Leonskaya plays Schumann

In 2019, Finnish musician Osmo Vänskä conquered the hearts of the audience in our Queen Elisabeth Hall with his performance of Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5. This year, he returns to the stage in Antwerp, together with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Elisabeth Leonskaya, who has been a world-class pianist for many years. She will perform Schumann’s Piano Concerto, which largely owes its fame to Clara Schumann. Although the composer was unable to perform the work himself due to paralysis, Clara continued to play it for many years after his death in some of the world’s leading concert halls. Nowadays it is considered one of the most passionate concertos in the classical repertoire. Next up in this emotionally charged programme is Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 6, in which the composer reflected on the human tragedy of the Second World War. The work became a huge success after its premiere in 1947.