FINTANGO with Martin Fröst

He is currently one of the most sought-after clarinettists, touring the world’s major concert halls, and the New York Times has praised his virtuosity and musicality, which “have so far been unsurpassed by any clarinettist – or indeed any instrumentalist”. Now Martin Fröst is making his debut with the Musikkollegium Winterthur, performing HK Gruber’s “FINTango”. Gruber conceives this clarinet concerto as a tribute to the Finnish tango, which developed into a folk dance, particularly during the Second World War, as a means of expressing resistance without words. The piece is tailor-made for Martin Fröst, who repeatedly combines his clarinet playing with movement, choreography and dance elements.
After the interval, Schubert’s ‘Great’ Symphony in C major, which he completed in 1827, will be performed. With a duration of nearly an hour – almost as long as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, composed three years earlier – the work was unusually long and technically demanding for its time. It was not until eleven years after Schubert’s death that Robert Schumann discovered the symphony amongst his papers, and Felix Mendelssohn premiered it in Leipzig, albeit in an abridged version. Schumann was enthralled by its “magnificent expanses”, those drawn-out cantilenas that today secure the work a firm place in the symphonic repertoire.
 

Individual tickets for subscription concerts can be booked from 20 August 2026. Until then, please send us an email stating your preferred category and the number of tickets required.