Migros-Culture-Percentage-Classics 180°

Limitless: this term serves as both the name and artistic motto of the Limitless Orchestra. The Vienna-based ensemble was founded in 2024 by musical jack-of-all-trades and exceptional violinist Aleksey Igudesman. Just as Igudesman has been exploring the boundaries between classical, pop and film music for years, the orchestra has also set itself the goal of overcoming listening habits. An important building block in this concept is the collaboration with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer. In January 2025, the program "Global Waltzing" with music by Johann Strauss and Zimmer premiered in Dubai. The orchestra also presents new arrangements of classical compositions ("Classical Reloaded"), a Beethoven program ("Joyful Variations") and a musical journey around the globe ("The Seven Continents").

In their unique and zany orchestral theatre performances, the duo Igudesman & Joo (Aleksey Igudesman and Hyung-ki Joo) weave humour with classical music, spiced up with pop culture influences. Aleksey and Hyung-ki met at the age of twelve at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England. In 2004, they began developing their shows. Since then, many of the world’s most renowned musicians have asked to be part of their musical mayhem, including Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Ray Chen, Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, Viktoria Mullova, Vasily Petrenko, Julian Rachlin, and Yuja Wang. Aleksey Igudesman has collaborated repeatedly with the Academy® Award-winning Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer, and Hyung-ki Joo was commissioned by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Billy Joel to arrange and record Joel’s solo piano compositions on a CD. They have performed with some of the world's most famous orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the L.A. Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, to name but a few.

To describe Aleksey Igudesman as merely a violinist would be a gross understatement. Although the son of a Russian musician couple completed a traditional education in London and Vienna, he soon set about expanding his field of activity considerably. He published violin schools, began composing − orchestral works, chamber music and film scores – and made documentary films himself. His artistic trademark is his mix of styles: Igudesman is not only a master of the classical repertoire, but also of klezmer, jazz and popular music. His music comedies with pianist Hyung-Ki Joo are particularly successful. He has also made a name for himself as the co-founder of the "Music Traveler" app (together with Julia Rhee); an app and online platform which allows musicians to book practice rooms. And he recently founded his own specialist ensemble, the Limitless Orchestra.

As Aleksey Igudesman’s stage partner, you can be anything − except a one-track musician. Hyung-ki Joo is much more than just a pianist: he composes, conducts, creates new concert formats and has a great sense of humor. All this at the highest level, as demonstrated by his collaborations with artists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Mischa Maisky and the Alban Berg Quartet − but also with Billy Joel, Hans Zimmer and John Malkovich. As a classical pianist, Joo, who grew up in England, has a repertoire ranging from classical to modern; he recently performed Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. And above all this, one must not forget the sought-after chamber musician and song accompanist who conceived a brilliant portrait program for the soprano Asmik Gregorian.

When the lights go out in the concert hall, the playful ‘false ending’ of Dvořák's Symphony No. 8 resounds. This marks the beginning of the composer's journey to America, accompanied by the Limitless Orchestra and Igudesman & Joo. Through witty dialogue, virtuoso staging and space for improvisation by the musicians, Dvořák is shown absorbing the sounds of the New World: songs of the Native Americans, African-American spirituals, banjos, fiddles and gospel music...

The orchestra embodies this exploration, combining symphonic textures with folk expressions, improvisation and dance. Igudesman & Joo narrate the journey with their characteristic comedic timing. Each movement of the symphony becomes a theatrical chapter. The first explores Dvořák's travels and insights; the second puts the tuba in the spotlight and unravels the playful confusion surrounding the numbering of Dvořák's symphonies; the third movement focuses on the influences of Native American music and cross-cultural inspiration combined with Dvořák's Czech roots, culminating in an exuberant powwow; the fourth movement strikes a contemplative note, emphasising themes such as unity, peace and love before transitioning into dance stylisms.

The second half of the concert programme takes the narrative into new territory: Dvořák's music merges with the legendary soundtrack to ‘Interstellar’ and drifts out into space with astronauts, electric instruments and Hans Zimmer's sound collages. Countertenor and violinist Viktor Andriichenko sings Dvořák's ‘Song to the Moon’ (from the opera ‘Rusalka’), reinterpreted as a cosmic hymn, while Nina Sofie joins in with virtuoso playing on the electric violin.

This is followed by the humorous miniature ‘A Little Blue Danube Waltz’, based on Johann Strauss (son)'s world-famous waltz ‘The Blue Danube’, before the evening reaches its climax with the epic ‘Für Elise Fantasy’ – Beethoven's most famous melody, reinterpreted as a surprising seed for later classical music as well as film and pop music of our time.

The programme concludes with ‘Someone Just Like You’, a bluegrass-style ballad inspired by Dvořák's ‘Romantic Pieces’ (No. 1) and his unrequited love for Josefina Čermáková. With a mixture of tenderness and humour, it connects the central theme of the show: that music arises from love, longing and the fusion of worlds and cultures – an ode to the unlimited possibilities of music when boundaries disappear.

SOUND NEW WORLD was created by Igudesman & Joo and commissioned by the Dvořákova Praha International Music Festival. The world premiere took place on 11 September 2025 in Prague.
Concert duration approx. 2 hours. Concert with intermission.