Rachel Podger and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment A Zeneakadémia saját szervezésű programja

It is a complete mystery why a Budapest audience has had to wait until now to see the Englishwoman Rachel Podger, because although her name is not well known in Hungary, she is acclaimed as one of the most accomplished Baroque violinists and a superb Bach performer of the turn of the millennium. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music, currently she is professor of the Baroque violin there, but she also lectures at the Royal Academies of Music in London and Copenhagen. She founded two renowned early music ensembles (Florilegium and The Palladium Ensemble), and she functioned as concertmaster for Gabrieli Consort and Players as well as the English Concert for many years. Since 2004 she (along with others) has been leading the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; her Liszt Academy appearance is with this orchestra. The concert programme features her favourite composers like Vivaldi and others who are also included on her 2013 multiple prize-winning album Guardian Angel (albeit with solo works). The popular concertos of Bach and Vivaldi barely need introduction, but Telemann’s Concerto for Four Violins is as rarely performed as works by Johann Georg Pisendel, even though Pisendel was one of the major violinists of his age and an excellent composer who – as concertmaster at the court in Dresden – was in close contact with Bach. What is more, it is speculated that his playing inspired Bach’s sonatas and partitas written for solo violin. The legendary Chaconne in D minor is also performed in this dazzling performance by Rachel Podger in the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy.