Classical gems from MPO

The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) presents two Skride Performs Sibelius concerts, tomorrow and Saturday, at 8.30pm at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (DFP), KLCC.
The concerts showcase four works by four composers from four different countries.
The first is Chen Shu-Si’s Phoenix which highlights the Chinese mythical phoenix as a symbol of happiness and good fortune. This work, with its central melody coming from a 500-year-old Chinese song, will be premiered by MPO.
Le Boeuf sur le toit is a work by Frenchman Darius Milhaud, which has an opening tune of a popular Brazilian song, together with tangos and sambas in this zany composition.
The concerts will close with Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodaly’s Dances of Galánta, a work written in 1933 which contains elements of ancient Hungarian dances.
Also included in the repertoire list is Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor which will showcase Latvian violinist Baiba Skride’s natural approach to music-making.

Skride (pix) is the winner of the 2001 Queen Elisabeth Competition, and has performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw, London Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and NHK Symphony.
This is the first time she will be performing with the MPO.
Skride will also present a recital of violin works by Bach, Prokofiev and Ravel at DFP on Sunday at 3pm.
All concerts will be led by Gilbert Varga, who has conducted major orchestras in Spain, Germany, South America and the UK.
For more, visit the MPO website.