After debuts in Europe and abroad, Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv is now one of the best-known female maestros in the world. In 2021, after 145 years of Bayreuth Festival history, she was the first female conductor in the Festspielhaus with her debut production of The Flying Dutchman as the opening of the festival. In 2022, Oksana Lyniv became chief conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. From 2017-2020 she was chief conductor of the Graz Opera and the Graz Philharmonic (Austria). Since the beginning of the escalation of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Oksana Lyniv has become a symbol of a fighter in the international music world against the war that broke out in her country. The Opening Concert of the 2022 anniversary season of the Ludwigsburg Festival 2022 is an explicit concert for peace. Together with the Israeli pianist Iddo Bar-Shaï, Oksana Lyniv takes the stage, leading an emotional programme offering the audience a world of consolation and hope while acknowledging the darker side of our existence, its pain and suffering. PROGRAM Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, K.488; Mahler: Symphony No. 5
The Odeonsplatz Concert 2023 – Lang Lang & Orozco-Estrada
Classical music in a unique atmosphere, with top-class ensembles, conductors and soloists on one of the most magnificent squares in Europe are the ingredients for the success story of “Klassik am Odeonsplatz”. Since its founding in 2000, the open-air has become a firmly established highlight of Munich’s cultural life, attracting 16,000 music fans every year. This edition features piano superstar Lang Lang and charismatic Colombian conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Their can’t-miss program is made up exclusively of high Romantic classics, from Wagner’s famous Tannhäuser Overture and Grieg’s Piano Concerto to Richard Strauss’s exquisite tone poem Don Juan and, finally, Tchaikovsky’s sweeping Romeo and Juliet, whose rapturous main theme instantly calls to mind the greatest love stories ever told. An evening to revel in, to dream about and to thrill. “Everything is just right. A fabulous open-air feast.” (Münchner Merkur) “You can’t wish for more, you can’t do better.” (Abendzeitung)
Zubin Mehta – 85th Birthday Concert
On April 29, 2021, the 85th birthday of his close friend and colleague Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim is hosting a very private birthday concert: the pianist, conductor and general music director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden hands over the direction of “his” orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, to the jubilarian with whom he has been friends for decades – in private and musical terms. On the program are Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with Daniel Barenboim as soloist and Franz Schubert’s last Symphony “The Great”. PROGRAM: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4; Schubert: Symphony No. 9
Jurowski conducts Stravinsky
This production illustrates Stravinsky’s opulent diversity of forms. Three of the works performed are longer, have larger casts – and yet could not be more different: With “The Flood”, “Renard” and “Les Noces”, Stravinsky presents himself as the chameleon he is often apostrophised as. The RSB (Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin) under its principal conductor Vladimir Jurowski welcomes seven soloists and the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin. The renowned German actor Stefan Kaminski hosts the evening. PROGRAM: “The Flood”; “Fanfare for a new theatre”, “Tilim Bom“, “Renard” Burleske in one act; Lullaby from “The Rake’s Progress”, “Four cat songs“; “Musick To Heare“ from Three Songs by William Shakespeare, “The Owl and the Pussy-cat”, “Les Noces“, 1919 version
Filippo Gorini plays The Art of Fugue
There is no doubt that Filippo Gorini is one of the great thinkers of our time, and his performance of Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue) is not just a release: it is
a whole project. Bach’s unfinished masterpiece (BWV 1080) is of unspecified instrumentation, and there are many different attempts to realise it. It dates from Bach’s last decade, and comprises 14 Fugues and four Canons; the final Fugue, incomplete, is left hanging in the air, unforgettably. Gorini has spoken about letting that ending surprise him every time, even in the recording studio. Such a compositional exploration was unparalleled at the time. Bach’s writing in this piec is the absolute distillation of his contrapuntal thinking. Not a single note is wasted; the piece requires supreme concentration from its performer. Gorini is fascinated by the dialogue between the voices in contrapuntal music, a fascination that shines through every note. The performance is peaceful, and extremely profound; what Gorini himself refers to as a “timeless beauty”.
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yo-Yo Ma & Daniel Barenboim
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra celebrates its 20th anniversary by giving a concert at the Berlin Philharmonie with world-renowned artists: Anne-Sophie Mutter and Yo-Yo Ma perform Beethoven’s Triple Concerto together with Maestro Barenboim and the young musicians. Yo-Yo Ma, who played with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at their first concert 20 years ago, and Anne-Sophie Mutter, who made her debut with the orchestra only this year, were named as honorary members of the orchestra on the occasion of this event. “It is fascinating to experience how brilliant, concentrated and at the same time relaxed these three world stars make music together and listen to each other. A masterpiece of harmony“ (RBB24). The second part of the concert features Bruckner’s 9th Symphony, transcendental music which the composer himself dedicated to “the dear God“. The symphony is unfinished not only because Bruckner died during the process of composition, but especially because it seems to perish in nothingness. The musicians of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra are excellently prepared and play technically and tonal flawlessly. A magic moment. PROGRAM Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
Beethoven – The Piano Trios
On the occasion of Beethoven’s 250th birthday Daniel Barenboim, Michael Barenboim and Kian Soltani present his trios for piano, violin and cello on a total of two concert evenings in the intimate Boulez Hall – including the curious and rarely played variations on the song “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu“. A celebrated concert pianist, Beethoven had various motives as a composer: his piano trios were to show his virtuosity as well as to experiment with musical forms and techniques that would bear fruit in other genres. All of this is illuminated in these special concert evenings by the three outstanding musicians, whose interplay provoked rave reviews: “Kian Soltani’s silky cello tone rises from zero to the highest longing in just a few bars. The unison unanimity with Michael Barenboim is just as beguiling. […] While violin and cello drift into timelessness over softly thundering, tremoloing piano bass, one literally gets into a trance” (Der Tagesspiegel). Daniel Barenboim’s “incontrovertible identification with the music ‘itself’” is as captivating as their whole interplay: “as vigorous as it was euphonious, as impetuous as it was sublime” (Seen and Heard International).
Daniel Barenboim plays Beethoven Piano Sonatas
Daniel Barenboim is one of the most accomplished Beethoven experts of our time. From the very beginning of his career, he has been intensively and repeatedly engaged with the composer’s manifold works. Barenboim marked the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth by recording his thirty-two piano sonatas at Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal. The exceptional musician has been exploring Beethoven’s music for more than seven decades and his fifth complete survey of the sonatas arose from a period of deep immersion in Beethoven’s scores due to the cancellation of public concerts because of the coronavirus pandemic. With this sonata cycle, the great Daniel Barenboim has set himself a legacy!
The Odeonsplatz Concert: Gergiev & Florez
Munich’s Odeonsplatz Concert is one of the open-air highlights of the year. The magnificent Residenz Palace on one side and the serene, towering Theatinerkirche on the other provide the ideal backdrop for exceptional performances of classical music. In this setting, Juan Diego Flórez presents an impressive aria programme, for which “he is celebrated like a popstar” (Süddeutsche Zeitung) by the Munich public. The Münchner Philharmoniker shine with their maestro Valery Gergiev at the helm. Arias by Mozart, Donizetti, Massenet, Puccini, Verdi; Rimskij-Korsakow: Scheherazade
András Schiff – Lecture/Concert: Bach Partitas for Solo Piano
Sir András Schiff has spent many years probing the inexhaustible riches of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. At Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin he continues his series of
lectures & concerts with a presentation of Bach’s six partitas for solo piano. Available are Schiff’s complete performance (A055510070000 / 145′) of the partitas as well as his lecture – held in German (A055509760000 / 120′) and in English (A055509750000 / 115′) that includes musical examples at the piano.