Jacquot, Szeps-Znaider and Brahms

The Royal Danish Orchestra and its Principal Conductor, Marie Jacquot, move for one evening from their home at the Royal Danish Theatre to DR Concert Hall where they are joined by the Danish star violinist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider. The programme spans music by Hans Abrahamsen and Sergei Prokofiev – yet violin enthusiasts may find themselves leaning furthest forward when Szeps-Znaider steps into the spotlight to perform Brahms’ Violin Concerto on an extraordinary instrument: a Guarneri del Gesù violin once owned by the Austrian-American virtuoso Fritz Kreisler and now generously loaned to him by the Royal Danish Theatre.

Marie Jacquot has long championed Danish composers, and this evening she brings Hans Abrahamsen’s Three Pieces for Orchestra to the stage. The work was originally commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker and first performed under Sir Simon Rattle at the Berliner Philharmonie in 2018. Now it receives a new resonance in DR Concert Hall.

Among Jacquot’s personal favourites is Sergei Prokofiev. The concert therefore concludes with selections from three of his orchestral suites drawn from the vividly dramatic ballet score to Romeo and Juliet. Here the full force of the orchestra unfolds in symphonic splendour, as Prokofiev’s expansive musical palette illuminates Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy of two young lovers divided by generations of family enmity.

Following this performance, the Royal Danish Orchestra reprises the programme on tour at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad later in August.