Bilkent Symphony Orchestra Celebrates St. Valentine's Day with Russian Romantics

On Saturday, February 11, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra performed a Valentine's Day concert, consisting of pieces by Russian and Czech Romantic composers. Conducted by Missak Baghboudarian, the concert featured the young artist Efe Baltacıgil on the cello.

Soloist Baltacıgil brought accomplished musicianship, warm tone and expressive technique, performing Tchaikovsky's "Variations on a Rococo Theme" (Op. 33) as well as the atmospheric "Silent Woods" (Op. 68, No. 5), the fifth piece in the cycle "From the Bohemian Woods" by the great Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. Ably led by maestro Baghboudarian, the BSO also performed Rimsky-Korsakov's "May Night" Overture, plus another well-known and beloved Tchaikovsky work especially appropriate to the Valentine's Day theme: the "Romeo and Juliet" Overture-Fantasy.

The Bilkent Symphony Orchestra's next concert will take place this Saturday, February 18, with conductor Ion Marin and cellist Hayrettin Hoca.

Saturday, February 18 at 8 p.m. Bilkent Concert Hall
Conductor: Ion Marin
Violoncello: Hayreddin Hoca
R. Schumann | Concerto for Violoncello in A minor,
Op. 129
F. Mendelssohn | Symphony No.4 "Italian" in A major,
Op. 90