Many composers dedicate their works to important people or quite often to the musicians premiering them. In his Violin Concerto No° 4, Alfred Schnittke not only prefaced the piece with the dedication to the premiering soloist Gidon Kremer. He also put this dedication into music and placed it at the very beginning of the concerto, known as the “Kremer theme”. Kremer, who turns 75 in February 2022, performed this concerto for the first time at the Leipzig Gewandhaus under the baton of fellow Latvian Andris Nelsons. Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester also performed Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1, Winter Dreams. PROGRAM: Weinberg: Jüdische Rhapsodie; Schnittke: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 4; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1
Rita Ora at the Eiffel Tower
In the first episode of a new music series, Iconic People in Iconic Places, global superstar Rita Ora performs in an exclusive night of live-music, dance and iconic-fashion, all set under the cinematic backdrop of the Eiffel Tower. The show marks the international critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter’s transition back to live-music and follows Rita performing from the top of the tower, showcasing the venue in a way that has never been done before. A kaleidoscope of the past, present and future, Rita performs global hits like “Anywhere”, “Lonely Together” alongside tracks from her recent EP Bang.
Black Eyed Peas at Bayfront Park
Are you prepared for a concert that you are sure to be screaming along with for every single second? This once-in-a-lifetime show is the Black Eyed Peas’ first show in support of their new platinum selling album Translation, a live hip hop show at the Bayfront Park Amphitheater, Miami. The concert is not only featuring the BEPs’ original members – will.i.am Taboo and apl.de.ap – but also unique surprises that fans will not want to miss. Get ready to scream your favorite tracks and charts-topping hits. If you love hip hop music, then you can’t miss out on this show.
The Lucky Tenor – José Carreras turns 75 years
It was the existential turning point of a career that until then had known mainly triumphs: During a rehearsal, José Carreras learns that he has leukemia – an almost certain death sentence in 1987. He is transferred from Barcelona to a special clinic in Seattle. His only chance is a therapy that until then was considered impossible: stem cell transplantation. He survives the disease and feels a real commitment to others suffering from leukemia. Starting with the cancer and the subsequent healing as the frame story, the film tells the stages of a world career in an associative and emotional way, jumping back and forth. Tightly edited archive footage brings these chapters to life. Newly filmed material shows the most important scenes from Carreras’ life and career. In addition, interviews with prominent companions, contemporaries and experts as well as a central interview with the jubilarian himself reflect a dramatic biography without slipping into one-sided hero worship. Cross-genre greetings and birthday serenades from Pretty Yende to Diana Damrau and from Plácido Domingo to David Garrett demonstrate the high regard in which the artists’ colleagues hold his life’s musical achievements and document the enormous impact José Carreras continues to make.
LET’S PLAY – Classical Game Night
World renowned conductor Eímear Noone proudly enters the stage in Grieghallen, setting the scene for Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra to play under her direction – this is Let’s Play! This music documentary tells the story of 4 conductor talents and their journey from preparations to a spectacular concert production in Bergen International Festival 2021. Embrace yourself in the music and the visual story of some of the worlds most iconic computer games – World of Warcraft, Tetris, Halo and Hitman. The story is told by 4 young conductors, discovering a brand new world of music together with their mentor, Eímear Noone.
Music for Eternity – Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos
The Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach are, together with Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, the most famous concerts in the history of early music. They are true “evergreens” with an exciting genesis, brilliantly orchestrated and extremely varied. The flautist Ana de la Vega is one of the dazzling personalities of a young generation of musicians. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the Brandenburg Concertos, she embarks on a journey into the history and musical characteristics of the works. Fascinated by Bach and his music, she searches for traces in Leipzig, Weimar, Köthen and Berlin: How did the concerts come about? What makes them so unique? And what is the truth of the claim that they were a secret application of Bach?
Beethoven: The Last Three Piano Sonatas
Large industrial complexes, built of solid brick tell the story of industrialization of 19th century Leipzig. Where spinning wheels once rattled, chimneys smoked and thousands of workers carried out their daily work, new life has moved in over the past few years. Today, former factories are home to artists’ studios, galleries and manufactories. The term “industrial culture” is taken literally here. The Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig is one of these buildings that tell the story of time and was now the chosen location for a very special production: the exceptional Korean pianist Sunwook Kim played Ludwig van Beethoven’s last three Piano Sonatas op. 109-111 in an industrial setting framed by light projections that filled the brick hall. Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas occupy a very special place within his oeuvre. Completely deaf by then, the composer puts three of his most intimate and personal works on paper, which at the same time radiate optimism and point musically into the future like hardly any other works.
Lucerne Festival 2021: Chailly conducts Mozart & Schubert
to the podium of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Together, they opened the festival with two great masters of the Classic Romantic era: Mozart and Schubert. The overture to Don Giovanni was followed by a mesmerizing rendition of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 – one of only two he wrote in a minor key. In contrast, Schubert’s Symphony No. 6 focuses on the sunny side of life: C Major, Viennese nonchalance, pleasure put to sound with playful ideas that orchestra and conductor expertly demonstrated.
Gonzalo Rubalcaba & Aymee Nuviola at Bayfront Jazz Festival
The 2021 inaugural edition of the Bayfront Jazz Festival takes place in Miami’s Bayfront Park. The festival’s mission is to honor and celebrate the current and future giants of Jazz, Afro-Cuban, Latin and electronic music. This year’s unique line-up includes Gonzalo Rubalcaba & Aymée Nuviola, Roy Ayers, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Chucho Valdés and Mark Guiliana’s Beat Music. One highlight of Bay Front Jazz Festival was Gonzalo Rubalcaba ,— another Cuban pianist —, who left Cuba in the early 1990s and now resides in Coral Gables, near downtown Miami — appeared with singer Aymée Nuviola, with whom he made the Grammy-nominated album Viento y Tiempo – Live at Blue Note Tokyo.
Tanglewood Festival 2021 – A.S. Mutter & John Williams
C Major is delighted to present the world premiere performance of John Williams’ Violin Concerto No.2 from the Tanglewood Festival. Williams himself conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the soloist is the work’s dedicatee, Anne-Sophie Mutter. The legendary composer and superstar violinist are old friends and have enjoyed worldwide success together in recent years. Providing an explosive opening to the concert is American composer-violinist Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst (2012) for string orchestra, full of fiery colours and energy and conducted by the BSO’s Music Director Andris Nelsons. He returns to the stage after the Violin Concerto for Copland’s Quiet City, a score that began life as incidental music for a play of the same name, but found fame as a standalone concert piece. With haunting solo parts for trumpet and English horn, this reflective work paints an atmospheric portrait of a city by night. The programme ends with the suite Stravinsky put together in 1919 from his ballet The Firebird, triumphantly premiered in Paris in 1910. PROGRAM Williams: Violin Concerto No. 2 & Across the Stars; Montgomery: Starburst; Copland: Quiet City; Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird