In another prominent concert of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra’s 20th anniversary edition, Maria Joa~o Pires performed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9, “Jenamy”, with the orchestra under the baton of Paavo Järvi, who “builds a sanctuary of delicate grace around his soloist.” (FAZ) PROGRAM Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9, K. 271;
Andante from Piano Concerto No. 21, K. 467 (encore)
The Münchner Philharmoniker under Tugan Sokhiev and with Christiane Karg’s delicately intimate and clear soprano voice lead the audience through a rousing Mahler Fourth, drawing an arc from radiant blue skies to cracks in the firmament and from the hope of heavenly life to the end of everything earthly.
Husband-and-wife team Lang Lang and Gina Alice join Andris Nelsons and members of the Gewandhausorchester for a very special performance of Saint-Saëns’s ever-popular Carnival of the Animals. The humorous suite was composed with fun in mind, and Saint-Saëns wouldn’t allow it to be performed in public during his lifetime, lest it undermine his reputation as a serious composer. It went on, however, to become one of his best-loved works. Lang Lang is the soloist in Saint-Saëns’s scintillating Piano Concerto No.2, joining the Gewandhausorchester and Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons. PROGRAM Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals, Piano Concerto No.2
Lise Davidsen, one of the most celebrated and sought-after sopranos on the world stage, presents a personal programme of seasonal favourites from the Folketeateret in Oslo. Mixing traditional carols and Christmas songs – from Norway and across Europe – with music by Bach, Humperdinck, Hugo Wolf, the programme provides the perfect selection to get into the seasonal spirit, all sung with the spectacular voice and artistry that have brought the Norwegian soprano accolades and acclaim from Bayreuth to New York
The subject of radio orchestras is a global phenomenon that had its origins in Germany and is associated with exciting stories, great conductors, outstanding soloists and, above all, contemporary composers. The 56-minute documentary “On Air – 100 Years of Radio Orchestras” is the first comprehensive look at how they developed – a cultural history from the technological age closely linked to the history of the 20th century. At the same time, it explores their vision for the future. A film about tradition and innovation, identity, new music and the radio itself.
Beyoncé and Solange Knowles are the most successful pair of sisters in pop history – and they couldn’t be more different…It takes a long time for Solange to step out of her sister’s shadow musically. A double portrait of two unequal exceptional artists. Beyoncé and Solange Knowles couldn’t be more different: One is arguably the biggest pop star of our time, the other puts her complex artistic aspirations above commercial success. While Beyoncé is systematically built up by her parents to become a megastar, her sister Solange has to fight with all her might for promotion and recognition from her family. It was not until late that she succeeded in stepping out of her sister’s shadow as an independent artist and emancipating herself musically. The film goes on a search for traces in Houston, the hometown of the sisters. Together with companions and friends it sheds light on the lives and careers. As the frontwoman of Destiny’s Child, a band managed by her father, Beyoncé began her stellar career in the late 1990s. After the group breaks up in 2006, Beyoncé launches her solo career with seven studio albums and 32 Grammys to date. Solange, on the other hand, begins her first steps into the limelight in the second row: first as a background dancer for Destiny’s Child, later as a songwriter for her big sister. But she wants more. Her third solo album “A Seat at the Table” brings the longed-for liberation. The album is celebrated by critics, Solange wins her first Grammy. After 30 years in the shadow of her sister, she has won her place at the table.
Maria Callas made her debut in Paris in 1958. In front of the magnificent backdrop of the Paris Opera (now the Palais Garnier), she shone with arias from Norma by Vincenzo Bellini, Giuseppe Verdi’s The Troubadour and Gioachino Rossini’s The Babier of Seville. A spectacular performance in the city that became her home until her death in 1977. Her debut in front of the grandiose backdrop of the Paris Opera was a social event that drew crowds from all over Paris. Among the guests were numerous celebrities from politics, society and culture, including Charlie Chaplin and Brigitte Bardot. Maria Callas took to the stage in designer clothes and adorned with a million dollars’ worth of jewels. She began with “Casta diva” from Vincenzo Bellini’s “Norma”, followed by Leonora’s sad aria and the poignant “Miserere” from the fourth act of Giuseppe Verdi’s “The Troubadour”, before she lifted the mood with “Una voce poco fa” from Gioachino Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville”. Maria Callas took the Parisian audience by storm. At the time, nobody could have guessed that Paris would become her city of destiny, where she would settle and where she would die far too young in 1977 at the age of just 53.
Music created with the assistance of artificial intelligence is a well-established secret in the world of pop. Today, AI is also making serious inroads in the classical domain, bringing us to the threshold of a new era in classical music. From the recording of the first samples to the premiere performance at the Semperoper in Dresden, the film accompanies the creation of the opera “Chasing Waterfalls”, which was co-composed by artificial intelligence. We follow the AI as it reconstructs Beethoven’s 10th symphony and watch it perform with Robbie Williams, and we see how pianist Dirk Maassen at the Sony Science Lab in Paris and saxophonist Asya Fateyeva at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg interact with AI in real time, and how Spanish professor Eduardo Miranda in Plymouth is using quantum computers to create music entirely from scratch. Experts Kenza Ait Si Abbou and Christian Mio Loclair comment on these fascinating developments as well as the currently highly topical Chat GPT platform.
It was only through the request of the then Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker that the concert came about in 1992. The legendary Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache and the Berlin Philharmonic were to be reconciled. Celibidache had shaped the orchestra in over 400 concerts between 1945 and 1954 after the end of the Second World War. When, after the death of Wilhelm Furtwängler the orchestra chose Herbert von Karajan as his successor instead of Sergiu Celibidache, a dispute arose, and the two eventually parted ways. Celibidache withdrew, deeply offended, and refused any offer of further collaboration. It took 38 years for Sergiu Celibidache to return to the podium of the Berlin Philharmonic. It went down in music history as the so-called ‘reconciliation concert’. Celibidache made it a condition that he would receive twice as many rehearsals as usual. The program included Anton Bruckner’s 7th Symphony. In addition to rehearsal and concert excerpts, the film features Celibidache’s son, Serge Ioan Celebidachi, contemporary witnesses from the Berlin Philharmonic, the orchestra’s horn player Sarah Willis, the young French conductor Marie Jacquot, his last conducting student Rémy Ballot, and the Romanian conductor Cristian Macelaru. They provide insight into Sergiu Celibidache’s personality, working methods, and understanding of music.
Sergei Rachmaninov is perhaps most remembered—and beloved—for his piano concertos, which still stand as pillars of Romanticism, though mostly written in the 20th century. At the 2022 Lucerne Festival, virtuoso pianist Mao Fujita performs the composer’s celebrated Piano Concerto No. 2—absolutely brimming with memorable melody and poignant harmony—alongside maestro Riccardo Chailly at the head of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra!
