The eleventh and last day of the Fifth Annecy Classic Festival! The Grand Finale brought to the ever-delighted audience an unforgettable program with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra lled again by Maestro Yuri Temirkanov, of works by Rossini, Brahms, and Elgar.

Opening with the overture to Rossini’s Barber of Seville, Denis Matsuev then gave his first performance of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No.1, Op.15, in a creative alliance with Maestro Temirkanov, who for a long time has collaborated with the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It would come as no surprise then for him to lead his own orchestra through a flawless interpretation of the quintessentially English Enigma Variations (Variations on an Original Theme for Orchestra, Op. 36) of Edward Elgar, followed-up as an encore by his charming Salut d’amour, Op.12 for violin and piano.

There were seventeen concerts during the eleven days of the Annecy Classic Festival performed by some of today’s most accomplished musicians, as well their promising young counterparts, to a total audience of more than 10,000 people from all over the world.

Denis Matsuev, in his role as Artistic Director anticipates the opening in the near future of a new concert hall in the city centre, the construction of which is already under way. Next year he announced, a competition for young conductors, overseen by Yuri Temirkanov, is to be introduced at the Sixth Annecy Classic Festival.

Victor Alexandrov, the AVC Charity Foundation music reviewer