This winter night, we can hear two gloomy pieces striving for light with a plastically articulated Romantic tone. Both compositions seem as if the otherwise optimistic and burgeoning composer had felt the need to formulate grimmer thoughts and multi-layered ideas. The then 25-year-old Grieg joined the populous camp of composers of piano concertos with youthful zeal, and his intimate and emotional piece soon became a favourite with the audience. Dohnányi's Symphony No. 2 was born in the soul of a master fleeing from the Russian front in World War II. We have an immensely gifted, diligent and witty man standing before us, who is forced to leave his home country and his audience in his later years and is deeply touched by the uncertainties of his people and his career. The symphony could be a movie soundtrack without a movie in some places. And at the end of this film, hope does triumph in one way or another. Although nearly a century passed between the two compositions – and Grieg had frequently been called old-fashioned, let alone Dohnányi – they both know how to speak to a 21st-century audience.

The orchestra dedicates the entire revenue of the concert (not only from the sponsors' tickets) to the Foundation for the Protection of Children with Heart Disease. In Hungary, one in a hundred children is born with congenital heart disease, the most common congenital development disorder. The Foundation for the Protection of Children with Heart Disease, the official foundation of the Gottsegen National Cardiovascular Centre, has been working to help newborn babies, toddlers and young children with congenital heart diseases for over 30 years.

During these years, the foundation has been able to create financial support for the procurement of numerous medical instruments turning the Gottsegen National Cardiovascular Centre into a Europe-wide recognised, state-of-the-art institution, which has helped the recovery of hundreds of children every year.

By clicking here, you can read the interview with the Chair of the Board of Trustees, László Ablonczy in Hungarian.

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