Concerts with works by

Richard Strauss

Beethoven and Strauss

"The Domestic Symphony" - that's exactly what the title "Sinfonia domestica" means, and Richard Strauss delivers on it! There is a striking melody for the wife, an equally memorable one for her husband, and even their child - charmingly played by the oboe d'amore - has their own appearances. And what happens? Essentially, Strauss has composed a musical family soap opera with visits from relatives, the child's crying, arguments between the spouses, and reconciliation including a love scene. Then everyone falls asleep, and when the alarm clock rings at seven in the morning, everything leads to a cheerful family finale. On the other hand, Beethoven's Violin Concerto is a more classical piece, one of the most popular works for this instrument. With the striking timpani motif at the beginning, the delicacy of the second movement, and the hunting theme in the finale, it has become ingrained in the ears of its audience.

Dvořák and Bernstein

Stefan Dohr is a living legend. The principal horn player of the Berlin Philharmonic is considered one of the best in the world, if not the best horn player of the present time. Together with the brass players of our orchestra, he opens up a whole musical world, ranging from the brass serenades of Antonín Dvořák and Richard Strauss to Bernstein's "West Side Story" and the famous fanfare by Aaron Copland, composed in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, which still stands for the strength and unwavering spirit of the "ordinary person." This exclamation also has a response! It comes from Joan Tower, whose "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman" also comes from the American music tradition and highlights the extraordinary role of women - powerful, yet in their own way.

Anna El-Khashem. Keval Shah Was blüht denn da?

Anna El-Khashem, who declared her ambition to be an opera singer as early as kindergarten, launched an impressive career, joining the Saint Petersburg Conservatory at 17 and the Bavarian State Opera's studio three years later. In 2018, she won the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg and recently debuted there as Zerlina. Her Heidelberg debut features romantic flower songs and Russian art songs.

29th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival

29th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival - Beethoven and great poetry 6-18 April 2025 More information: www.beethoven.org.pl Organiser: Ludwig van Beethoven Association General Director of the Festival: Elżbieta Penderecka The Festival, co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the City of Warsaw, is held under the honorary patronage of President Andrzej Duda.

Easter Festival Baden-Baden 2025

SALOME

Premiered in 1905, "Salome" marked the beginning of Richard Strauss' great opera successes. Based on Oscar Wilde's sensational tragedy, he composed a music drama of unleashed passion, whose global success even censorship couldn't stop. Strauss transformed this scandalous story, based on the New Testament, into a musical portrait of the unconscious, exploring sensuality versus asceticism, intoxication versus loneliness, power versus eros. Salome, a Judean princess, desires the imprisoned prophet Jochanaan. Rejected, she uses her charms to obtain his severed head. Her final monologue, a dialogue with the head, is an ecstatic and tragic love song. Strauss masterfully portrays desire and revenge through innovative sounds, capturing Salome's erotic dance and Jochanaan's pathos.

Easter Festival Baden-Baden 2025

Easter Festival Baden-Baden 2025

29th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival

29th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival - Beethoven and great poetry 6-18 April 2025 More information: www.beethoven.org.pl Organiser: Ludwig van Beethoven Association General Director of the Festival: Elżbieta Penderecka The Festival, co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the City of Warsaw, is held under the honorary patronage of President Andrzej Duda.

Easter Festival Baden-Baden 2025

Orchestre de Paris / Jukka-Pekka Saraste

In response to the Brahmsian drama, marked by mystery and wildness, we have one of Sibelius's most optimistic compositions. And between the two, these last songs, which are not just those of Strauss's, but a “farewell” to Romantic song.

Orchestre de Paris / Jukka-Pekka Saraste

In response to the Brahmsian drama, marked by mystery and wildness, we have one of Sibelius's most optimistic compositions. And between the two, these last songs, which are not just those of Strauss's, but a “farewell” to Romantic song.

