Concerts with works by

Maurice Ravel

Festival Élite 2025 – Kazumitsu UJIZAWA

Joana Mallwitz Francesco Piemontesi Sergei Rachmaninoff Maurice Ravel

In 1909, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) traveled on his first US tour. He brought along a newly written piece—Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor. He was the soloist at the premiere in New York, not knowing that he would emigrate to the US nine years later after the Russian Revolution.Piano Concerto No. 3 opens with a simple, melancholic melody, but during the next 45 minutes, the soloist must master some of the most spectacular music ever written for the piano. Few pianists tried it in the first years, but it gradually became more popular and performed. “I cannot imagine a more lively, problematic, human, artistically poignant and, in the best sense, dramatic figure … Mathis placed himself at the service of the powerful machinery of state and church and was apparently able to resist the pressures of the institutions.” These are the words Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) used to describe the Renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald, who inspired him to write a symphony and an opera with the title Mathis der Maler. The symphony is based on Grünewald’s most famous artwork, the Isenheim Altarpiece.Both artists bore witness to great upheavals - Grünewald lived through the German Peasants’ War in the 1520s, Hindemith during the rise of Nazism. Hindemith’s radical musical style, his provocative statements, and his wife’s Jewish background put him in a gradually more difficult position.In line with social developments, Hindemith in Mathis der Maler took a step in a more traditional direction, with elements of German folk tunes and music that may send the mind to Brahms and Wagner. The symphony was a great success with the public at its premiere in Berlin in 1934. ”Through whirling clouds, waltzing couples may be faintly distinguished. The clouds gradually scatter: one sees (...) an immense hall peopled with a whirling crowd. The scene is gradually illuminated. The light of the chandeliers bursts forth (...) in an imperial court, about 1855.”This is the introduction Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) wrote in the sheet music for La Valse. Already in 1906, he started on a tribute to Vienna, the waltz, and the “waltz king” Johann Strauss Jr.. La Valse premiered in Paris in the fall of 1920 as a standalone orchestral work. The recently ended World War I ended Vienna as the capital of a great empire. In Ravel, the waltz undergoes an extreme transformation that ends in a breakdown. Many in the audience experienced the play as a description of the demise of pre-war culture.

Guest performance

Eroica

In 1802, Beethoven decided to "embark on a new path", resulting in his deeply personal "Eroica" Symphony. This groundbreaking work aligns perfectly with Pierre Boulez, the revolutionary composer born 100 years ago. Boulez's twelve piano miniatures, "Notations" from 1945, are remarkably inventive, poetic, and surprisingly relaxed. Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, a Boulez expert, will perform these pieces, alongside their orchestral versions. Ravel's "Miroirs" will provide a resonant afterglow.

Orchestre de Chambre de Paris © – RAVEL | LELEU

Isidore String Quartet spielt Maurice Ravel

The Isidore String Quartet, founded in New York in 2019, explores and revitalizes the string quartet repertoire. Winners of the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition, they approach old works as new and new works as old. In their Essen debut, they'll perform works by Dutilleux and Ravel, along with "Carrot Revolution" by Gabriella Smith, a piece influenced by Bach, Bluegrass, Ligeti, and Simon & Garfunkel. A post-concert discussion and a "Sunday Matinee Plus" for seniors will follow.

Spraakmakers (Dutch spoken)

For lovers of chamber music the Recital Hall is the venue of choice. You can hear the musicians breathe and you can practically touch them. This hall is also cherished by musicians for its beautiful acoustics and direct contact with the audience. In the Recital Hall you can hear the best musicians of our time. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Recital Hall for yourself!

Ravel & Rimsky-Korsakov

A wicked sultan, a beautiful princess, and a thousand and one nights of pleasure.Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherezade might sound like a box of Turkish Delight, but make no mistake, it’s one of classical music’s most sensuous treats. So let the LPO and 2024/25 Fellow Conductor Juya Shin show you a world of glittering excess, swashbuckling thrills and pure silken seduction, all painted in sumptuous orchestral colour. First though, enjoy Ravel at his most personal and powerful, as the ‘astonishing’ (Classic FM) pianist Nicholas McCarthy plays the thrilling Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. Trust us: hearing is believing.

Harvestehuder Sinfonieorchester Hamburg

The Harvestehuder Sinfonieorchester has been an integral part of Hamburg’s musical life since 1966. Twice a year, its performances in the Laeiszhalle prove that amateur ensembles can also give concerts on a professional level. Each member is required to have outstanding instrumental ability and extensive orchestral experience before they can contribute to musical projects. In more than 130 concerts, the 90-strong ensemble has, under selected conductors, performed works by more than 80 composers, including Hamburg premieres of works by contemporary composers.

Leonkoro Quartet plays Ravel and Berg

For lovers of chamber music the Recital Hall is the venue of choice. You can hear the musicians breathe and you can practically touch them. This hall is also cherished by musicians for its beautiful acoustics and direct contact with the audience. In the Recital Hall you can hear the best musicians of our time. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Recital Hall for yourself!

Teatime Classics

Guido Sant’Anna »has charisma, stage presence and an astonishing maturity and depth in his playing,« wrote the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung after the young Brazilian violinist had opened the Rheingau Music Festival in 2023 together with the hr-Sinfonieorchester. Be it large concert stages or prestigious competitions – at not even 20 years old, Guido Sant’Anna wins over audiences, the press and judges equally. With Martina Consonni, sponsored by star pianist Sir András Schiff, who celebrated her debut at the Elbphilharmonie in 2024, he presents a programme from Schubert to Ravel, which entertains both with breakneck virtuosity and expansive melody arcs – and even blues. Both Guido Sant’Anna and Martina Consonni study at the prestigious Kronberg Academy. Guido Sant’Anna was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2005. He achieved international recognition when he was the first South American violinist to win the prestigious International Fritz Kreisler Competition in 2022. A historic success had already preceded this triumph in Vienna in 2018 when he was the first Brazilian violinist to be invited to the International Yehudi Menuhin Competition in Geneva and won both the audience prize and the chamber music prize. In October 2022, he filled in for Christian Tetzlaff at the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in São Paulo for which he received rave reviews. Praised for her innate musicality and overwhelming sensitivity, combined with exceptional instrumental technique and brilliant sound, Martina Consonni has established herself as one of the most promising young pianists of her generation. Born in Como in 1997, she achieved two Masters degrees at the Pavia Conservatory and at the HMTM in Hanover. She also received a Masters degree in chamber music at the National Academy »Santa Cecilia« in Rome and an Artist Diploma at the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin under Sir András Schiff. She has been selected to participate in several master classes where she encountered musicians of international standing, such as Daniel Barenboim, Kirill Gerstein, Steven Isserlis and Christoph Eschenbach.

Leonkoro Quartet plays Ravel and Berg

For lovers of chamber music the Recital Hall is the venue of choice. You can hear the musicians breathe and you can practically touch them. This hall is also cherished by musicians for its beautiful acoustics and direct contact with the audience. In the Recital Hall you can hear the best musicians of our time. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Recital Hall for yourself!

Sheku Kanneh-Mason / Camerata Salzburg

»It could only be Shostakovich!« commented the BBC presenter when Sheku Kanneh-Mason entered the final of the »BBC Young Musician« in 2016 with Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto. Naturally, he emerged as the winner of the competition, in which he performed a different work by Shostakovich from round to round. His power composer! And there is no doubt that the now 25-year-old musician is one of the greatest talents on the cello. In ProArte’s »International Soloists« series, Kanneh-Mason juxtaposes the cello concerto dedicated to Rostropovich from 1959 with Ravel’s Hebrew melody Kaddish – an elegiac song that unfolds a particularly intense power in the version for cello and strings. And to mark the Ravel Year 2025, the Camerata Salzburg also contributes »Le tombeau de Couperin«, his very personal and highly artistic exploration of French Baroque music.

