Deep melancholy encounters optimism, even joie de vivre: Tchaikovsky's famous Violin Concerto likely owes its popularity to its powerful contrasts of atmosphere that allow its interpreters to play to their full range of expression with great effect. Over the course of her stellar career, Russian virtuoso Alena Baeva has raced from success to success with this concerto, which she now brings to Grafenegg. Sibelius's first symphony, another work characterised by stark changes of mood and which draws much of its energy from the natural forces of Finland, closes the evening, which features the Tonkunstler Orchestra under the baton of American conductor Hugh Wolff.