Nicolas Altstaedt, conductor

Petr Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations op. 33

Wilhelm Killmayer: La joie de vivre

Sándor Veress: Four Transylvanian Dances

Joseph Haydn: Symphony no. 70 in D major Hob. I:70

Nicolas Altstaedt, Artistic Partner of the Tapiola Sinfonietta, does double duty again as cellist and conductor. For Tchaikovsky, Mozart represented an era of happiness and beauty, a world that he sought to capture in his Rococo Variations for cello and orchestra. The version that became known worldwide was tampered with by cellist Fitzenhagen, but here Altstaedt presents the piece as the composer intended. Wilhelm Killmayer (1927–2017), based in Munich, dabbled in Modernism early in his career before embracing a tonal joy of living, as in his La joie de vivre. A similar spirit may be found in Veress’s Transylvanian folk dances, which follow in Bartók’s footsteps but with a rather lighter touch. Haydn’s energetic Symphony no. 70 was devised to infuse optimism at the court of Prince Eszterházy after a devastating fire.

Pre-concert talk 18:10-18:30.

Tapiola Sinfonietta 2025-2026