An Alpine Symphony

Franz Schubert was only around 17–18 years old when he wrote his second symphony. Yet it is an impressive work in the spirit of Beethoven. In other words, it is music full of contrasts and captivating melodies.The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is led by Franz Welser-Möst, who in 2018 was awarded the title Eric Ericson Honorary Chair. Since 2020, he regularly conducts the orchestra. It is a collaboration that follows the bond that developed between the orchestra and conductor during the initial concerts together, and has deepened over the years.A composer who holds a special place in Welser-Möst's heart is Richard Strauss. Here, he leads the orchestra in An Alpine Symphony, which, despite the title, is not a traditional symphony but a tone poem that depicts a dramatic journey up and down an Alpine mountain, with changing weather and nature immersions. To portray the adventure, Strauss prescribes an enormous orchestra – including cowbells, wind and thunder machines, and an extra-large brass section.

An Alpine Symphony

Franz Schubert was only around 17–18 years old when he wrote his second symphony. Yet it is an impressive work in the spirit of Beethoven. In other words, it is music full of contrasts and captivating melodies.The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is led by Franz Welser-Möst, who in 2018 was awarded the title Eric Ericson Honorary Chair. Since 2020, he regularly conducts the orchestra. It is a collaboration that follows the bond that developed between the orchestra and conductor during the initial concerts together, and has deepened over the years.A composer who holds a special place in Welser-Möst's heart is Richard Strauss. Here, he leads the orchestra in An Alpine Symphony, which, despite the title, is not a traditional symphony but a tone poem that depicts a dramatic journey up and down an Alpine mountain, with changing weather and nature immersions. To portray the adventure, Strauss prescribes an enormous orchestra – including cowbells, wind and thunder machines, and an extra-large brass section.

Orchestre de Paris / Holly Hyun Choe

The vibrant classicism of Strauss, the leaping energy of a Bernstein more “Broadway” than ever, the serenity of Saariaho and the most jolly of Shostakovich’s Symphonies... a program with four faces of joy.

Close-up: Metamorphosen

Musicians of the Concertgebouw Orchestra perform their own programmes in the Recital Hall as part of the Close-up chamber music series. Each of these concerts is unique and performed only once as part of the series. It’s the very best way to experience the individual qualities of the orchestral musicians! These intimate concerts are organised by the Friends of the Concertgebouw and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Camilla Nylund / Helmut Deutsch / Song Recital

Camilla Nylund’s dramatic soprano has all it takes for the grand operas by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. But the Finn, who was recently hailed at the Elbphilharmonie for her »American Songbook« project, can also sing a couple of smaller numbers. This is particularly exciting when, with Helmut Deutsch, one of the most sought-after accompanists of all is at the piano. Alban Berg’s »Sieben frühe Lieder« (Seven Early Songs) are real gems and sound romantic in their own particular way – and tremendously sensitive. You can hear a lot of Gustav Mahler here! Especially as a composition pupil of Arnold Schönberg, the very young composer also makes forays to the limits of tonality here, however. Once older, he stubbornly held back many of his songs, but chose to release these seven. Obviously, he was particularly fond of them. With their warm, scintillating tenderness, which intensifies to a frenzy, they open up completely new horizons. There is perhaps no help for anyone who does not get goosebumps when the roses burst open in Theodor Storm’s »Nachtigall« (Nightingale)…

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider Ting-Wei Chen Richard Strauss Carl Nielsen Pyotr Tchaikovsky

According to legend, the charming swindler and prankster Till Eulenspiegel lived in the 14th century and is the hero of almost a hundred folk tales. In the tone poem Till Eulenspiegel from 1896, Richard Strauss (1864-1949) cheerfully portrays him with horn and clarinet. Till Eulenspiegel is one of Strauss’ most humorous works, as full of inventions and surprises as the main character. Till dresses up, flirts with the ladies and makes fun of the scholars before he is put on trial and sentenced to death. The ending is ambiguous – does he manage to escape?In 1921, Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) was captivated by a concert with the Copenhagen Wind Quintet. He knew the musicians, and wrote a piece for the quiet in which each one is described with music. He wanted to write one solo concerto for each – he managed two and started with the flutist.“Eventually, the orchestral movement also becomes fuller and more moving, but this does not last long, because the flute cannot deny its nature (...) the composer must therefore adapt to its gentle nature,” Nielsen wrote about the Flute Concerto from 1926, a gentle and cheerful work in which there is a storm in between.“The music from this ballet will become one of my best works. The subject is so poetic, so well suited to music, that I was entirely engrossed in composing it, and wrote with an ardor and passion which always results,” wrote Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1841-1893) during the work with Sleeping Beauty.With Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky set a completely new standard for the ballet genre and greatly raised the status of ballet music. Sleeping Beauty premiered in 1890. The Sleeping Beauty Suite, composed after his death, features five orchestral excerpts from the ballet.

