The Foundation - News

December 1, 2009
World premiere in London: "Journey to Eisenstadt"

His latest music work "Journey to Eisenstadt" for violin and piano Rodion Shchedrin composed for the London's Southbank Centre and dedicated to the Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos, who is recognized at the head of his subject worldwide today. Kavakos played the premiere of Shchedrin’s work together with the pianist Nikolai Lugansky on December, 1st, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. The concert was a part of the series of events "An Artist in Focus", which in this concert season pointed out to the artistic achievements of Leonidas Kavakos.
With this work Shchedrin honours Joseph Haydn and uses his 200th anniversary of death as an opportunity to honorable appreciation of one of the biggest composers of whole music history. The town Eisenstadt, where Shchedrin together with his listeners goes on a musical journey, plays an important part in this context. In Eisenstadt Haydn was more than forty years in service to the court of Prince Esterhazy as director of music and composed the most part of his masterpieces. That is the reason why this town is known as the "Haydn-town", for which Haydn seems to have the equal importance as Mozart for Salzburg or Wagner for Bayreuth.
In this sense Rodion Shchedrin's "Journey to Eisenstadt” will be a brief, but a wounderful journey for anyone, who let himself be whisked away to the musical world of the Viennese Classicism, in particular, to the musical world of Haydn.