MÁV Symphony Orchestra A Zeneakadémia saját szervezésű programja

American conductor Irwin Hoffman first directed the MÁV Symphony Orchestra in the autumn of 2005, since when he has returned to the ensemble every year. The famous conductor, who celebrated his 90th birthday in 2014, was a student of the Juilliard Music School and protégé of Serge Koussevitsky. In 1968–1969 he directed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (György Solti took over the post of music director from him), and currently he works as principal conductor with the Bogota Philharmonics in the capital of Colombia. The programme is exclusively Russian works. Starting with the glittering Rimsky-Korsakov overture, which reflects ancient Russian Easter traditions, the programme continues with Tchaikovsky’s popular Romeo and Juliet fantasia, then one of Shostakovich’s most elusive works, Symphony No. 5. This is the piece that he composed in 1937 after his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District was banned by Stalin, and which was able to comply with the demands of Socialist Realism and forced official optimism while – at least to later listeners – projecting from the music passion, irony and a sense that the composer is actually thinking exactly the opposite of what he says.