Elektra

It is the concertante performance of Elektra in which the Staatskapelle Dresden under the baton of its principal conductor Christian Thielemann does justice once again to its reputation as Richard Strauss’s favourite orchestra and leaves us in no doubt: this is where the Strauss sound is at home! Evelyn Herlitzius leads a brilliant cast including Waltraud Meier, René Pape and Anne Schwanewilms.

Elektra

The NorrlandsOperan’s Symphony Orchestra is lead by conductor and grammy award nominee Rumon Gamba, gives the music its powerful and expressive note. Strauss’ courage inspired Carlus Padrissa of La Fura Dels Baus in his staging of Elektra’s wrath and vindictiveness and for giving the atmosphere for that, West Bothnian twilight is the perfect background for the burning forest and the river of blood. Elektra is sung by Ingela Brimberg who’s “powerful voice filled soul, earth and sky” (Kulturkorren).

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”.

Andris Nelsons conducts Shostakovich – Symphony No. 4 & Strauss, Flothuis

Andris Nelsons continues his Shostakovich series with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with the Fourth Symphony. This complex symphony of gigantic proportions was written during the period when Dmitry Shostakovich had been relegated from the status of a national hero to that of a potential enemy of the state by Stalin. When rehearsals for the Fourth proved disastrous, Shostakovich decided to withdraw the work. Even today, though, the Fourth Symphony is performed relatively rarely, perhaps because of the great challenge it poses to both conductor and orchestra. Before the interval, the RCO’s very own principal violinist Liviu Prunaru and its principal cellist Gregor Horsch excelled in Brahms’s Double Concerto, his final orchestral work.

Andris Nelsons conducts Shostakovich – Symphony No. 5

Within the 2014/2015 season, Andris Nelsons is leading the RCO in three programmes, all featuring symphonies by Dmitry Shostakovich. The Fifth Symphony was presented as a public penance in 1937, when the composer had been rebuked by the Communist regime for producing music that failed to reflect Soviet ideals. Juxtaposed with Shostakovich’s dramatic symphony is the Oboe Concerto by Richard Strauss, who was born 150 years ago. This melodic work is dominated by nostalgia for a world that was lost forever, Strauss having written it towards the end of his life shortly after the Second World War. With the Nocturne by Marius Flothuis, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is commemorating not only a composer – Flothuis also served as the orchestra’s artistic director for many years.

Barenboim conducts Beethoven & Tchaikovsky

In the course of their Buenos Aires residency Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra together with “honorary member of the Divan” Martha Argerich, gave “a concert that proved to be the hottest ticket in the festival.” Opening with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2, the orchestra confirmed that “it is, simply, one of the great orchestras in the world today” while “Argerich proved again that she has lost none of her magical tone or perfect articulation” (Buenos Aires Herald). In Tchaikovsky’s emotionally tempestuous Symphony No. 4, Barenboim’s reading “rose to all the big moments” (Buenos Aires Herald). As a surprise encore, Argerich and Barenboim played a two-piano arrangement of the sweetly nostalgic Bailecito by their compatriot Carlos Guastavino.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Gil Shaham in Concert

Sunday, the 29th of June, 2014, marks the 100th anniversary of Rafael Kubelík’s birth, Chief Conductor of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks from 1961 to 1979. Violinist Gil Shaham and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin have dedicated this concerts to the memory of the great artist and human being, Rafael Kubelík, who has left an indelible mark on the orchestra for many years right to the present day. On the program Béla Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major “Titan”.

Gardiner conducts Haydn, Mendelssohn and Bruckner

Sir John Eliot Gardiner is most famous for his interpretations of Baroque music on period instruments, but his repertoire and discography are not limited to early music. In this production he is conducting the BR Symphony Orchestra with a program including Joseph Haydn’s: “Insanae et vanae curae”, Mendelsohn-Bartholdy’s Symphony No. 5 in D major/D minor (“Reformation) and Anton Bruckner’s Mass No. 1 in D minor.

Max Raabe & Palast Orchester – A Night in Berlin

“Max Raabe & Palast Orchester” are internationally renowned for entertainment at its best. The reason for their success lies in the uniqueness and excellent quality of their performance. The classically trained musicians work as seriously at the interpretation of their music as they would at that of a composition by Beethoven. Max’s drily witty concert announcements provide a humorous counterpoint and a main attraction in the show. Quote: “Because perhaps a woman brings her husband to a concert and he might not like the singer or the music, but he may like the humor of the jokes.”