«Simple Gifts»: Who would know this moving American song today if Aaron Copland hadn’t incorporated it into his 1944 ballet «Appalachian Spring»? His version opened the gate to many modern reinterpretations in all manner of genres, including pop. Joseph Haydn was another composer who repeatedly managed to celebrate the folkloric in orchestral form, for example in his explosive, sweeping, 102nd Symphony. As soloist, the Tonkunstler bassist Ernő Rácz brings his virtuosity and playfulness to a Dittersdorf double bass concerto. At the podium, the US polymath Benjamin Wenzelberg, alumnus of the «Ink Still Wet» competition, perfectly embodies this musical bridge between the old and new worlds.