American violinist Hilary Hahn – “one of the essential violinists of our time” (The New York Times) – appears for the first time at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Switzerland, with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Violin Concertos in A minor and E major. At the age of 17 she made a huge impression with the recording of Bach’s six sonatas and partitas. Twenty years later she still interprets Bach with the same ease and fascinates by her unaffected, brilliant playing. Together with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, who later perform Schubert’s “Tragic” 4th Symphony, this results in an enchanting interplay in the beautiful Mauritius Church. The conductor is the Israeli Omer Meir Wellber, who also reaches for the bandoneon in Piazzolla’s rousing Oblivion encore.
Ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e, or how to survive together in a world constantly in crisis? A meditation on our capacity for resilience, this new piece by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is named after the “images of the floating world”, the famous artistic movement that emerged in Japan during the Edo period, in the half-worlds of urban hedonism. The piece activates a work of balance in the face of impermanence. Beyond dualities, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui proposes to envisage bodies that do not end with fracture and limit, but rather to exalt these as augmentations of our person. Alexander Dodge’s set will feature a network of impossible staircases in which the dancers get lost. These mobile labyrinthine structures are intended to evoke both the ascent and the abyss. “Meditative, floor-based, soft and flowing dances that are among the most beautiful that contemporary dance holds.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
Beyond the Music: Barenboim-Said Akademie
After the founding of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in 1999, another project of intercultural understanding is derived from the friendship between Barenboim and the Palestinian humanist Edward Said. The inauguration of the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin marked a new phase within the political and educational engagement of musician and pedagogue Daniel Barenboim. After a successful world career as a pianist, conductor and musical teacher with political aspirations, the creation of this place is perhaps Barenboim’s most enduring work and at the same time a project of the heart. “Beyond the Music” portrays this innovative academy whose mission is committed to the humanistic ideals of its founders and ultimately a clear message of peace: music creates understanding.
The Mozart Requiem Project
Mozart’s legendary Requiem is certainly one of the composer’s most famous and frequently performed works. Raphaël Pichon and the ensemble “Pygmalion” – one of the leading music ensembles (a choir and orchestra) following historical criteria and playing on period instruments, now present the work in a unique version: divided into four blocks, it is interspersed with various vocal works, specially chosen to provide an overarching theme and sweeping vision within the context of the genius’ musical oeuvre. Performed in the Palau de la Música Catalana, UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most beautiful concert halls in the world, the performance becomes “an aesthetic experience full of sensitivity, a performance close to the sublime and a refreshing reading of one of the most performed and programmed works of the sacred repertoire” (Platea Magazine).
Le Donne di Puccini
La vida breve
Manuel de Falla’s short opera “La vida breve” is perhaps the greatest opera in the entire Spanish repertoire. Premiered in 1913, it is the tragic story of the poor gypsy Salud, whose lover Paco betrays her and plans to wed a wealthy young woman. In his production at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts “Reina Sofia”, director Giancarlo del Monaco creates a psychological drama in which Salud is on stage at all times, as if witnessing her own living nightmare of blood and shame. Conductor Lorin Maazel, whom national daily El Paìs hails as the “triunfador” of the evening, leads an exquisite band of soloists headed by Chilean soprano Cristina Gallardo- Domâs, Jorge de León Paco and María Luisa Corbacho.
RCO: Nelsons conducts Beethoven and Skrjabin
Andris Nelsons is leading the Concertgebouworkest in a programme dedicated to the intriguing mythological figure of Prometheus. He is conducting “Prométhée, le poème du feu”, a large-scale symphonic poem by Skrjabin scored not just for symphony orchestra, but also for piano and chorus, while a light organ provides colours to accompany the music. In the only ballet Beethoven ever wrote, “Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus”, Prometheus imparts art and civilisation to mankind. The conflict between the masses and a leader forms the basis of Brett Dean’s trumpet concerto “Dramatis personae”, which culminates in an exciting dialogue between soloist Håkan Hardenberger and the Concertgebouworkest. PROGRAM Beethoven: Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus; Skrjabin: Prométhée, le poème du feu; Dean: Dramatis personae
Jean-Yves Thibaudet plays Debussy’s Preludes
“Painter” – that is how Claude Debussy once answered the question of what profession he would have preferred to take up. His Préludes for piano, composed between 1909 and 1913, are like musical paintings whose impressive richness of tone colour invites the audience to let their imagination run free. French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet presents the complete cycle of these standard-setting compositions in an intimate concert in which the listener travels to snowy landscapes, the bottom of the ocean, a fairy ball, and much more. “A gourmet repast with refreshing contrasts of mood and texture.” (New York Classical Review). Programme: Claude Debussy: Préludes, Book I, L. 117 Préludes, Book II, L. 123 Edward Elgar: Salut d’Amour, Op. 12
The Carl Nielsen Gala
Carl Nielsen was unquestionably Denmark’s most important composer, commanding great respect already during his lifetime in Denmark and throughout Scandinavia. The Koncerthuset in Copenhagen marked the composer’s 150th anniversary with a grand gala under the musical direction of Juanjo Mena, in the presence of Queen Margarethe herself. The programme features the Clarinet Concerto, Nielsen’s last and one of his most famous orchestra works, which soloist Olli Leppäniemi executes with verve and virtuosity, his Fourth Symphony, “The Inextinguishable”, and also “Hymnus amoris”.
RCO: Herreweghe conducts Beethoven & Brahms
With Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2, Philippe Herreweghe is highlighting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s most important function since ist founding, namely to perform the best works from the Classical and Romantic periods. Herreweghe joins forces here with star pianist Yefim Bronfman, the Russian-Israeli-American master who is known as a heavyweight, excelling in tumultuous works. Remarkably enough, Bronfman now turns to the subtlest and most tender of piano concertos that Beethoven composed.