BİFO concert themed 'In the Radiance of Romanticism': Guest conductor will be Finnegan Downie Dear

The guest conductor for the concert titled 'In the Radiance of Romanticism' will be Finnegan Downie Dear, who successfully graduated from two prestigious institutions: the University of Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music.

Following his first-place win at the Mahler Conducting Competition, Dear, who has been described as a "perfect combination of open-heartedness and a unique mind," also worked with the Staatskapelle Berlin, Camerata Salzburg, and the Gothenburg Symphony orchestras last season.

The soloist for the concert will be Alexandra Conunova, the 2012 winner of the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition, known for her warm tone and fluid virtuosity.

Conunova, who has performed with ensembles such as the Orchestre de Paris, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the Russian National Orchestra, will perform Tchaikovsky’s intricate Violin Concerto in D Major in this concert, where she will meet BİFO for the first time. Tchaikovsky created a unique musical language by enriching the stormy moods of his era with the colors, poems, and melodies of his homeland.

In the second half of the concert, BİFO will present to the audience one of Tchaikovsky’s deepest works in terms of technique and intellect, the “Pathétique Symphony,” as well as Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin.”