Examination concert

Performers

Rina Saito → piano
Orchestra of the College of Music Freiburg
Scott Sandmeier → Conductor

Program

Dmitri Shostakovich → Two Scarlatti Pieces op. 17
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart → Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major KV 271 "Jeunehomme"

Rina Saito plays Mozart's 9th piano concerto "Jeunehomme"

On July 4, 2025, the Japanese pianist, who is studying piano in the concert exam course at the College of Music Freiburg, will give her final concert. Together with the university orchestra, she will perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 "Jeunehomme". The piece sounds "fresh, strong and heroic", says the pianist. Before that, the orchestra will also play "Two Scarlatti Pieces" by Dmitri Shostakovich.

Rina Saito, born in 1997 in Miyagi, Japan, has been studying piano at the College of Music Freiburg with Prof. Gilead Mishory since 2021. After completing her master's degree with distinction in 2023, she is now giving her final concert in the highest concert exam course. When choosing the right piece, she wavered for a long time between two composers she greatly admires: Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The fact that she ultimately opted for a piece by Mozart is mainly due to the great passion and energy that the Piano Concerto No. 9 "Jeunehomme" in E flat major brings: "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote this work when he was still very young. I think you can hear that in the music: it sounds unspent, very fresh and also strong and heroic. It is passionate and tragic at the same time. In my opinion, the second movement of this concerto is one of the most passionate things Mozart ever wrote. I love it very much. On the other hand, the work also has many humorous and brilliant, optimistic passages," explains Rina Saito.

Further information can be found in our press release.