Elsa Dreisig

The suppleness of Elsa Dreisig's voice, matched by the art of sign singing, works wonders in this program devoted to French melody. Fauré's Amours du Poète rub shoulders with the alchemies of Ravel whose Quartet we can also enjoy.

Giorgi Gigashvili

Bertrand de Billy, Kit Armstrong

How is the house built? When are the roof, walls and floors added? And will the structure be able to support itself? These are the questions of an architect – but they can also be the questions of conductors when they approach musical structures with their very own style and passion. It is therefore hardly surprising that Bertrand de Billy, who was already fantasising about becoming a conductor at the age of four, once said: »If it hadn’t worked out with music, I would probably have been an architect.« From an early age, he carefully observed the movements of conductors – whether from the choirboy's perspective or as an orchestral musician. Today, he conducts numerous renowned orchestras himself. His specialities include classics and key works of the 20th century and, as a native of Paris, time and again declarations of love for French music. With us, he combines Gershwin and Ravel, two composers who knew each other well and both absorbed the other’s idiom. Ravel’s dazzling piece »Daphnis et Chloé« is a fairytale story about two foundlings, which premiered in the French metropolis in 1912. Gershwin’s pulsating piano concerto also has something to do with the city of love: although it was composed in 1925 in the jazzy melting pot that is New York, large parts of it were later woven into the film »An American in Paris«. As a congenial sound designer, Bertrand de Billy will work with us and the pianist Kit Armstrong to delicately emphasise the different currents and similarities of the compositions like a musical architect: Because he never wants to be an overbearing chef d'orchestre, but simply to be an artist among artists: »The fulfilment of creating something together is indescribably beautiful.«

Guest in Erlangen

How is the house built? When are the roof, walls and floors added? And will the structure be able to support itself? These are the questions of an architect – but they can also be the questions of conductors when they approach musical structures with their very own style and passion. It is therefore hardly surprising that Bertrand de Billy, who was already fantasising about becoming a conductor at the age of four, once said: »If it hadn’t worked out with music, I would probably have been an architect.« From an early age, he carefully observed the movements of conductors – whether from the choirboy's perspective or as an orchestral musician. Today, he conducts numerous renowned orchestras himself. His specialities include classics and key works of the 20th century and, as a native of Paris, time and again declarations of love for French music. With us, he combines Gershwin and Ravel, two composers who knew each other well and both absorbed the other’s idiom. Ravel’s dazzling piece »Daphnis et Chloé« is a fairytale story about two foundlings, which premiered in the French metropolis in 1912. Gershwin’s pulsating piano concerto also has something to do with the city of love: although it was composed in 1925 in the jazzy melting pot that is New York, large parts of it were later woven into the film »An American in Paris«. As a congenial sound designer, Bertrand de Billy will work with us and the pianist Kit Armstrong to delicately emphasise the different currents and similarities of the compositions like a musical architect: Because he never wants to be an overbearing chef d'orchestre, but simply to be an artist among artists: »The fulfilment of creating something together is indescribably beautiful.«

Orchestre de Paris / Klaus Mäkelä

In an invigorating contrast to Ravel’s miraculously delicate orchestration of Le Tombeau de Couperin and Ma mère l'Oye, the barbed rhythms and sparkling orchestral colours of Petrouchka complete a program conceived as as a true hymn to the orchestra.

Waltz and malambo

Maurice Ravel's imaginative and even humorous La valse is a tribute to the waltz and Johann Strauss II. Originally, the working title for this music was "Vienne", then he changed it from the French spelling to German, "Wien", before finally deciding that the fitting title would be La valse. Ravel and Argentine Alberto Ginastera frame the program, the latter with fiery dance in the form of Malambo.Witold Lutosławski is one of the most significant composers of the 20th century. In his Fourth Symphony, which also became his last, lyrically tasteful sounds are combined with rhythmic elegance. He himself conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the world premiere on the occasion of his 80th birthday.Before the interval, we also hear two works for saxophone: Villa-Lobos's exuberant and warm Fantasia for Saxophone and Small Orchestra, and a newly written saxophone concerto by British composer Dani Howard, composed for Jess Gillam. The vibrant English saxophonist Jess Gillam made her debut at Konserthuset in February 2023, as one of the season's Rising Stars. She charts her own course and is a shining example of how a new generation of musicians revitalizes the genre.

