The Sunday evening closing concert of the Once upon a time in the 20th century... festival, will kick off with András Keller conducting Anton Webern’s first officially catalogued work, Passacaglia, which dates from 1908. Disciplined in formal terms, this 1908 orchestral piece written at the conclusion of the composer’s studies under Schönberg follows the structure of the older Baroque basso ostinato technique, here supporting 23 variations. Although Webern later became a master of atonality, this work, which employs an expanded orchestra, still bears the hallmarks of Late Romanticism and reveals the influence of Brahms and Mahler.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto, completed in 1945, is one of the most popular Late Romantic concertos of the 20th century, establishing a unique bridge between Viennese classical traditions and the ‘golden age’ of Hollywood, as the Austrian composer and conductor was a pioneer of and one of the most respected masters of the symphonic film music genre. Korngold constructed this three-movement concerto, which is extremely melodic, lyrical and virtuosic and has a rich and colourful orchestral sound, out of themes taken from his own film scores.

Arnold Schönberg‘s three-movement violin concerto, completed in 1936, is one of the most significant works in 20th-century music: intense, expressive and frequently dramatic in tone, it is a mature and striking masterpiece of dodecaphonic technique. Its difficulty makes it less frequently performed than Romantic concertos are. The audience can look forward to hearing two world-famous artists as the soloists of the two violin concertos: Michael Barenboim and Kristóf Baráti.