University Orchestra Innsbruck - Semester Closing Concert

The programme that the Innsbruck University Orchestra and its conductor Claudio Büchler will be performing in the winter semester of 2025/26 could hardly be more varied. The concert begins with an orchestral arrangement of Claude Debussy's most famous piano piece, Claire de lune from the Suite bergamasque. Few classical pieces have been adapted so often as film music and are known to such a wide audience. After that, the piano takes centre stage. The university orchestra will accompany the wonderful pianist Paris Tsenikoglou in Frederic Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2. Chopin was only 19 years old when he completed the concerto, and the composer's youthful emotions are evident throughout the work.

The second part of the evening features Franz Schubert's ‘Great’ Symphony in C major. With a duration of approximately sixty minutes, this symphony was considered the longest orchestral work ever composed for many years after its creation, even though it was not performed for the first time until eleven years after Schubert's death. The work, which was in danger of disappearing under the heading ‘some old music’ in the composer's estate, was discovered by Robert Schumann. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy finally brought the symphony to its acclaimed premiere; since then, it has been considered a milestone in music history.