2025 marks half a century since the death of Dmitri Shostakovitch, the greatest symphonist of the 20th century and a composer who imbued the modernism of his era with pure emotion and classical purity. These—and other—aspects of his music will be foregrounded to perfection by Vadim Repin, whom the great Yehudi Menuhin once declared “the most perfect violinist I have ever heard”! For his part, Michał Nesterowicz, the Polish conductor much loved by Athenian audiences, will be focusing his customary care and attention on achieving an aesthetically flawless performance of Rachmaninoff’s boldly exuberant Second Symphony—a work which delivers a resounding riposte to those who believe that the Russian composer begins and ends with his piano concertos.