Orchestre de Paris / Klaus Mäkelä

In a programme imagined as a true hymn to the orchestra, Le Sacre du printemps magnifies the telluric power of the orchestra in striking counterpoint to the miraculously delicate orchestration of Le Tombeau de Couperin and Ma mère l'Oye.

Waltz and malambo

Maurice Ravel's imaginative and even humorous La valse is a tribute to the waltz and Johann Strauss II. Originally, the working title for this music was "Vienne", then he changed it from the French spelling to German, "Wien", before finally deciding that the fitting title would be La valse. Ravel and Argentine Alberto Ginastera frame the program, the latter with fiery dance in the form of Malambo.Witold Lutosławski is one of the most significant composers of the 20th century. In his Fourth Symphony, which also became his last, lyrically tasteful sounds are combined with rhythmic elegance. He himself conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the world premiere on the occasion of his 80th birthday.Before the interval, we also hear two works for saxophone: Villa-Lobos's exuberant and warm Fantasia for Saxophone and Small Orchestra, and a newly written saxophone concerto by British composer Dani Howard, composed for Jess Gillam. The vibrant English saxophonist Jess Gillam made her debut at Konserthuset in February 2023, as one of the season's Rising Stars. She charts her own course and is a shining example of how a new generation of musicians revitalizes the genre.

Das SWR Experimentalstudio in Freiburg mit Alfonso Gomez

BOULEZ ENSEMBLE & MICHAEL WENDEBERG

“Fold by fold”—pli selon pli—Pierre Boulez reveals a portrait of the poet Stéphane Mallarmé, arguably the most important literary influence on his music, in his eponymous work for soprano and orchestra. Michael Wendeberg, who worked closely with Boulez as pianist of the Ensemble intercontemporain, conducts excerpts from the composer’s most expansive score, in the piece’s Pierre Boulez Saal premiere. The program also includes the 1965 ensemble work Éclat as well as compositions by Maurice Ravel and Austrian composer Thomas Wally, born in 1981.

Organ matinee Vincent Dubois and Marie-Andrée Joerger

They are an unconventional and avowed duet: Vincent Dubois, titular organist of Notre-Dame in Paris, and accordionist Marie-Andrée Joerger have been performing together for many years. At their organ matinee, they transform the Philharmonie first into a French salon with works by Ravel and Debussy, then into an Argentinian café – with tangos such as Invierno porteño, Adiós Nonino and Decarisimo by Astor Piazzolla. Imposing works by celebrated French organ composers Louis Vierne and Maurice Duruflé round off the performance.

