Concerts with works by

Sofia Gubaidulina

B'Rock Orchestra "Seraphim"

With divine certainty, angels are musical. Throughout time, earthly interpretations of their music have varied, from gentle harp melodies to powerful brass fanfares. Heavenly hosts significantly influenced secular music's development. Had angelic music adopted human traits, earthly music would have been impoverished. B'Rock Orchestra and Vocal Consort, with Andreas Küppers and Lucile Richardot, explore these mysteries from the late Renaissance to the present.

Shostakovich Quartets: Intimate Portraits, Part 3

The multinational young Kyan Quartet joins the Carduccis as Gubaidulina’s compact Quartet No 2 is stitched into a Shostakovich sequence including the penultimate quartet, with its focus on the cello.

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Julian Rachlin / Klaus Mäkelä

Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä doesn’t take up his post as chief conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra until 2027, but he is already working closely with the orchestra. At this concert, they perform Robert Schumann’s Fourth Symphony and Sofia Gubaidulina’s First Violin Concerto. The concert opens with a new piece by South Korean composer Seung Won-Oh. In 2023 Gubaidulina (*1931) was named the most frequently performed composer in the world by the online magazine Bachtrack. She experienced her international breakthrough in the 1980s with her Violin Concerto No. 1 »Offertorium«, in which she echoes Johann Sebastian Bach’s »Musical Offering«, her choice of title already pointing to a deep religious sense. Once premiered by master violinist Gidon Kremer, the renowned Austrian violinist Julian Rachlin has now been recruited for the solo part. Schumann’s Fourth Symphony was a birthday present for his beloved Clara and an affair of the heart for the composer. The recipient, herself a pianist and composer, was deeply moved by the symphony: »This is another work produced from the depths of the soul«.

Christoph Sietzen & Friends

Award-winning multi-percussionist Christoph Sietzen joins viola player Tabea Zimmermann and harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani in Cologne. They'll perform chamber music featuring rarely-heard percussion instruments, including Luciano Berio's "Naturale" and Iannis Xenakis' challenging "Oophaa".

Femmes Fortes

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Antoine Tamestit / Pablo Heras-Casado

Not many conductors manage this: to be as much in demand with the Freiburger Barockorchester as with the Bayreuth Festival or the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra; to have the right touch for early music as well as for Romantic and contemporary music, and for concert music as well as for opera. The Spaniard Pablo Heras-Casado is a stylistic all-rounder and presents another »conquest« in his repertoire during his return to the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra: Excerpts from Richard Wagner’s »Götterdämmerung«. In addition, the no less versatile star violist and NDR Artist in Residence 2024/25 Antoine Tamestit performs Sofia Gubaidulina’s Viola Concerto, which has more or less become a »modern classic«.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Antoine Tamestit / Pablo Heras-Casado

Not many conductors manage this: to be as much in demand with the Freiburger Barockorchester as with the Bayreuth Festival or the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra; to have the right touch for early music as well as for Romantic and contemporary music, and for concert music as well as for opera. The Spaniard Pablo Heras-Casado is a stylistic all-rounder and presents another »conquest« in his repertoire during his return to the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra: Excerpts from Richard Wagner’s »Götterdämmerung«. In addition, the no less versatile star violist and NDR Artist in Residence 2024/25 Antoine Tamestit performs Sofia Gubaidulina’s Viola Concerto, which has more or less become a »modern classic«.