François-Xavier Roth conducts first public concert since lockdown

François-Xavier Roth has conducted Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne in its first live public performance since lockdown in early March. They gave two short concerts on 30 May, with one streamed on YouTube. The musicians performed in the city's Philharmonie, socially distanced, to an audience of 100 people who had won their tickets in a raffle and sat with several seats separation.

The programme of the first concert was Mozart's Flute Concerto No.1, with soloist Alja Velkaverh-Roskams, and Bartók's Divertimento for String Orchestra, which is programmed for February 2021 as part of the orchestra's focus on the composer's works for the season. For the second concert, Tom Owen was the soloist in Mozart's Oboe Concerto, and the orchestra repeated the Bartók.

Photos: Holger Talinski