»D’UN PAS LÉGER«

Intoxicating sounds

Anyone who has ever danced the Viennese Waltz will know that an air of royal-imperial grandeur and stylistic elegance is not the only sensation that overcomes you. A profound sense of dizziness and centrifugal force are part of the deal. What in the beginning seems cheerful and buoyant quickly turns into sensual frenzy, much like a spinning top gone crazy. There is no piece that shows these two aspects of waltzing in such a poignant and Viennese way as Ravel’s La Valse, so much so that even the famous impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who had commissioned the work, felt it was a bit over the top for his ballet company. But Ravel’s orchestral dance is so mesmerizing, so colourful and rhythmically bizarre that it is easy to visualize the frenzy on an imaginary dancefloor: »You can see a huge hall with countless people spinning in circles,« said the composer about La Valse. In less than 14 minutes, the illusive bliss of waltzing turns into apocalyptic ecstasy. A piece that eventually did fulfill its purpose as ballet music is Albert Roussel’s Bacchus et Ariadne, music to the ancient Greek myth – beautiful, almost fragrant sounds which the Frenchman and Ravel-contemporary later distilled into two suites for orchestra. Seduction, enchantment, orgiastic celebrations intoxicated with love, these substances are better enjoyed on a purely musical level. Bacchus, whose full-time occupation as God of wine-making rarely leaves him without a motley entourage of party guests, snatches the mortal Ariadne who was stood up by her ex-lover Theseus on the island of Naxos. Bacchus, aka Dionysus, and his Ariadne celebrate a triumphant Bacchanal together which Albert Roussel sets as sweeping, dazzling party for orchestra. From Ariadne to Alice: Edward Elgar was in need of a muse when he started to work on his violin concerto. Conveniently, she had the same name as the wife. »My work has me burning & I am composing like mad. You should come & see it (& hear it).« Having started out as a violinist, Elgar knew the instrument like the back of his hand. Surely, that is one reason why his opus 43 shows the perfect balance between the soloist and the orchestra. Star violinist Fritz Kreisler had commissioned this luscious, opulent work: a mosaic of countless ideas and melodies, a stream of yearning thoughts, led by the violin and painted in a variety of nuanced colours by the orchestra. Together, they indulge in an ecstatic final movement, including what might be the most touching solo cadenza ever. Thanks to our soloist, the world-famous violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, the enormous technical difficulties fade away in the light of the musical rush of emotions. »Herein is enshrined the soul of..…,« Edward Elgar, prone to the enigma, wrote in the score. Five dots – perhaps they stand for the name Alice. But if yes, then which?

Rising Stars: Matilda Lloyd & Jonathan Ware

Matilda Lloyd, a rising star trumpeter, is praised for her musicality and flawless technique. Her concert will feature Honegger's "Intrada" and Peters' "Aria", showcasing the trumpet's versatility. She's accompanied by pianist Jonathan Ware. Lloyd is part of the "Rising Stars" project, nominated by The Barbican Centre London and Konserthuset Stockholm.

Intoxicating sounds

Anyone who has ever danced the Viennese Waltz will know that an air of royal-imperial grandeur and stylistic elegance is not the only sensation that overcomes you. A profound sense of dizziness and centrifugal force are part of the deal. What in the beginning seems cheerful and buoyant quickly turns into sensual frenzy, much like a spinning top gone crazy. There is no piece that shows these two aspects of waltzing in such a poignant and Viennese way as Ravel’s La Valse, so much so that even the famous impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who had commissioned the work, felt it was a bit over the top for his ballet company. But Ravel’s orchestral dance is so mesmerizing, so colourful and rhythmically bizarre that it is easy to visualize the frenzy on an imaginary dancefloor: »You can see a huge hall with countless people spinning in circles,« said the composer about La Valse. In less than 14 minutes, the illusive bliss of waltzing turns into apocalyptic ecstasy. A piece that eventually did fulfill its purpose as ballet music is Albert Roussel’s Bacchus et Ariadne, music to the ancient Greek myth – beautiful, almost fragrant sounds which the Frenchman and Ravel-contemporary later distilled into two suites for orchestra. Seduction, enchantment, orgiastic celebrations intoxicated with love, these substances are better enjoyed on a purely musical level. Bacchus, whose full-time occupation as God of wine-making rarely leaves him without a motley entourage of party guests, snatches the mortal Ariadne who was stood up by her ex-lover Theseus on the island of Naxos. Bacchus, aka Dionysus, and his Ariadne celebrate a triumphant Bacchanal together which Albert Roussel sets as sweeping, dazzling party for orchestra. From Ariadne to Alice: Edward Elgar was in need of a muse when he started to work on his violin concerto. Conveniently, she had the same name as the wife. »My work has me burning & I am composing like mad. You should come & see it (& hear it).« Having started out as a violinist, Elgar knew the instrument like the back of his hand. Surely, that is one reason why his opus 43 shows the perfect balance between the soloist and the orchestra. Star violinist Fritz Kreisler had commissioned this luscious, opulent work: a mosaic of countless ideas and melodies, a stream of yearning thoughts, led by the violin and painted in a variety of nuanced colours by the orchestra. Together, they indulge in an ecstatic final movement, including what might be the most touching solo cadenza ever. Thanks to our soloist, the world-famous violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, the enormous technical difficulties fade away in the light of the musical rush of emotions. »Herein is enshrined the soul of..…,« Edward Elgar, prone to the enigma, wrote in the score. Five dots – perhaps they stand for the name Alice. But if yes, then which?

