The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra celebrated their 80th anniversary in 2023 and appointed Riccardo Frizza as chief conductor in the same season. He leads the orchestra on tour with the captivating pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, a new star of the famous musical family, following in the footsteps of her celebrated elder siblings Isata and Sheku. She’s the soloist in Chopin’s best-known piano concerto. This was an immediate early career success for the young pianist-composer who poured his heart and soul into the ravishingly beautiful slow movement while all the time dreaming of the woman he couldn’t pluck up the courage to speak to.

The Orchestra have long championed the music of Hungarian composers, including Franz Liszt and Zoltán Kodály whose characterful Dances of Galánta are rooted in 19th century Hungarian and nomadic folk dances. And Beethoven’s effervescent Seventh Symphony, written in a Bohemian spa town, also dances along with a spring in its step. A favourite with audiences then as now, it is full of rhythmic vitality and joie de vivre, with a fleet-footed scherzo and an energetic finale that propels the music to its jubilant conclusion.