European Union Youth Orchestra

Father Christmas is coming tomorrow - at least in Ernst von Dohnányi's «Variations on a Nursery Rhyme», the simple, unassuming title of this work for piano and orchestra. After a mysterious introduction, the theme and variations transform into an elaborate and witty shower of gifts: Father Christmas doesn't get any jollier than this! Then comes Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1, a kaleidoscope of nature and art, irony and pathos. Iván Fischer is the right man on the podium to elicit the perfect balance of exuberant energy and tonal subtlety from the talented young players of the European Union Youth Orchestra. At the piano is the celebrated British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason.