Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla & Beatrice Rana

Lithuanian conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla has been one of the most sought-after conductors since she took over from Andris Nelsons as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 2016. She is now conducting our orchestra for the first time - in an original programme that shows how selectively she chooses her engagements and focal points. The programme opens with Symphony No. 5 by Mieczysław Weinberg, with whose opera "The Idiot" she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2024. Ralph Vaughan Williams is also one of "her" composers: the "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" has been with her for a long time. She has said in an interview that she is always "overwhelmed by the beauty and harmony" of this music. Just as Vaughan Williams was inspired by Tallis' Renaissance sounds, Rachmaninov varied a theme by Paganini: respectful and independent at the same time. The solo part in this work is played by Italian pianist Beatrice Rana: she introduced herself to Zurich audiences in the Série jeunes in 2012 and is now playing with our orchestra for the first time.