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
Nathalie Stutzmann conducts the Münchner Philharmoniker
“Nathalie Stutzmann triumphed on her debut with the Münchner Philharmoniker as unpretentiously as precisely.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung) French conductor Nathalie Stutzmann, newly appointed music director in Atlanta, makes her debut with the Münchner Philharmoniker with a “fateful” program: Johannes Brahms’ Schicksalslied (Song of Fate), which was written close in time to his Requiem, is based on a poem by Hölderlin. In contrast to the poem, Brahms lets his musical Schicksalslied end in hopeful tones. Max Reger’s Requiem is a haunting lament in view of the senseless victims of the First World War. Wiebke Lehmkuhl through her singing underlines the appeal against indifference and forgetfulness. Tchaikovsky’s “Fifth” with its omnipresent “fate motif” concludes this concert. Programme: J. Brahms: “Schicksalslied” (Song of Destiny) for choir and orchestra, Op. 54; M. Reger: Requiem for alto, choir and orchestra, Op. 144/B; P. I. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
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
The Odeonsplatz Concert: Viotti & Wang
The Odeonsplatz is one of the most beautiful places in Munich. The surrounding historic buildings distinguish this location as an open-air arena for about 8,000 spectators. The square is named after a popular concert hall, the Odeon, which was built by Ludwig I of Bavaria in the early 19th century. “Klassik am Odeonsplatz” is a summer highlight in the musical life of the Bavarian capital. Yuja Wang shines in Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto, furthermore Lorenzo Viotti conducts popular works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Chabrier, and Ravel. PROGRAM Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2; Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol; Chabrier: Espana; Ravel: Bolero
The Mendelssohn Family – Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn
Together with the Israeli soprano Chen Reiss, the JCOM, conducted by Daniel Grossmann, discovers works by the fascinating composer Fanny Hensel and her famous brother Felix Mendelssohn. The congenial siblings Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn took very different paths. While Fanny’s musical talent, according to her father, could only be “an adornment, never the basic bass of your being and doing”, Felix’s father, himself the son of the famous Jewish Enlightenment philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, paved the way for a career as a musician. Fanny was only allowed to compose and perform her works in private. Only in recent years have many of Fanny Hensel’s works been rediscovered. ” Soprano Chen Reiss agrees on this point, and brings her own beguiling brand of elegant, operatic flair to a new album.” (The Opera Queen)
Festive Gala at the Semperoper Dresden: From Berlin to Broadway – The Golden Twenties
The Semperoper Dresden invites the public into the New Year with songs, hits and operetta classics from Berlin to Broadway: In the festive ambiance of the Semper Opera House, the audience of the New Year’s Eve concert, which have now become a tradition, can expect lively melodies from the “Golden Twenties”. Under the direction of Christian Thielemann, excerpts from “Metropolis” will be heard alongside well-known film hits from the heyday of cinema in the transition from silent to sound film. Berlin as the glorious center of a new, independent operetta era and New York with its Broadway musicals and George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”, played by Igor Levit, are the musical focal points of the program.
Barenboim conducts Beethoven No. 4
With the performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, 6 & 8, the Staatskapelle Berlin – under the direction of its principal conductor Daniel Barenboim – celebrates the outstanding composer and jubilarian in whose sign the year should actually be, before the Beethoven Year 2020 turned into a year in the grips of the pandemic that turned not only the music world upside down. PROGRAM: Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 4
Barenboim conducts Beethoven No. 5
With the performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, 6 & 8, the Staatskapelle Berlin – under the direction of its principal conductor Daniel Barenboim – celebrates the outstanding composer and jubilarian in whose sign the year should actually be, before the Beethoven Year 2020 turned into a year in the grips of the pandemic that turned not only the music world upside down. PROGRAM: Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5