Orchestre de Paris / Wiener Singverein / Klaus Mäkelä

The Orchestre de Paris and its music director Klaus Mäkelä bring the flair of early 20th century Paris to Hamburg. They explore the tension between Impressionism and Modernism with works by Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky. Debussy and Ravel are the figureheads of musical Impressionist music – their works are marked by ingenious orchestration and shimmering tone colour. Debussy found inspiration for his »Nocturnes«, in which the Vienna Singverein makes an appearance, in Impressionist painting. Ravel, on the other hand, combined Baroque dances with his own style in »Le tombeau de Couperin«. »Le sacre du printemps» triggered one of the most famous performance scandals in music history. The time was not yet ripe for Stravinsky’s pounding rhythms and sharp sounds, which he used to depict a pagan sacrificial ritual. Today »The Rite of Spring« is one of the most frequently performed works in the orchestral repertoire.

Intoxicating sounds

Anyone who has ever danced the Viennese Waltz will know that an air of royal-imperial grandeur and stylistic elegance is not the only sensation that overcomes you. A profound sense of dizziness and centrifugal force are part of the deal. What in the beginning seems cheerful and buoyant quickly turns into sensual frenzy, much like a spinning top gone crazy. There is no piece that shows these two aspects of waltzing in such a poignant and Viennese way as Ravel’s La Valse, so much so that even the famous impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who had commissioned the work, felt it was a bit over the top for his ballet company. But Ravel’s orchestral dance is so mesmerizing, so colourful and rhythmically bizarre that it is easy to visualize the frenzy on an imaginary dancefloor: »You can see a huge hall with countless people spinning in circles,« said the composer about La Valse. In less than 14 minutes, the illusive bliss of waltzing turns into apocalyptic ecstasy. A piece that eventually did fulfill its purpose as ballet music is Albert Roussel’s Bacchus et Ariadne, music to the ancient Greek myth – beautiful, almost fragrant sounds which the Frenchman and Ravel-contemporary later distilled into two suites for orchestra. Seduction, enchantment, orgiastic celebrations intoxicated with love, these substances are better enjoyed on a purely musical level. Bacchus, whose full-time occupation as God of wine-making rarely leaves him without a motley entourage of party guests, snatches the mortal Ariadne who was stood up by her ex-lover Theseus on the island of Naxos. Bacchus, aka Dionysus, and his Ariadne celebrate a triumphant Bacchanal together which Albert Roussel sets as sweeping, dazzling party for orchestra. From Ariadne to Alice: Edward Elgar was in need of a muse when he started to work on his violin concerto. Conveniently, she had the same name as the wife. »My work has me burning & I am composing like mad. You should come & see it (& hear it).« Having started out as a violinist, Elgar knew the instrument like the back of his hand. Surely, that is one reason why his opus 43 shows the perfect balance between the soloist and the orchestra. Star violinist Fritz Kreisler had commissioned this luscious, opulent work: a mosaic of countless ideas and melodies, a stream of yearning thoughts, led by the violin and painted in a variety of nuanced colours by the orchestra. Together, they indulge in an ecstatic final movement, including what might be the most touching solo cadenza ever. Thanks to our soloist, the world-famous violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, the enormous technical difficulties fade away in the light of the musical rush of emotions. »Herein is enshrined the soul of..…,« Edward Elgar, prone to the enigma, wrote in the score. Five dots – perhaps they stand for the name Alice. But if yes, then which?