Last year the Qatar Philharmonic made headlines when it hired Han-Na Chang to be its music director. The South Korean woman raised the ensemble to international standards, and its London debut earlier this month got rave reviews. Then, hours afterwards, Chang quit, citing “persistent administrative difficulties and irreconcilable artistic differences with the management.” You can hear the concert that won over London tonight at 7 on IPRClassical.
Chang rose to fame as a cellist at the age of 11 when she won first prize in the 1994 International Rostropovich Competition. Her switch to conducting was a risk, but it paid off - she is now Principal Guest Conductor of the Trondheim Symphony in Norway and guest conducts such ensembles as the Staatskapelle Dresden, Philharmonia Orchestra, and Seattle Symphony. We’ll be hearing much more from her on the podium - but the concert we'll broadcast tonight will remain a historic document. It features Tchaikovsky’s Fifth, Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto played by Denis Matsuev, and a work by Iranian-born composer Behzad Ranjbaran(who currently teaches composition at Juilliard). Tune in to hear a major musical event of the year!
