Set your preferred locations for a better search. You can sign up here.

Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra / Alisa Weilerstein / Christoph Eschenbach

Date & Time
Mon, Aug 19, 2024, 20:00
Every year, Principal Conductor Christoph Eschenbach conducts the last concerts of the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, which is always made up of around 120 young musicians from all over the world for one summer. There is a very special fascination when the 84-year-old maestro, who has around 60 years of life experience ahead of his orchestra members, takes to the podium. The cello concerto by Antonín Dvořák is one of the most popular works in its genre. The solo part will... Read full text

Keywords: Symphony Concert

Artistic depiction of the event

Musicians

Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra
Alisa WeilersteinCello
Christoph EschenbachConductor

Program

Igor StravinskySuite from the ballet »Pulcinella«
Antonín DvořákConcerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in B minor, Op. 104
Franz SchubertSymphony No. 7 in B minor, D.759 »Unfinished«
Give feedback
Last update: Thu, Nov 21, 2024, 15:06

Similar events

These events are similar in terms of concept, place, musicians or the program.

Artistic depiction of the event
This season
In Hamburg

Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra / Midori / Christoph Eschenbach

Mon, Aug 18, 2025, 20:00
Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)
Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, Midori (Violin), Christoph Eschenbach (Conductor)
In 1986, a 14-year-old Japanese violinist from the Juilliard School of Music in New York, who was still relatively unknown in Europe at the time, made her way to Schleswig-Holstein to perform three sonata recitals. Midori’s brilliantly successful debut was followed by almost 30 acclaimed performances at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival over the years – and so of course her name cannot be missing from the programme of the 40th edition of the festival. The pianist and conductor Christoph Eschenbach, who is closely associated with her, also took part in 1986 and can be described as a true veteran, having given over 200 concerts at the festival since then. In his reserved and distinguished manner, he has shaped the fortunes of the festival – and in particular the festival orchestra, of which he has been Principal Conductor since 2004 – like no other. The 85-year-old conductor describes the international orchestra as his wellspring of youth: every summer he meets highly talented, enthusiastic young instrumentalists here. And they are particularly looking forward to rehearsing Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony, one of the maestro’s favourite pieces, for the festival’s anniversary.
Artistic depiction of the event
This season
In München

Alan Gilbert & Alisa Weilerstein

Thu, Jun 5, 2025, 20:00
Alan Gilbert (Conductor), Alisa Weilerstein (Cello), Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
More Sibelius! What fortune! After the Lemminkäinen Suite, we first take a wild ride through the night and into the liberating sunrise the Finnish composer evokes in his symphonic poem, before finally immersing ourselves in the splendid soundworld of his Fifth Symphony. Sibelius searched for this special sound throughout his life. It took him three attempts and a total of five years to complete this work, which he described as “wrestling with God.” Placed between the ride and the wrestling is a composition by Thomas Larcher, whose music The Times praised as “one of this century’s wonders”: returning into darkness is a work written for cellist Alisa Weilerstein, who recently premiered it with the New York Philharmonic. The European premiere will be performed by the BRSO conducted by Alan Gilbert.
Artistic depiction of the event
This season
In München

Alan Gilbert & Alisa Weilerstein

Fri, Jun 6, 2025, 20:00
Alan Gilbert (Conductor), Alisa Weilerstein (Cello), Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
More Sibelius! What fortune! After the Lemminkäinen Suite, we first take a wild ride through the night and into the liberating sunrise the Finnish composer evokes in his symphonic poem, before finally immersing ourselves in the splendid soundworld of his Fifth Symphony. Sibelius searched for this special sound throughout his life. It took him three attempts and a total of five years to complete this work, which he described as “wrestling with God.” Placed between the ride and the wrestling is a composition by Thomas Larcher, whose music The Times praised as “one of this century’s wonders”: returning into darkness is a work written for cellist Alisa Weilerstein, who recently premiered it with the New York Philharmonic. The European premiere will be performed by the BRSO conducted by Alan Gilbert.
Artistic depiction of the event
Finished

Christoph Eschenbach, Christian Schmitt

Wed, Feb 19, 2025, 18:00
Konzerthalle Bamberg, Joseph-Keilberth-Saal (Bamberg)
Christoph Eschenbach (Conductor), Christian Schmitt (Organ)
Happy 85th birthday on 20 February 2025! We wish this to our Honorary Conductor, for whom one thing is for sure: »Music gives you youth, freshness and lots of new beginnings.« Christoph Eschenbach always leaves an impression with his unmistakable aura: he is not a podium matador by any means, but rather comes across at times like a Buddhist monk with his convincing gestures and penetrating eyes full of warm-heartedness. A conductor who prefers silence rather than many words – and one who sees himself as a »musician among musicians«. This results in captivating interpretations with a great sense of mutual understanding, including such works close to his heart as in this year’s programme: Christoph Eschenbach once said that Bruckner was one of his »greatest treasures«. He discovered his love for Bruckner’s music while listening to a radio programme as a boy. And it still fascinates him to this day, so he explores the fascination of Bruckner’s first work with us – this »cheeky little fellow«. It is truly a great blessing that we have been able to come together with such a charismatic artistic personality for such a long time. It is like a longstanding and very close love affair that is constantly being revitalised – also with Saint-Saëns’ »Organ Symphony«: this powerful piece was recorded with Christoph Eschenbach and our orchestra at the Bamberg Cathedral back in 1987 for an audio release. We have every reason to be excited about how the work will sound together with our house organist Christian Schmitt on the concert organ our audience loves so much – after all, our Honorary Conductor remains curious in his old age: »I want to still be conducting when I’m 100, because I might be able to discover even more at the age of 99 than I can at the moment.«
Artistic depiction of the event
Finished

