethoven’s life is the stuff of romantic legend – the solitary creator shaking his fist at fate. His music, revolutionary yet characterised by humanity and dramatic power, remains universally appealing and his Leonore Overture No.3 opens this celebratory concert. The young American/Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra, already well established through visits to major orchestras in the States and Europe, is Music Director of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Although Beethoven’s First Symphony reveals the composer’s indebtedness to Haydn and Mozart, its fusion of lyricism and propulsive energy is indelibly stamped with his personality. Antje Weithaas’s interpretation of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto is renowned for its wonderful artistry: ‘virtuosic and animated, technically flawless, with breathtakingly intensity’ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).