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Tchaikovsky Competition-winner Alexandre Kantorow has been hailed as ‘Liszt reincarnated’ and a ‘fire-breathing virtuoso’. Still in his twenties, the young pianist makes a much-anticipated Proms debut, joining Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as soloist in Beethoven’s poetic Piano Concerto No. 4. Music of terror and despair, frenzied horror and – eventually – a flicker of triumph supply a musical portrait of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in Shostakovich’s impassioned Symphony No. 10, while more abstract orchestral soundscapes come courtesy of anniversary composer Ligeti’s Lontano.

Image: Vasily Petrenko © Svetlana Tarlova