
Following recent successes in Tokyo with his first annual Vengerov Festival (where he performed four different programs as violinist, conductor, and teacher) as well as closing the Istanbul Music Festival with Dvorak’s Violin Concerto, Maxim Vengerov continues his busy summer with two concerts in Europe this week. This starts on July 10 when he joins the Filarmonica de Cámara de Valencia in Riga, Latvia. Comprised of members of the Valencia Opera House’s orchestra, hand-picked by Lorin Maazel and Zubin Mehta, the chamber orchestra performs at Riga’s Dzintari Concert Hall. Vengerov will be heard throughout the program with Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in D minor, Bach’s Double Concerto in D minor, and three works by Tchaikovsky: Sérenade mélancolique, Souvenir d’un lieu cher, and Valse-scherzo in C major. Ricardo Casero conducts the evening’s proceedings.
Two days later, Vengerov turns to Bordeaux for Musique en Graves, of which he is honorary president. The festival’s opening night on July 12 finds Vengerov with frequent recital partner Itamar Golan in performance at the Domaine de Chevalier vineyard in Léognan. The pair offers sonatas by Beethoven, Schubert, and Franck, as well as Saint-Saëns’s Havanaise and Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso.
These two concerts precede Maxim Vengerov’s return to the American concert stage, where he reprises his recital program with Golan (July 15) and plays Britten with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (July 17), both at the Ravinia Festival.