Vivi Vassileva (Percussion)

Vivi Vassileva's playing captivates audiences - so writes the Westdeutsche Zeitung. Some Heilbronn residents already experienced her at the end of 2024, performing alongside WKO Artistic Partner Frank Dupree in the chamber concert series Unter der Pyramide. Now she returns to the city on the Neckar.

The centrepiece of the evening is John Corigliano's orchestral concerto "The Conjurer" for solo percussion and orchestra. Corigliano wrote it at the request of percussionist Evelyn Glennie - though he himself admits the idea initially filled him with "sheer horror". The concerto is divided into three parts: Wood, Metal and Skin, named after the materials of the respective instruments - marimba, vibraphone and timpani. Conductor: Risto Joost.

The programme is framed by Stravinsky's "Concerto in ré" for strings, which draws on the Baroque concerto grosso and especially Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, and Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor KV 550 - whose theme from 1788 has lost none of its power, despite modern pop arrangements and mobile phone ringtones.