CLUB SYMPHONY: TECHNOPHONIC

COMPOSERS' CLUB

Samy Moussa

Club 443 Hz

Club 443 Hz

Quintette du Hot Club de France

SLAM SYMPHONY

The »Slam Symphony« is now in its ninth round in Bamberg and, as always, three award-winning poetry slammers will compete against each other to win the audience prize before the young Latvian conductor Aivis Greters performs the symphonic work. This time we will focus on Berlioz, a man about whom it was said that »despite all the eccentricity his compositions exude, he is a peculiar man, if only because he is driven by a burning, enthusiastic love for the arts, because he has blazed his own trail, and – because he is a character«. Bearing this year‘s motto in mind, his legendary »Symphonie fantastique« is a must: in 1830, the romantic fiery-head had a »fixed idea« that left its mark when it comes to setting states of the soul in music. At that time, the very young composer was in love with an actress unattainable to him. And so he composed these »Episodes from the Life of an Artist«, which of course was himself: the tale of a consuming passion, of hell, opium and madness. The almost obsessively adored one is both a wishful and distorted image in one and, in the »Idée fixe«, almost like a nightmare, always present – because this leitmotif constantly throws his soul into turmoil. It will be exciting to hear which lyrics and words will come to the slammers‘ minds!

SLAM SYMPHONY

We celebrate the anniversary of a format that we, as well as the participating writers and our audience, love: The »Slam Symphony« returns for the 10th time – and the composition it revolves around this season is ideally suited to creative imagination of the word acrobats: Under the baton of Taichi Fukumura, who came second in our Mahler Competition in 2023, we delve into the Nordic world – which is characterised by stories from times long forgotten, poems and ballads as well as mythical figures. Edvard Grieg loved the country of the fjords and often worked obsessively in ivy-covered huts such as his lonely summer house »Troldhaugen«, which translates as »Hill of the Trolls«. The music to »Peer Gynt« is his signature work – based on Henrik Ibsen’s dramatic model, which he created with the help of Norwegian fairy tales: a story about a dreamer who uses fantastical tall tales to avoid reality and only realises late in life that only love will save him. Grieg’s setting describes this path of the »Faust of the North« with musical images of wild, romantic fantasticism. We can truly look forward to seeing how our award-winning poetry slammers put these stories into text. The day before, schoolchildren will be able to enjoy this musical programme, presented by Marko Simsa.

Guildhall Symphony Orchestra: An Alpine Symphony

Join Guildhall Symphony Orchestra for an awe-inspiring evening of music in Barbican Hall, conducted by alumnus Roberto González-Monjas.

Kyiv Symphony Orchestra plays Schumann’s “Rhenish” Symphony

The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra’s programme shows us two opposing sides of Robert Schumann. The composer’s Third Symphony, his ”Rhenish“, is vital, rapturous and enthusiastic, and is considered the epitome of the Romantic symphony. His violin concerto, with its dark and melancholic profundity, is completely different. The solo part will be performed by Dmytro Udovychenko, winner of the 2024 Queen Elisabeth Competition. The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, for which the Berliner Philharmoniker took on patronage in 2023, will open the concert with Svyatoslav Lunyov’s sensual and flowing string piece Tristium.

Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony

Tchaikovsky composed his fifth symphony during a few summer months in 1888. He had complained of lacking inspiration in the spring: "Am I burned out? No ideas, no desire?" But the fifth became a vital, emotionally charged, and in many respects brilliant symphony. It premiered under the composer's direction at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in November of the same year.The concert begins with Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi's Liguria, music that takes us on a journey between five small fishing villages clinging to the cliffs along Italy's northwestern coast.Read more about chief conductor Ryan Bancroft

Stenhammar's second symphony

Composer Mats Larsson Gothe has had significant success in recent years, including with the opera Löftet ("The Promise") at the Royal Swedish Opera. Already in 2016, he was the focus of Konserthuset’s Composer Weekend Festival. Here, we hear the world premiere of a new cello concerto, featuring internationally renowned Torleif Thedéen as the cello soloist. "The cello concerto for Torleif captures everything that a cello can convey: longing, dreams, pain, and melancholy – but also anger and resignation. I have used the full range of expression", Mats Larsson Gothe explains.The cello concerto is preceded by music by Elfrida Andrée, a Swedish pioneer around the turn of the last century and the first female cathedral organist. She followed in the footsteps of her teacher Ludvig Norman but was also strongly influenced by composers like Beethoven. Additionally, she was a conductor and herself led at least one famous performance of this majestic Concert Overture in D major.After hearing Sibelius' second symphony, Stenhammar experienced an artistic crisis. He withdrew his first symphony and sought new paths. In the second symphony, he allows the Nordic elements to take more prominence: in several places, Swedish folk music shines through. Stenhammar's ambition to write "sober and honest music without superficiality" had succeeded.The orchestra is led by Johannes Gustavsson, who has conducted many of the country's foremost orchestras – the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra most recently in spring 2023. He is the Chief Conductor of the Jönköping Sinfonietta and has previously been the Chief Conductor of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra in Finland and at Wermland Opera.