On April 1 and 2, Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Horn Concerto will receive its French premiere at the Philharmonie de Paris. The work will be performed by Stefan Dohr, for whom it was composed, with the Orchestre de Paris, conducted by the composer himself.
The horn holds deep personal significance for Salonen, as it was his first musical instrument and remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Shaped by this long-standing connection, the concerto is the result of both a lifetime’s reflection and a lengthy compositional process. The work can be seen as a tribute to this instrument, which Robert Schumann once described as ‘the soul of the orchestra’.
Through this concerto, Salonen explores the expressive and sonic possibilities of the horn, placing it at the centre of a rich orchestral landscape. The writing reflects both the instrument’s lyrical potential and its power within the orchestral texture, drawing inspiration from its historical role whilst reinventing it in a contemporary context.