National Symphony Orchestra
David Brophy, conductor
Maxim Vengerov, violin

Ina Boyle Symphony No. 2, ‘The Dream of the Rood’ WORLD PREMIERE
Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1
Ravel Gypsy

Please note: The works performed by Maxim Vengerov mark a change from the previously announced program.

The return of the phenomenal Maxim Vengerov – “one of the most brilliant violinists you will ever hear” (Washington Post) – is not to be missed, performing two great violin pieces by Prokofiev and Ravel. Alongside is the highly anticipated world premiere of The Dream of the Rood, the second symphony by Ina Boyle, Ireland’s most important and prolific composer of the first half of the last century.

“A violinist like Maxim is only born once in a hundred years,” said his venerable teacher, Galina Turchaninova. A prodigious talent, Maxim Vengerov made his first recording at the age of 10 and has since become one of the instrument’s most admired virtuosos.

A former violin master, Joseph Szigeti, defended Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto, praising it for “its blend of fairy-tale naïveté and audacious savagery”. Think of it as a classic Romantic concerto in modern form as Prokofiev turned away from his “Bad Boy” reputation and embraced lyricism and virtuosity. The delightful result is forged with passion and passages of dreamlike intensity to culminate in a spellbinding reverie.

Ravel’s rhapsodic tzigane is one of the great masterpieces of the violin. Returning to the grandiose virtuosity of Paganini and Sarasate, it is a playful, romantic and exhilarating flight of fantasy on exotic, colorful and combustible gypsy themes.

Tutored by Vaughan Williams, Ina Boyle composed her Second Symphony, The Dream of the Rood, in 1930. Based on an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon religious text in which the writer dreams of the cross on which Christ was crucified. Boyle responds with music of deep, heartfelt emotion that finds comforting release in its quiet finale. Almost a century after its composition, David Brophy conducts the National Symphony Orchestra in its belated world premiere.

Presented by the National Symphony Orchestra