Petr Popelka and Wiener Symphoniker embark on European tour

Next week, Petr Popelka leads the Wiener Symphoniker on an 11-date tour taking in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. Joined by cellist Gautier Capuçon, the orchestra will perform Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor, followed by Richard Strauss’ tone poems Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche. Popelka is the Chief Conductor Designate of the Wiener Symphoniker, taking up the position at the beginning of the 2024/25 season.

“The Vienna Symphony Orchestra with conductor Petr Popelka is a pure delight.” der KURIER November 2023
Dvořák’s Cello Concerto is widely considered one of the best in the genre. Written in the composer’s American period, the piece boasts some of Dvořák’s most lyrical melodies, alongside a fiendishly technical solo part. After the interval, two of Richard Strauss’ tone poems portray folk heroes in the composer’s typically evocative style.

The tour kicks off with three performances at the Wiener Musikverein on 10, 11, 12 April, before the orchestra travels to Frankfurt, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Saarbrücken, Eindhoven, and Antwerp, finishing in Munich on 22 April.