Guest in Bad Kissingen with our honorary conductor Manfred Honeck

Guest in Ottobeuren with our honorary conductor Manfred Honeck

Apart from further performances at summer festivals, which only publish their programmes at a later date, our orchestra is a regular guest at the Kissinger Sommer. At the end of the season, we will be travelling on to Ottobeuren with our Honorary Conductor Manfred Honeck. The concerts in the basilica, a marvel of baroque sacred architecture, are always a celebration and are traditionally concluded with the ringing of bells. »I have taken this orchestra to my heart from the very beginning – I love it!« Manfred Honeck said this shortly after announcing that he would be our new Honorary Conductor. The chemistry between him and us is perfect. The programme includes two compositions that are in our orchestra’s core repertoire. In addition to Schubert’s »Unfinished«, the programme also features Brahms, who wasn’t able to finish a symphony until he was 43: a highly romantic masterpiece from the opening fateful conflict to the passionate overcoming in the finale – and including a melody that Brahms picked up in the Alps and embedded as a love greeting to Clara Schumann.

Guest in Bad Kissingen

Our honorary conductor Herbert Blomstedt

Vincent van Gogh was of the firm belief: "If you truly love nature, you will find everywhere beautiful." Mendelssohn went on several grand tours across Europe, often taking inspiration from natural events and painting numerous watercolours. In 1829, the Scottish landscape served as a musical inspiration for him – despite miserable weather conditions, as he wrote in a letter: “Together, the Scottish Highlands and the sea brew nothing but whiskey, fog, and bad weather." But Mendelssohn also visited Edinburgh and the "palace where Mary Queen of Scots lived and loved." His Third Symphony captures the atmosphere of Scotland magnificently, and with its allusions to the sound of bagpipes creates a music that is "reminiscent of a vanished time". In this concert, our orchestra will also present a stirring 1845 work that is a perfect match for Mendelssohn’s musical idiom: the Fourth Symphony by Franz Berwald – an exciting composer from the homeland of our honorary conductor Herbert Blomstedt, who is always keen to promote his Swedish compatriot. Berwald likewise travelled extensively throughout Europe, living in Vienna and Berlin for a time, but then returned to Sweden. Many of his charming pieces were written in the picturesque town of Nyköping – his wife once described the atmosphere there: "One day passes like another, without any variety other than that which God's beautiful nature presents to those whose hearts are receptive to impressions of this kind. Franz is busy composing throughout the day, and in the evening we regularly walk out into the surrounding countryside."

Our honorary conductor Christoph Eschenbach

»And the soul, unguarded, wants to soar in free flights, to live within the magic circle of the night deeply and a thousandfold.« These dream-lorn lines by Hermann Hesse inspired Richard Strauss to write one of his moving »Four Last Songs«. These depict a life cycle and bear witness to his confrontation with his own death. At 83, the aged composer looked back on his triumphant life »weary of wandering«. When a journalist asked him about his next projects, Strauss answered with a wink: »Well, just die!« But his son persuaded him to compose another »major work«, saying, »Dad, stop brooding, write some beautiful songs instead.« And Strauss succeeded in a beguiling way, for the highly romantic settings hover in an inimitable atmosphere of weightlessness. With us, the voice of Hanna-Elisabeth Müller soars to these soulful songs. Christoph Eschenbach then leads us through a work by Bruckner that was first performed in 1873 and was composed as a direct expression of a deep life crisis due to the so-called »St. Anna affair«: as he was hardly noticed as a composer in Vienna at that time, he gave piano lessons at the St. Anna educational institution – and once confidentially called one of his pupils »my darling«. Even though Bruckner felt wrongly suspected, the newspapers made a scandal out of this event. He was soon rehabilitated, but wrote his second symphony in this humiliated state of mind – which therefore has a restless, pessimistic underlying mood: it fluctuates between heartfelt prayers, desperate outbursts, clueless silences and wild dance scenes.

Meister in Bad Kissingen

Leleux in Bad Kissingen

SOLD OUT: Our honorary conductor Herbert Blomstedt

BR-KLASSIK is a German public radio station that broadcasts classical music, jazz, and other cultural programs. It is part of Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), the public broadcaster of Bavaria.

Our honorary conductor Christoph Eschenbach / CHANGE OF CAST

Change of cast and programme on 4th and 5th of March

Our honorary conductor Christoph Eschenbach / CHANGE OF CAST

CHANGE OF CAST AND PROGRAMME