Christoph Eschenbach, Christian Schmitt

Thu, Feb 20, 2025, 20:00
Konzerthalle Bamberg, Joseph-Keilberth-Saal (Bamberg)
Christoph Eschenbach (Conductor), Christian Schmitt (Organ)
Happy 85th birthday on 20 February 2025! We wish this to our Honorary Conductor, for whom one thing is for sure: »Music gives you youth, freshness and lots of new beginnings.« Christoph Eschenbach always leaves an impression with his unmistakable aura: he is not a podium matador by any means, but rather comes across at times like a Buddhist monk with his convincing gestures and penetrating eyes full of warm-heartedness. A conductor who prefers silence rather than many words – and one who sees himself as a »musician among musicians«. This results in captivating interpretations with a great sense of mutual understanding, including such works close to his heart as in this year’s programme: Christoph Eschenbach once said that Bruckner was one of his »greatest treasures«. He discovered his love for Bruckner’s music while listening to a radio programme as a boy. And it still fascinates him to this day, so he explores the fascination of Bruckner’s first work with us – this »cheeky little fellow«. It is truly a great blessing that we have been able to come together with such a charismatic artistic personality for such a long time. It is like a longstanding and very close love affair that is constantly being revitalised – also with Saint-Saëns’ »Organ Symphony«: this powerful piece was recorded with Christoph Eschenbach and our orchestra at the Bamberg Cathedral back in 1987 for an audio release. We have every reason to be excited about how the work will sound together with our house organist Christian Schmitt on the concert organ our audience loves so much – after all, our Honorary Conductor remains curious in his old age: »I want to still be conducting when I’m 100, because I might be able to discover even more at the age of 99 than I can at the moment.«
Artistic depiction of the event
Finished

Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Christoph Eschenbach

Fri, Feb 28, 2025, 20:00
Konzerthaus Berlin, Großer Saal (Berlin)
Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Christoph Eschenbach (Conductor)
Congratulations, dear Christoph Eschenbach: we are honouring our former chief conductor, who led the Konzerthausorchester Berlin from autumn 2019 to summer 2023, on his 85th birthday with a concert in which he will be conducting in the Große Saal, of course.For this special occasion, he has chosen a work of a composer who had late start: Anton Bruckner (1824 - 1896) did not begin writing symphonies until he was over 40 years old. The fact that he, like Beethoven, came up with a total of nine ‘cathedrals of never-before-heard sounds’ (Lorin Maazel) despite this is a real miracle - and doubly so in view of his self-doubting character: he actually completed the final version of the Sixth within two years. He called it his ‘cheekiest’ symphony, and as such it does not rise slowly from a musical primordial fog, but begins directly and with an accentuated rhythm. It was premièred in parts in 1883, heavily abridged in 1899 and not performed in its entirety until 1935. Bruckner was only able to hear it once in its entirety during an orchestral rehearsal.
Artistic depiction of the event
Finished

Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Christoph Eschenbach

Fri, Mar 28, 2025, 20:00
Konzerthaus Berlin, Großer Saal (Berlin)
Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Christoph Eschenbach (Conductor), Simon Haje (Piano)
Our former chief conductor Christoph Eschenbach is back on the podium of the Konzerthausorchester and is bringing a highly talented young pianist with him: The 20-year-old Simon Haje will play Beethoven's fourth piano concerto from 1805, which already points in the direction of Romanticism. Robert Schumann was not the only one who loved the work, which is the first of its genre to begin directly with the solo instrument. The audience also liked it extraordinarily well straight away. Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 did not fare so well at first, which is why the easily unsettled composer revised it more often than any other of his nine symphonies. It was not until 1890 (17 years after the completion of the first version) that musicians and Viennese audiences finally stopped objecting and the work was finalised!
Artistic depiction of the event
Finished

Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Christoph Eschenbach

Sat, Mar 29, 2025, 20:00
Konzerthaus Berlin, Großer Saal (Berlin)
Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Christoph Eschenbach (Conductor), Simon Haje (Piano)
Our former chief conductor Christoph Eschenbach is back on the podium of the Konzerthausorchester and is bringing a highly talented young pianist with him: The 20-year-old Simon Haje will play Beethoven's fourth piano concerto from 1805, which already points in the direction of Romanticism. Robert Schumann was not the only one who loved the work, which is the first of its genre to begin directly with the solo instrument. The audience also liked it extraordinarily well straight away. Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 did not fare so well at first, which is why the easily unsettled composer revised it more often than any other of his nine symphonies. It was not until 1890 (17 years after the completion of the first version) that musicians and Viennese audiences finally stopped objecting and the work was finalised!
Artistic depiction of the event
This season
In München

Watch This Space | Alisa Weilerstein & friends

Wed, Jun 4, 2025, 19:00
Alisa Weilerstein (Cello), Members of the BRSO
Consummately skilled, emotionally invested, and of rare interpretive depth – these are just a few of Alisa Weilerstein’s qualities. The American is one of the foremost cellists of her time. “Weilerstein is a throwback to an earlier age of classical performers: not content merely to serve as a vessel for the composer’s wishes, she inhabits a piece fully and turns it to her own ends,” marvelled The New York Times. And the Los Angeles Times added: “Weilerstein’s cello is her id. She doesn’t give the impression that making music involves will at all. She and the cello seem simply to be one and the same.” You can experience her artistry up close in an all-Shostakovich program at this Watch-This-Space concert.
Artistic depiction of the event
Finished

Our honorary conductor Christoph Eschenbach

Wed, Mar 13, 2024, 16:30
Konzerthalle Bamberg, Joseph-Keilberth-Saal (Bamberg)
Christoph Eschenbach (Conductor), Hanna-Elisabeth Müller (Soprano)
»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.