The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music: Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra

Zoltán Kodály spent seven years of his childhood in Galánta where he heard small bands playing folk music at army recruitment events. These performances — consisting of alternating slow and then very fast dances — were designed to enthuse the listener to join in the fun…and enlist! Kodaly’s Dances of Galánta is full of traditional Hungarian folk dances, written in this verbunkos (recruiting) style.

The concert will end with one of the 20th century’s orchestral masterpieces: Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. This is perhaps the most accessible of Bartok’s works and, as the title suggests, displays virtuosic parts for every section of the orchestra. Eastern European folk tunes feature throughout, as well as comic interludes and the most frenzied of orchestral-repertoire finales.

Just before the interval, the Orchestra will be joined by Joshua Jones (winner of the 2023 Conservatorium’s Concerto/Aria competition), to perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No 1.