This week, David Afkham makes his debut with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at the Klarafestival at Bozar in Brussels and and at deSingel in Antwerp, conducting a programme that includes Liszt’s Two Episodes from Lenau’s Faust, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 15 (with pianist Pierre Laurent Aimard) and Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht Op. 60. David will also conduct the COE in Bruges, where fellow Askonas Holt artist Vilde Frang and violist Lawrence Power join forces for Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante. David will also conducted Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 Jupiter.

Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang has performed Mozart’s work for violin, viola and orchestra on numerous occasions, including for a recording on Warner Classics with Maxim Rysanov, Jonathan Cohen and Arcangelo, and with Laurence Power at the BBC Proms in 2017:

4 Aug 2017

Concert

BBC Proms

“In the rondo, Power and Frang’s intimate chit-chat became brilliant, torrential badinage, and their final giddying ascent into string heaven sang with an ecstatic bliss.”

The Arts Desk

Find out more about each performance at the links below:

14 March, Bozar, Brussels – opening concert of the KlaraFestival
15 March, deSingel, Antwerp
16 March, Concertgebouw Brugge

Last month, David Afkham was announced as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Orquestra y Coro Nacional de España (Spanish National Orchestra and Chorus) from September 2019. The position will build on the success of his tenure as Principal Conductor of the orchestra since 2014, which has included critically acclaimed performances of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4, Brahms’ Requiem, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, as well as world premieres and semi-staged projects with Wagner’s Die fliegende Holländer, Strauss’ Elektra, Bach’s St. Mathew Passion and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, and with soloists including Mitsuko Uchida, Maria João Pires, Frank-Peter Zimmermann, Leonidas Kavakos, Isabelle Faust and Bryn Terfel, among many others.