Jordan, Szeps-Znaider / Schumann, Sibelius by Schumann, Sibelius, De (2018/2018), Director Philippe Jordan, Musikverein Wien, Viena, Austria

Chosen by the media as “the best violinist in the world”, the versatile Danish violinist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider will assume the function of artist in residence of the Wiener Symphoniker in the current season. His success is closely associated with the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition at which he was awarded a Prize in 1995. Under the direction of the principal conductor Philippe Jordan, he will play Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, one of the early works by the Finnish composer. The combination of late romantic style and elements of modern Scandinavian sound aesthetics make this one of the most important violin concertos of the 20th century. Although the two of them are fundamentally different, Sibelius still very much admired Robert Schumann’s “inexhaustible sense of poetry”. This sense can be heard, for instance, in Schumann’s Manfred, a dramatic poem with music after a text by Lord Byron, but also in his famous Rhenish Symphony.