The CBSO and Music Director Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla celebrate the centenary of Mieczyslaw Weinberg the man Shostakovich hailed as ‘one of the most outstanding composers’ of his day – with a rare performance of his Symphony No. 3, a work that combines folk melodies and dances with confessional urgency. That intensity is shared by Elgar’s passionate Cello Concerto, performed here by 2016 BBC Young Musician winner Sheku Kanneh-Mason. The concert opens with Dorothy Howell’s radiant tone-poem Lamia (first performed, like Elgar’s concerto, 100 years ago) and also includes The Way to Castle Yonder, a suite from the much-missed Oliver Knussen’s opera Higglety Pigglety Pop! “A performance of surpassing delicacy and refinement” (The Telegraph) PROGRAM Weinberg: Symphony No. 3; Elgar: Cello Concerto; Dorothy Howell: Lamia; Knussen: The Way to Castle Yonde
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, by Chi-chi Nwanoku
Chi-chi Nwanoku CBE, the double-bassist and founder of the extraordinary Chineke! Orchestra, explores the remarkable and tragic story of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – one of the greatest composers of the early 20th century (born 1875, died 1912). “He was brilliant, he was British, and he was black.” She asks why he’s been forgotten and questions the ongoing lack of diversity in the world of classical music. World-renowned for his choral work ‘The Song of Hiawatha’, Coleridge-Taylor – a contemporary of Elgar, Holst, and Vaughan-Williams – also enjoyed fame in America for his arrangements of negro spirituals, and was invited to the White House in 1904 by President Theodore Roosevelt – a rare honour for a man of colour so soon after the abolition of slavery in the USA.
Jonas Kaufmann: Christmas with Friends
For the third time, the star tenor invites viewers to „Christmas with Jonas Kaufmann“ on Christmas Eve on ZDF – this time to one of Germany‘s most traditional „Christmas regions,“ the Erzgebirge. The festively illuminated candle arches and revolving Christmas pyramids are world-famous examples of the traditional craftsmanship and carving art of this region. The magnificent St. Annenkirche church in Annaberg-Buchholz, richly decorated with works of art, is the setting for a concert with a prominent cast. In addition to top stars of classical music, artists from the pop genre spread a joyful and festive mood for the holiday with Christmas songs. In small detours, Jonas Kaufmann also lead the audience to other sights of the region, from a carving school to a historic hammer mill, from a lace-making workshop to the tunnels of a historic mine – and of course he also visits one of the major Christmas markets.