Perfect

Philharmonic Chamber Music Recital

Richard Strauss’ »Capriccio« seems remote from the world, in the face of the cruelty witnessed in the Second World War. The musical means of the late 19th century are used here in the 20th century to describe the time of the late 18th century. In the string sextet where the action begins, the »rapture« from earth is captured as though in a tableau. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Third String Quartet was also thought to not be of its time, in a very different way. Described as the »patchwork of a madman«, this »crazy« music was met with incomprehension by the public. Beethoven though was deliberately seeking to challenge expectations when he took chamber music out of the living room and into the major concert halls of the day.

Junggenies

London Symphony Orchestra/Gustavo Dudamel

Four stories of faraway lands, opulence, and scandal.

Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto

Icelandic Víkingur Ólafsson is currently one of the world's most acclaimed and sought-after pianists. The New York Times coined him ”Iceland's Glenn Gould”, and his recordings are showered with five-star reviews. This season, he is the Artist-in-Residence at Konserthuset Stockholm.Following the success of Bach's Goldberg Variations, which he performed to a full house here at Konserthuset last season, he takes on more of the classical music world’s great Bs – Brahms and Beethoven. A few days before this concert, he performs Beethoven’s late piano sonatas in a solo recital. Last autumn, he played Brahms' first piano concerto, and now Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.When Beethoven moved to Vienna, it was as a pianist that he first made his breakthrough. Audiences were captivated by his dazzling technique and improvisational skill. At the heart of his piano output are the five magnificent piano concertos, with the Emperor Concerto being the fifth. The title Emperor Concerto refers to the majestic first movement, which begins with powerful orchestral chords and virtuosic arpeggios and runs spanning the entire keyboard.French conductor Stéphane Denève also leads the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in American Stacy Garrop's beautiful Penelope Waits from 2013, inspired by Greek mythology, and mythological music with dance themes by Paul Dukas and Richard Strauss.

Chamber Music in the Brahms-Saal

Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto

Icelandic Víkingur Ólafsson is currently one of the world's most acclaimed and sought-after pianists. The New York Times coined him ”Iceland's Glenn Gould”, and his recordings are showered with five-star reviews. This season, he is the Artist-in-Residence at Konserthuset Stockholm.Following the success of Bach's Goldberg Variations, which he performed to a full house here at Konserthuset last season, he takes on more of the classical music world’s great Bs – Brahms and Beethoven. A few days before this concert, he performs Beethoven’s late piano sonatas in a solo recital. Last autumn, he played Brahms' first piano concerto, and now Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.When Beethoven moved to Vienna, it was as a pianist that he first made his breakthrough. Audiences were captivated by his dazzling technique and improvisational skill. At the heart of his piano output are the five magnificent piano concertos, with the Emperor Concerto being the fifth. The title Emperor Concerto refers to the majestic first movement, which begins with powerful orchestral chords and virtuosic arpeggios and runs spanning the entire keyboard.French conductor Stéphane Denève also leads the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in American Stacy Garrop's beautiful Penelope Waits from 2013, inspired by Greek mythology, and mythological music with dance themes by Paul Dukas and Richard Strauss.

Dortmund

Popelka, Capuçon · Korngold, J. Strauss, R. Strauss

Nikola Hillebrand. Alexander Fleischer Freundliche Visionen

Nikola Hillebrand, a former Mannheim National Theatre ensemble member and winner of the 2019 "Das Lied" competition, has joined the Semperoper ensemble. Celebrated in major European opera houses, especially for Mozart roles, she regularly performs with renowned orchestras. This program, developed with pianist Alexander Fleischer, showcases her nuanced soprano and artistic imagination.

Popelka, Capuçon · Korngold, J. Strauss, R. Strauss

London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano

Two portraits from a magician of orchestral colour, Richard Strauss – plus a young Mozart dances on the violin

On tour with Popelka and Bartoš