John Storgårds conducts Ligeti, Chopin and Holst – With Rafał Blechacz

The Chopin rendition will be the perfect opportunity to hear one of the most outstanding young pianists of our time, Rafał Blechacz, who took the classical world by storm in 2005 when he won the first prize at the 15th Chopin Competition in Warsaw – at this same date, no pianist was rewarded with the second prize, apparently because "Mr Blechacz so outclassed the remaining finalists that no second prize could actually be awarded" (Professor Piotr Paleczny on ABC News).

The concert will conclude with a performance of The Planets, an incredible work by Gustav Holst, premiered at the end of the First World War by Sir Adrian Boult. Scored for a large orchestra, this masterpiece gives a musical impression of seven planets of the Solar System, resulting in a 7-movement work: Mars, the Bringer of War – Venus, the Bringer of Peace – Mercury, the Winged Messenger – Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity – Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age – Uranus, the Magician –Neptune, the Mystic.

Picture: Rafał Blechacz © Felix Broede/DG

Rafał Blechacz appears courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon.

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