Live-Concert broadcast to the Zeiss-Grossplanetarium – New Year’s Concert

New Year’s Eve Concert

The brochure on page 24 contains incorrect prices for the concert on 30 December in the Konzerthaus. The following prices apply: € 45 / 48 / 51 /55 /60 / 65

NOSPR / New Year's Eve concert in the rhythm of tango

New Year's Concert

Mateusz Molęda, photo: Alexej Gorlatch Instead of waiting for the usual broadcast of the New Year’s concert from the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein to hear Strauss waltzes, polkas and showstopping numbers from operettas, the musical atmosphere of Vienna can be experienced during the New Year’s Eve concert at the Warsaw Philharmonic. It is not easy to grasp the genealogy of the Strauss family. Josef, Eduard and as many as three Johanns are among the most famous members of the enterprising Austrian family with Hungarian roots, which over the course of the nineteenth century produced an abundant corpus of popular songs that resounded at carnival balls. The progenitor of the musical dynasty was the first of the Johanns, who was said to have been inspired by the music of bands wandering between the Viennese taverns along the Danube. However, it was his first-born son, also Johann, who made a name for himself as the ‘king of the waltz’ and the composer of numerous popular operettas, to mention but titles such as Die Fledermaus and Wiener Blut. Another descendant, Josef, the most universally talented of the siblings, planned a different career for himself, successfully completing studies in engineering. However, a sudden substitution for the sick Johann II turned his fortunes to music for life. After Josef’s death, the youngest of the brothers, Eduard, took over the responsibility of leading the family orchestra. Together with the orchestra, he visited the most diverse corners of the world, and at the beginning of the twentieth century, he published his written history of the musical Strauss family.

NOSPR / Bayona / New Year's Concert

There are concerts which should be found in everyone’s calendar, particularly at the time of year when we replace our calendars with entirely new ones. Some of those are the meetings with music on New Year’s Day. Even though their repertoire is rarely surprising, this is exactly where their charm lies. Beginning another year, we want to surrender to insouciant fun and hopes of a glorious new time to come. Simultaneously, despite the time flying, we want to keep certain things the way they are.It is such an atmosphere that we are unfailingly introduced to with the most famous waltzes and polkas by members of the talented Strauss family, as well as tunes from operettas by Franz von Suppé, Franz Lehár and Bedřich Smetana. Of course, we have all heard The Blue Danube and Radetzky March, hundreds of times – but should this be of any significance? Once a year, let us once more luxuriate in the well-known melodies we have already heard so many times, just for the sake of the pleasure itself. A comfortable chair in the best concert hall in the world, the NOSPR and Nestor Bayona on stage, and danceable rhythms and melodies sparkling with joy in the air. What more could one wish for!Szymon MaliszewskiConcert duration (intermission included): approximately 110 minutes

New Year’s Eve Concert

Mateusz Molęda, photo: Alexej Gorlatch Instead of waiting for the usual broadcast of the New Year’s concert from the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein to hear Strauss waltzes, polkas and showstopping numbers from operettas, the musical atmosphere of Vienna can be experienced during the New Year’s Eve concert at the Warsaw Philharmonic. It is not easy to grasp the genealogy of the Strauss family. Josef, Eduard and as many as three Johanns are among the most famous members of the enterprising Austrian family with Hungarian roots, which over the course of the nineteenth century produced an abundant corpus of popular songs that resounded at carnival balls. The progenitor of the musical dynasty was the first of the Johanns, who was said to have been inspired by the music of bands wandering between the Viennese taverns along the Danube. However, it was his first-born son, also Johann, who made a name for himself as the ‘king of the waltz’ and the composer of numerous popular operettas, to mention but titles such as Die Fledermaus and Wiener Blut. Another descendant, Josef, the most universally talented of the siblings, planned a different career for himself, successfully completing studies in engineering. However, a sudden substitution for the sick Johann II turned his fortunes to music for life. After Josef’s death, the youngest of the brothers, Eduard, took over the responsibility of leading the family orchestra. Together with the orchestra, he visited the most diverse corners of the world, and at the beginning of the twentieth century, he published his written history of the musical Strauss family.

Guest performance New Year's Concert

Concert broadcast to the Zeiss-Grossplanetarium

Enjoy symphony concerts with a view of the starry sky in the Zeiss Grand Planetarium – heavenly sounds in the truest sense of the word.

Concert broadcast to the Zeiss-Grossplanetarium

Enjoy symphony concerts with a view of the starry sky in the Zeiss Grand Planetarium – heavenly sounds in the truest sense of the word.

Concert broadcast to the Zeiss-Grossplanetarium

Enjoy symphony concerts with a view of the starry sky in the Zeiss Grand Planetarium – heavenly sounds in the truest sense of the word.

Dear to the heart

Supporting the »wir helfen« (we help) campaign by the newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger is more than just a tradition upheld by the Gürzenich Orchestra – it is of heartfelt importance. This season, contributing to the initiative for underprivileged children and adolescents in the region, the orchestra will play a passionate concert full of deep emotions. Before giving birth to his second concerto for piano and orchestra, with its endless melodies and sweeping, intense drama, Sergei Rachmaninoff had to fight his way through a deep valley of depression and self-doubt. In the end, hypno-therapy is what helped the Russian composer dissolve his writer’s block. Against all expectations, the concerto was a great success: It offers everything ranging from chamber musical intimacy to symphonic opulence, and demands everything from the soloist, emotionally and technically. No problem for the 24-year-old Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev, a sensational shooting star who has won countless prizes and travels the world. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky described his last symphony, the »Pathétique,« as his best work, as being dear to his heart. He claimed to have put »all his soul« into it. The fact that he died just a few days after the premiere amplifies the impression of someone who condenses all facets of his artistic identity and symphonic oeuvre, and puts them to paper. Yet the musical approach he chooses is absolutely surprising. One would think he might bring his last symphony to a rejoicing and triumphant end, an emphatic summary of his own highly successful career. Instead, Tchaikovsky chooses a melancholy, introspective ending – not so much a real finale as a touching farewell with many open questions, a musical »good bye« which, still today, goes straight to the heart.