Concerts with works by

John Adams

SCHALLBRÜCKEN – with starry sky projection

Symphonic Concert

Kirill Karabits, photo: Mark Allan ‘Essentially it is a work for two orchestras – one live, one dead’ is how American composer and DJ Mason Bates, who wrote an opera about Steve Jobs, describes in a nutshell his composition Auditorium, first performed in San Francisco in 2016. The concept is linked to the composer’s newfound passion for Baroque instrumental music. It represents a kind of conversation between an orchestra playing live and an ensemble of early instruments 'captured’ on a remixed tape. Edvard Grieg subjected his only completed Piano Concerto to a more traditional ‘remix’ several times. One of the great Romantic concertos, it was premiered in 1869, but the composer put the finishing touches to it in the early twentieth century, a few weeks before his death. Here the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra will be accompanied by eminent Italian pianist Federico Colli, winner of the Salzburg and Leeds competitions. In addition to references to instrumental music of the Italian Baroque in Bates’s piece and to Norwegian folklore in Grieg’s composition, our programme will also include subtle allusions to traditional American jazz. These can be found in John Adams’s colourful symphonic fresco City Noir, in which the composer alludes to the cinematic, dreamlike aura of the city of Los Angeles in the post-war years.

Symphonic Concert

Kirill Karabits, photo: Mark Allan ‘Essentially it is a work for two orchestras – one live, one dead’ is how American composer and DJ Mason Bates, who wrote an opera about Steve Jobs, describes in a nutshell his composition Auditorium, first performed in San Francisco in 2016. The concept is linked to the composer’s newfound passion for Baroque instrumental music. It represents a kind of conversation between an orchestra playing live and an ensemble of early instruments 'captured’ on a remixed tape. Edvard Grieg subjected his only completed Piano Concerto to a more traditional ‘remix’ several times. One of the great Romantic concertos, it was premiered in 1869, but the composer put the finishing touches to it in the early twentieth century, a few weeks before his death. Here the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra will be accompanied by eminent Italian pianist Federico Colli, winner of the Salzburg and Leeds competitions. In addition to references to instrumental music of the Italian Baroque in Bates’s piece and to Norwegian folklore in Grieg’s composition, our programme will also include subtle allusions to traditional American jazz. These can be found in John Adams’s colourful symphonic fresco City Noir, in which the composer alludes to the cinematic, dreamlike aura of the city of Los Angeles in the post-war years.

Adams Debussy

Adams Debussy

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich / Víkingur Ólafsson / Paavo Järvi

Since the Elbphilharmonie opened, Estonian star conductor Paavo Järvi has been one of its permanent guests, enchanting Hamburg audiences at several concerts a year. Now the conductor of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen again comes to the Grand Hall with his second top orchestra, the venerable Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. They will be joined by Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, who gave two brilliant renderings of Johann Sebastian Bach’s »Goldberg Variations« in Hamburg last season. On the programme is a new piano concerto by US composer John Adams, which was commissioned by the Elbphilharmonie among others. And the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich tackles two of the most famous modern orchestral pieces by György Ligeti and Witold Lutosławski, who skilfully combined folk music from Hungary and Poland with a thrilling orchestral sound in the 1950s.

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich / Paavo Järvi

With the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, its musical director the Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi, and the music of John Adams—which he sometimes performs alongside the composer—Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson is on friendly turf.

Wie frei ist die Kunst?

Das Ensemble Modern widmet sich in der Konzertreihe »Wie frei ist die Kunst?« mit Musik und Gesprächen dem Thema der Kunstfreiheit und deren Grenzen. Im Gesprächskonzert »Wie frei sind Veranstaltende?« sprechen Philharmonie-Intendant Louwrens Langevoort und Yilmaz Dziewior, Direktor des Museum Ludwig, darüber, wie Veranstaltende den Erwartungen des Publikums begegnen können. Welche Freiheiten gibt es in der Programmgestaltung bzw. welche Sachzwänge und äußeren Einflüsse wirken sich auf diese aus? Musikalisch schlägt das Konzert einen Bogen von streng konzipierter Avantgarde-Musik (Pierre Boulez »Dérive 1«) über niedrigschwellige Minimal Music (John Adams »Road movies«) bis hin zu dem 2002 entstandenen Stück »Unbreakable line. Hinged waist« von Jennifer Walshe.

Shani, Ólafsson · Adams, Bernstein