Georg Friedrich Haendel / Airs allemands

Georg Friedrich Haendel / La Résurrection

The Easter festivities continue with Handel’s oratorio La resurrezione, performed by Les Arts Florissants, which over the years has interpreted many of the Baroque master’s lyrical and sacred scores.

Georg Friedrich Schenck / Klavierabend

Georg Friedrich Schenck is best known for his outstanding CD recordings: His recording of Beethoven’s immensely difficult Hammerklavier Sonata continues to set standards today. The former master student of the legendary pianist André Watts is himself a long-standing professor of piano. His master students include piano virtuosos such as Evgeni Bozhanov, Sukyeon Kim, Georgijs Osokins and Hyelim Kim. For his piano recital in the Elbphilharmonie’s Small Hall, Schenck has chosen among other works Beethoven’s »Appassionata« sonata – one of the most popular sonatas in piano literature.

Sol per te / The most beautiful operas by Georg Friedrich Händel

“Sol per te” is the most famous love duet between Flavia and Lepido from Georg Friedrich Händel's opera Silla – and just one of the many famous duets by the master of the genre – which will be performed this evening by outstanding female soloists: Olga Pasiecznik and Anna Radziejewska with Early Instrument Ensemble of the Polish Royal Opera Capella Regia Polona. In the emotional Io t'abbraccio from the opera Rodelinda, the title character confesses her feelings for Bertarid, as do Cleopatra and Caesar in Caro! Bella! from the opera Giulio Cesare, while in the dramatic duet Per le porte dell tormento, Rosmene and Tirinto confront turbulent passions in the opera Imeneo. This last one Händel wrote humorously, in the style of a musical comedy, in which he treated the dramatic dilemmas between heart and duty with a wink. This, in turn, influenced the music, balancing pathos and playfulness, which is rare in Händel's operas. The programme for the evening will be complemented by outstanding instrumental compositions by the German-British Baroque master. Alexandra KozowiczConcert duration: approximately 80 minutes

Weihnachtskonzert des Georg-Friedrich-Händel-Gymnasiums

Stockholm Jazz Festival – A tribute to Georg Riedel

Welcome to a star-studded and poignant tribute to Georg Riedel, one of the greatest musicians and composers of Swedish jazz. Radiojazzgruppen’s Nisse Landgren hosts the evening and pianist Calle Bagge conducts a house band featuring elite members of the Swedish jazz scene, as well as vocalists including Nicolai Dunger and Sarah Riedel.With the passing on 25 February this year of jazz bassist, composer and arranger Georg Riedel at 90 years of age, one of the most versatile composers of Swedish music fell silent.Georg Riedel composed music for Astrid Lindgren’s films, as well as innovative jazz for Radiojazzgruppen and his own duos, trios and quartets. His oeuvre includes opera, orchestral works and music for films, ballet and church services. He is among the musicians who brought Swedish folk music to jazz stages. Jazz på Svenska (“Jazz in Swedish”), his album with Jan Johansson, is the most sold Swedish jazz album.To celebrate this doyen of jazz, Stockholm Jazz Festival presents a full evening at Stockholm Konserthuset, in which a wide selection of Riedel’s compositions will be performed by carefully selected artists – many of whom worked with the man himself over the past 20 years. This retrospective of Riedel’s work will link the golden age of the 1950s to contemporary jazz of the 2020s.“Georg Riedel’s contribution is utterly massive, and so is the empty space he has left behind. But his music will live on, now and forever. It therefore feels particularly gratifying to open this year’s jazz festival with an evening that pays tribute to him,” says Eric Birath, CEO of Stockholm Jazz Festival.Read more about Stockholm Jazz Festival (opens in a new window)

Hathor Consort / Dorothee Mields / Romina Lischka

What traces do wars leave on the music of the time? The Hathor Consort, a viol ensemble of to which harp, organ and cornett are added, joins forces with soprano Dorothee Mields to look for echoes of the Thirty Years’ War in the works of composers who witnessed this catastrophic period in European history. With his »Trostgedichten in Widerwertigkeit deß Kriegs«, the poet Martin Opitz wrote an influential treatise of edification in the midst of this fierce conflict that claimed the lives of around a third of the population. The composers of the age attempted to process the deep trauma of violence, hunger and utter defencelessness through their music. This programme brings together four musical witnesses of the time:Heinrich Schütz, Samuel Scheidt, Andreas Hammerschmidt and Heinrich Albert. The acclaimed Hathor Consort focuses mainly on Renaissance and Baroque music, but it regularly combines this with music from other cultures as well as with contemporary works. Dorothee Mields likewise focuses entirely on Early Music, and her clear and intimate soprano is regarded as one of today’s top voices in the field of historic performing practice.

Jakub Józef Orliński / Il Pomo d’Oro

Jakub Józef Orliński bridges the gap between the past and the present effortlessly: with a warm, radiant voice and rousing enthusiasm, the countertenor, who has already won the OPUS KLASSIK award three times, transports his audience to centuries long past. And yet he is not an artist who loses himself in the past – on the contrary. Orliński’s sparkling charm and his sympathetically sober view of things like success and career are as unpretentious as they are contemporary. In this ProArte concert, you can look forward to his excursion into the musically incredibly rich world of the Italian Baroque.

Monteverdi-Chor Hamburg / lauttencompagney Berlin / Antonius Adamske

Who doesn’t know the Eurovision anthem with the opening bars of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s »Te Deum«! The renowned Monteverdi Choir Hamburg, together with soloists and the lautten compagney Berlin under the direction of Antonius Adamske, presents the entire work in its original historical sound – with timpani and trumpets.

Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice / Cecilia Bartoli

With a voice whose beauty, range and agility seem to know no bounds, Cecilia Bartoli is one of the undisputed world leaders in singing. She also has an almost magnetic stage presence and a charisma that not only thrills classical music fans. No wonder she enjoys a legendary reputation, especially on the opera stage. In addition to Bartoli’s stage career, the mezzo-soprano also devotes herself time and again to special projects. She brings one of these to the Elbphilharmonie for ProArte: Christoph Willibald Gluck’s grandiose opera »Orfeo ed Euridice« in a rarely performed later version. At her side: the Musiciens du Prince of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo under the direction of Gianluca Capuano and the outstanding choir Il Canto di Orfeo. A feast for the eyes and ears guaranteed!

Monteverdi Choir / English Baroque Soloists / Peter Whelan

The Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists present »Israel in Egypt«, one of George Frideric Handel’s most famous oratorios. The key protagonist is not a solo part, but the choir that represents the long-suffering Israelites. Luckily, the Monteverdi Choir is one of the best in the world – and an emotionally moving and musically formidable concert evening is in store. Next to his ubiquitous »Messiah«, Handel’s 24 other oratorios don’t have it easy, although »Israel in Egypt« is relatively well known. Which is no wonder considering how Handel packaged the story of the enslaved Israelites’ exodus from ancient Egypt as a musical crime drama. Although originally conceived for the concert hall, the oratorio is so full of drama that it is also regularly performed on the operatic stage.