Festtage­konzert Staatskapelle Berlin

Staatskapelle Berlin: Gastspiel in Wien

Staatskapelle Berlin: Gastspiel in Wien

STAATSKAPELLE BERLIN & FINNEGAN DOWNIE DEAR

From January 2025, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden will present György Kurtág’s only opera Fin de partie, based on Samuel Beckett’s Endgame. During the run of performances, the Staatskapelle and a group of vocal soloists bring Kurtág’s 1990 Beckett homage What Is the Word to the Pierre Boulez Saal, continuing the annual tradition of the orchestra’s guest concerts. Kurtág’s fascinating score is framed by works of Béla Bartók and Franz Schubert. Young British conductor Finnegan Downie Dear, who led the Staatskapelle’s previous Pierre Boulez Saal appearance, returns to the podium. Presented by the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in cooperation with the Pierre Boulez Saal. Tickets are available exclusively from the Staatsoper Unter den Linden: staatsoper-berlin.de

Staatskapelle Berlin and Susanna Mälkki

In this programme the Staatskapelle Berlin under Susanna Mälkki present music that is conscious of death while attempting to grasp the value of life. Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde was written immediately after the death of his daughter. Hush is the final work of composer Kaija Saariaho, that could only be premiered after her death in 2023 – yet movingly resonates with life.

BERLIN STAATSKAPELLE STRING QUARTET & MOJCA ERDMANN

When Felix Mendelssohn’s sister Fanny died unexpectedly in 1847, the composer confessed to feeling “the greatest emptiness and barrenness in my mind and heart.” He poured his grief into his F-minor String Quartet, which was to remain the last quartet he completed before passing away himself just a few months later. The Berlin Staatskapelle String Quartet combines this instrumental requiem with Gustav Mahler’s Rückert Songs—works that also talk about love and leave-taking—in an arrangement by Swiss composer David Philip Hefti, with Mojca Erdmann as the soloist. The songs will be interspersed with the individual movements of Hefti’s Sixth String Quartet, Fünf Szenen für Gustav. Schubert’s youthful G-minor Quartet, written when the composer was just 18 years old, completes the program.

Musikfest Berlin: Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Joana Mallwitz

For the second time in a row, the Konzerthausorchester and chief conductor Joana Mallwitz will be guests at the Musikfest. The solo parts in both works on the programme will be sung by the French-Cypriot soprano Sarah Aristidou, who has made a name for herself particularly in the field of contemporary music. In 1971, composer Luigi Nono met with artists and politicians in Chile, including Luciano Cruz Aguayo, one of the leaders of the Revolutionary Left. Back in Italy, he learnt of the young man's accidental death. Nono then composed a kind of ‘secular requiem’ for the activist, which was intended not only to convey grief but also the motivation to continue his social struggle. To this end, the composer set a memorial poem by Julio Huasi to Luciano, which was also given the title ‘Como una ola de fuerza y luz’ (Like a wave of strength and light). Among Mahler's symphonies, No. 4 is comparatively straightforward in terms of instrumentation and length. There is ‘much laughter’ in it, the composer assured us in a letter after its completion in 1901. However, the feeling that hilarity and horror exist side by side and that the idyll is not to be trusted creeps in as soon as the retuned solo violin plays in the second movement. And if you listen very carefully to the text of the ambiguous Wunderhorn song ‘Das himmlische Leben’, you will learn that, at least for the ox and lamb, heaven in the land of milk and honey is not full of violins, as a German saying goes.

Musikfest Berlin 2024

Many people consider Julian Prégardien a Frenchman, but in fact he comes from a clan of tenors from Frankfurt. He first sang to praise the Lord as a choirboy; as a teenager, he was crazy about the rock band Nirvana. But he ultimately could not escape the family genes: a Berliner by choice, he has become a modern singer with a melts-in-your-mouth tenor voice. At the Musikfest Berlin he will transform into Mahler’s wayfarer in love, yearning for the »blue eyes of my beloved«, as it says in one of the songs.

Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Iván Fischer

Mozart's “Magic Flute” is a masterpiece of the 18th century that reflects the moral concepts of the time with regard to the roles of men and women. Iván Fischer wants to confront parts of this favorite opera with 21st century values. He concentrates on well-known arias and scenes: Reversed gender roles of central characters invite an unexpected new listening experience as well as reflection. For example, a King of the Night, interpreted by the outstanding countertenor Samuel Mariño, appears as the antagonist of the powerful Sarastra, sung by Deniz Uzun. Iván Fischer also plays with the music itself, for example when he has the famous overture performed not only by the Konzerthausorchester but also by the Vocalconsort Berlin.

Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Iván Fischer

Mozart's “Magic Flute” is a masterpiece of the 18th century that reflects the moral concepts of the time with regard to the roles of men and women. Iván Fischer wants to confront parts of this favorite opera with 21st century values. He concentrates on well-known arias and scenes: Reversed gender roles of central characters invite an unexpected new listening experience as well as reflection. For example, a King of the Night, interpreted by the outstanding countertenor Samuel Mariño, appears as the antagonist of the powerful Sarastra, sung by Deniz Uzun. Iván Fischer also plays with the music itself, for example when he has the famous overture performed not only by the Konzerthausorchester but also by the Vocalconsort Berlin.

Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Thomanerchor Leipzig

What would the Advent season be without Johann Sebastian Bach's music, especially the Weihnachts-Oratorium (Christmas Oratorio) that all the musicians in Germany simply call ‘WO’? The Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the traditional boys' choir of the Leipzig Thomaner - founded in 1212 and thus one of the oldest choirs of all - and renowned soloists fill the Great Hall with the familiar sounds and festive atmosphere.