The Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra Berlin under the direction of Michael Zukernik opens today's concert evening with Bedřich Smetana's famous work Die Moldau from the cycle My Fatherland (Má vlast). Concisely, the main motif flows through the entire work, which was processed by Smetana from the famous Renaissance song "La Mantovana" and is also used, for example, in the popular Israeli national anthem.

The second work, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18  was written between 1901 and 1902, after Rachmaninoff had experienced a deep creative crisis, and consequently coincided in time with his relief. Moreover, this romantic concerto in three movements reflects the melancholy that accompanied Rachmaninoff for a long time. Tonight this work will be performed by the internationally renowned pianist Andrei Gavrilov.

The concluding work this evening and a piece that Antonín Dvořák called “From the New World”  was his ninth and final Symphony No. 9 in E-minor, Op. 95. The symphony was composed in the United States and premiered in 1893 at Carnegie Hall in New York. In addition to some American inspired melodies, this work is a much greater culmination of Dvorak’s symphonic composition, and tonight, the crowning moment of our musical journey through Eastern Europe.