"Charles Ives polished off the cake before anyone else had even sat down at the table", Igor Stravinsky apparently said of the American composer born in 1874, meaning he was far ahead of his time. At first glance his 2nd Symphony is a work of late Romanticism, entirely in the spirit of Johannes Brahms, Antonín Dvorák, Richard Wagner and Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky. But its melodic material is new. It includes quotations from American hymns and student songs, elements of profane utility music and popular styles – and it calls into question the inviolable concept of musical works. This was revolutionary, but for nearly fifty years it remained unheard: Leonard Bernstein conducted its first performance in New York in 1951. You will also be able to discover echoes of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, from which the "Prelude and Liebestod” will open our concert. Sandwiched between these two works of the late Romantic period will be Mozart’s 5th violin concerto with its "Turkish" finale, interpreted by Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos.