Concerto Köln

Olga Pashchenko | Concerto Köln | Harry Ogg

Leipzig was a musical hotspot in the 19th century, attracting prominent composers like Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Pianist Olga Pashchenko and Concerto Köln explore the city's musical past, tracing connections between Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Clara Wieck. Chopin also visited, praising Clara's piano playing and enjoying Schumann's hospitality.

Shunske Sato | Concerto Köln | Jakob Lehmann

During their lifetime, French composer Louise Farrenc and Emilie Mayer from Mecklenburg were more than just respected composers. The original sound ensemble Concerto Köln commemorates the two Romantic composers with two orchestral works. Robert Schumann's unique violin concerto completes the program. Berlioz, impressed by Farrenc's Overture No. 2, praised her highly. Mayer's Symphony No. 7 demonstrates why she was celebrated as the "female Beethoven". Schumann's Violin Concerto, though written earlier, premiered only in 1937. Concerto Köln's concertmaster, Shunske Sato, will perform as soloist.

Meister in Köln

Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Chor Hamburg / Concerto Köln / Hansjörg Albrecht

The opening concert of this year’s International Bach Festival Hamburg will feature Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Passion cantata »Die letzten Leiden des Erlösers«, written for Hamburg, performed in the Laeiszhalle by the ensemble Concerto Köln, which specialises in historical performance practice, and the Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Choir. Together with the final concert on Easter Sunday, it forms the thematic arc of this Bach festival centred on the Passion and Resurrection.

Gürzenich-Chor Köln

Bob Ingalls' symphonic plea for the protection of Mother Earth, "Mother Earth Cries Out!", culminates in Dvořák's powerful setting of the Stabat Mater. Inspired by Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato si'", Ingalls' work depicts Mother Earth's desperate cry for care. Dvořák's Stabat Mater contemplates Mary's grief and the believer's compassion, ultimately turning to the prospect of paradise.

KölnChor | Rheinischer Kammerchor Köln

»Musik mit Stachel«, überschrieb Jürgen Leuke in der Stuttgarter Zeitung seine Konzertkritik zur Aufführung von Benjamin Brittens »War Requiem« unter dem Dirigat von Helmut Rilling. Zuhören soll bei diesem Werk trotz des grandiosen Klangs nicht zum Hörgenuss werden, ein beharrlicher Stachel mahnt: Nach elf Stunden Bombardement hatte die deutsche Luftwaffe im Zweiten Weltkrieg den größten Teil der mittelenglischen Stadt Coventry in Schutt und Asche gelegt, die Kathedrale St. Michael völlig zerstört.Zu Wiedereinweihung der Kathedrale schrieb Britten sein Requiem, als Mahnung und Anklage- Er ergänzte den lateinischen Text der Totenmesse mit Gedichten seines wenigen Tage vor dem Ende des Ersten Weltkriegs gefallenen Landsmannes Wilfred Owen, Texte die bis heute ihre beklemmende Aktualität behalten haben.

Polizeichor Köln | Eugen Momot

New Year at the Philharmonie

She’s got it, that certain something stars are made of: Anna Prohaska. Recalcitrant look, cheeky wisecracks, an avowed metal fan, yet at the same time thoughtful, deep. »I love being on stage,« she says, and she evidently finds the right tone for each and every musical style, even in operas with »rather convoluted language«. With her luminous soprano, she will rejoice in Mozart’s motet ›Exsultate, jubilate‹, taking it to soaring heights. Hallelujah!

Chor des Bach-Vereins Köln

Beide erblickten 1685 das Licht der Welt, schufen bereits mit 22 Jahren packende Vokalwerke von höchster Kunstfertigkeit und gelten heute als die herausragenden Komponisten-Persönlichkeiten des Barocks: Johann Sebastian Bach und Georg Friedrich Händel. Ihre Vertonungen »Christ lag in Todesbanden«, »Gloria« und »Dixit Dominus«, allesamt 1707 entstanden, sind eindrucksvolle Zeugnisse ihrer schon in jungen Jahren ausgeprägten musikalischen Meisterschaft in hochdramatischer, bildhafter Textauslegung.

Guest at the Philharmonie Köln

Ludwig van Beethoven: genius, freethinker and troubled soul – as well as a master of coping with crises through music. In 1809, he lamented: »We have experienced a rather crowded misery. The entire course of events has affected my body and soul. What a destructive, desolate life around me! Nothing but drums, cannons, all kinds of human misery!« At that time, he was greatly distressed by the current situation, as Vienna was occupied by Napoleon's troops. Food shortages, the black market and inflation were making life difficult for the people. Beethoven often sought shelter in the cellar – and put pillows over his head to avoid hearing the noise. But despite these unfavourable conditions, he wrote his great Fifth Piano Concerto: a gigantic work that gives the impression as if he wanted to drown out the chaos of war with the power and splendour of his music. For long segments, it spreads a belligerent sound – but with the Adagio, a very contemplative movement is interwoven: Beethoven is said to have been thinking of the »chants of devout pilgrims«. These fragmented states of mind are already pervasive in his Fifth Symphony, which was premiered a year earlier and can certainly be understood as a statement on the political fate of Europe at that time. With its famous obsessive motif, the work is at first full of anxiety and emotional complexity over long stretches. But an astounding inner force is able to find its way out of the initial darkness and into the ever brightening light. Like Beethoven wrote in one of his conversation books, which he used because of his deafness and in which he also collected essential ideas: »With music I have transformed my suffering into hope«.