Widely seen as one of the world’s greatest living violinists, the legendary Maxim Vengerov returns to Dubai Opera on Wednesday 8th March as part of InClassica 2023, joined by celebrated Russian pianist Roustem Saitkoulov. The duo open with Clara Schumann’s Three Romances for Violin and Piano. Wife to Robert Schumann, Clara was herself a celebrated pianist and composer, and this work exhibits many of the characteristics that have contributed to her reputation. Next comes Brahms’s ‘Scherzo’ from the F-A-E Sonata. The sonata is a collaborative work by Brahms, Robert Schumann and Albert Dietrich, written for violinist Joseph Joachim. Joachim had adopted the phrase “Frei aber einsam” as his motto, and the work’s movements are all based on the musical notes F-A-E. Schumann incorporated the two movements he contributed into his Violin Sonata No. 3, which is the next entry in the programme. Composed in 1853, the sonata is Schumann’s last surviving major work, and is an intriguing piece exhibiting extreme contrasts, with periods of wild passion interlaced with moments of quiet, intense intimacy. Composer-in-Residence Alexey Shor’s Violin Sonata No. 2 comes next, a work that pits the two instruments against each other in a tug-of-war that plays through its three movements. Finally, the duo close with two works from Tchaikovsky – the ‘Scherzo’ and the ‘Mélodie’ from his 1878 Souvenir d’un lieu cher, and the famous Valse-Scherzo, composed in 1877.