With a »Rising Star« as a soloist, the Festival opening is under a good star. Violinist Diana Tishchenko was awarded this title by the European Concert Hall Organisation, following in the footsteps of greats such as Igor Levit or Khatia Buniatishvili. She shows her outstandingly subtle playing in Ludwig van Beethoven's only violin concerto, which was only recognised forty years after it was written as the masterpiece it still is today. Unlike the second piece of the evening, neither lament nor pathos is in the foreground here. Instead, the genius of the violin concerto is revealed in the elegant and mature solo part.

Conductor Vitali Alekseenok carefully and emphatically draws a bow to Peter Tchaikovsky's deeply emotional Sixth Symphony. Like Beethoven at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries in the German-speaking world, Tchaikovsky is considered one of the most important composers of his time in Russia. Shortly before his death, he put his thoroughly romantic work on paper, which was given the apt title »Pathétique« by his brother Modest due to its passionate and tragic tonal language. His programmatic symphony is as plaintive and dramatic as it is restrained and enigmatic. After last year's programme postponement, it is part of the 2023 season opening, in which Vitali Alekseenok demonstrates his fine baton sense for a second time in Ludwigsburg.

Image © Elza Zherebchuk, Laura Stevens