Palace Concert in Salzburg

Ensemble 1756, founded in Salzburg, brings together musicians who received their artistic training primarily at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and who are now active in leading orchestras and ensembles. Performing in flexible formations, the ensemble cultivates a vibrant chamber-music tradition that places direct musical communication and stylistic precision at its core.
The program of this evening builds an impressive bridge between two musical worlds that may seem distant at first glance, yet are deeply connected through their inventiveness and expressive power. At its center stands Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose music is heard here in a range of facets: from the youthful clarity and formal elegance of his early Salzburg years to the dramatic intensity and emotional depth of his mature chamber works. Mozart’s musical language is defined by an apparent lightness that conceals extraordinary compositional mastery—a balance of transparency, singing melodic lines, and finely shaped inner tension.
After the interval, the sound world opens into an entirely different sphere: the music of George Gershwin, where classical tradition and urban modernity meet in a unique and compelling way. His musical language combines rhythmic vitality, jazz-inspired freedom, and orchestral brilliance into an unmistakable style that deliberately blurs the boundaries between classical and popular music. Within this tension emerges a sound world full of energy, shimmer, and emotional immediacy—music that remains strikingly fresh to this day.
At the piano, Minka Popovic appears as soloist, bringing stylistic versatility and expressive depth to this musical dialogue between classical and modern worlds, and shaping the evening’s distinctive sonic perspective.

Photo Copyright © Lazar Kundović