Find concerts by Grieg, Edvard (1843-1907)

Leipzig, as the 19th century progressed, took over the mantle of Europe’s most influential city after Vienna. Felix Mendelssohn was largely responsible, both as the music director of the Gewandehaus Orchestra and the first director of the Conservatoire, which he founded in 1843 to mark the centenary of his orchestra. Leipzig’s importance did not come out of the blue, because it was also the city where, a century earlier, Bach produced his extraordinary set of cantatas for the Thomas Church. Mendelssohn revived interest in the neglected Bach and in the regular performance of these cantatas, which to this day can still be heard in the church. Leipzig was a magnet to some of the great emerging musicians from around Europe, including the composers featured in this concert.

This is a fitting ‘Postcard’ for an outstanding young Norwegian pianist to be sending to the City of London Festival: Norway’s Edvard Grieg studied there and, ten years earlier, his compatriot Halfdan Kjerulf attended the Leipzig Conservatoire on a Norwegian government scholarship. This was also Schumann’s city and the place where he met his exact contemporary, Chopin, when the Polish-French fellow pianist and composer came to visit.