Johannes 300

Johannes-Passion

Sebastian Knauer & Johannes Strate

Sebastian Knauer, ein erfolgreicher Klassik-Pianist, und Johannes Strate, Leadsänger der Band Revolverheld, gehen im Herbst auf ihre erste gemeinsame »Klassik meets Pop Tour 2024«. Beide haben Musikgeschichte geschrieben und füllen die Konzertsäle und Arenen. Nach ihrem umjubelten Konzert-Debüt in Hamburg im letzten Jahr sind sie jetzt auch in der Kölner Philharmonie zu erleben. Mit virtuos interpretierten Stücken und Hits von Revolverheld sowie exklusiven Arrangements verspricht ihre Verschmelzung von Klassik und Pop ein unvergleichliches Konzerterlebnis.

J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion

Bach's St. John's Passion, a work of profound expressiveness, is brought to life by Philippe Herreweghe and his Collegium Vocale Gent. Herreweghe, a pioneer of historical performance, offers a unique perspective on Bach, accompanied by exceptional vocal soloists including Alex Potter and Reinoud Van Mechelen.

Johannes Kalitzke & Ilya Gringolts

As can only be expected, Nicolaus Richter de Vroe is fully au fait with the violin. After all, this Halle-born composer is a trained violinist and played in the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for more than 30 years. He wrote his new violin concerto for Ilya Gringolts, a violinist celebrated in the concert hall for his uncompromising and expressive style. No less uncompromising and expressive is Iannis Xenakis’s Jalons (Milestones), a work frequently reminiscent of electro-acoustic music that was written to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Pierre Boulez’s Ensemble Intercontemporain. After the interval we will be treated to Mit o ptici (The Myth of the Birds) by the Serbian composer Milica Djordjević. This large-scale work for chorus and orchestra is a setting of the eponymous ballad by Miroslav Antić, a poet born in what was then Yugoslavia. “This wonderful poem has haunted me for 20 years”, the composer explains. “It tells a very multi-layered, forthright and truly courageous story that reverberates strongly within me.”

Landesjugendorchester Hamburg / Johannes Witt

The Landesjugendorchester Hamburg has been an integral part of the young music scene for over 55 years as the select orchestra of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. At this year’s summer concert, around 80 talented young people aged between 14 and 25 will perform three romantic works with great enthusiasm.

Johannes Brahms / Un requiem allemand

Raphaël Pichon and Ensemble Pygmalion in Brahms’ deeply moving A German Requiem, with their loyal collaborators Sabine Devieilhe and Stéphane Degout as solists.

Klaus Mäkelä Johann Sebastian Bach Thomas Adès Johannes Brahms

During his lifetime, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was legendary as an organist and as a cantor in the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. From 1729, he also led the city’s Collegium Musicum, an ensemble that played every Friday at Café Zimmermann, Leipzig’s most famous coffee house.It might have been at such a Friday concert that Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 was played for the first time. Such suites, with small pieces based on various dance forms, were incredibly popular at the time. Bach wrote four orchestral suites, and the famous Air is one of the five movements in the third suite.The British composer Thomas Adès (b. 1971) got his breakthrough during the 1990s, and has since been one of the most performed and recognized orchestral composers of our time. The orchestral work Asyla was premiered in 1997 and is one of his most performed works. Asyla is the plural of asylum. The word means sanctuary or safe place, and psychiatric hospitals were called asylums for a long time. The composer plays with the double meaning in this diverse and nuanced work with four movements. The third movement, Ecstasio, describes a rave party in 1990s London.In 1880, Johann Brahms (1833-1897) discussed Johann Sebastian Bach’s music with some friends. He sat down by the piano and played a chaconne by Bach. While playing, he asked them: “How would you like to one day listen to a symphony movement written over this theme?”Bach was one of Brahm’s great idols, and the theme is from his Cantata No. 150, Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich. When Brahms began the work on his Symphony No. 4 in 1884, he took up the theme again and used it as the foundation for his last and perhaps most impressive symphonic movement.

Festivalfinale Benjamin Kruithof. Heidelberger Sinfoniker. Johannes Klumpp Himmlische Länge

Robert Schumann praised Felix Mendelssohn's "Concert Overtures," which condensed symphonic ideas. The Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra, led by Johannes Klumpp, brings to life the Scottish natural forces and Ossian's sagas in the Hebrides Overture. Cellist Benjamin Kruithof joins them for Schumann's Cello Concerto. Schubert's Great C Major Symphony, praised by Schumann for its "heavenly length," crowns the festival.

Guest performance ‟Youʼll Find Me at Maximʼsˮ ‒ Homage to Johannes Heesters