In the opening concert of the AVROTROS Klassiek series, we will first hear music by the inspired conductor and gifted composer Jan van Gilse, who swayed the Utrechts Stedelijk Orkest (USO) around 1920 and was held in high esteem by musicians and audiences alike at the time. After Mozart's elegant, graceful and lilting Fourth Violin Concerto with young German soloist Tobias Feldmann, Modest Mussorgsky's mighty Pictures at an Exhibition will be heard.

Fairytalesounds, mighty impressions
The original piano version of Mussorgsky's impressions reached world fame in Maurice Ravel's orchestral version. Mussorgsky outlines a kind of musical Sunday afternoon stroll through fairy-tale castle gardens and dark catacombs, past markets populated by jesting figures, to finally come face to face with the majestic Great Gate of Kiev. Thanks to Ravel, all the colors of the symphony orchestra are highlighted. No wonder this work has been in the top ten most popular orchestral works since its orchestral version in 1922.