Season opening with Vladimir Jurowski

Season Opening with Blomstedt

Herbert Blomstedt is Sweden's internationally most recognized conductor – ever. Among the orchestras he has worked with are the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, and notably the San Francisco Symphony, where Blomstedt was chief conductor for ten years. Blomstedt has also conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra on well over 200 occasions, and on the occasion of his 90th birthday in 2017, Konserthuset named its grand conductor's dressing room after him.It has been 70 years since Herbert Blomstedt first conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at a public concert, and already two years before that, in 1952, he conducted the orchestra during a radio broadcast.As he makes another cherished visit to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, it is with two favorites, Franz Berwald and Brahms. Memories from the Norwegian mountains came to him after a visit to Norway, and Berwald described the Nordic-sounding music as orchestral tonal painting. The restlessly bustling Sinfonie capricieuse is surrounded by mystique, for shortly after Berwald's death, the score disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The music was later reconstructed by Nils Castegren based on Berwald's remaining sketches.Johannes Brahms's first symphony is undoubtedly a masterpiece. The symphony was crafted over many years, with Brahms at times almost paralyzed by the performance demands of his idol Beethoven. However, the end result is magnificent and shaped with precision, intense emotion, and great beauty.

Moderated rehearsal with Vladimir Jurowski

Visitors learn about the most important genres of classical music in our moderated rehearsals: Symphony, solo concerto, symphonic poem. In conversation with the conductor or soloist, you will learn exciting facts about the works and gain a deep insight into the rehearsal work of the orchestra. Afterwards, you can hear the complete work or excerpts from it. This is an offer for school classes from middle school and adults.Duration: approx. 90 minutes Participation free of chargeRegistration required. Registration link follows. Please note the the moderated rehearsal will be in german.

Moderated rehearsal with Vladimir Jurowski

In our moderated rehearsals, visitors get to know the most important genres of classical music: Symphony, solo concerto, symphonic poem. In conversation with the conductor, orchestra musician or soloist, you will learn exciting facts about the works and gain an in-depth insight into the orchestra’s rehearsal work. This is an offer for school classes from intermediate level and adults. Duration: approx. 90 minutes. Participation free of charge. The moderation will be in German.

Season opening in Bamberg

»This must be love!« These words were heard at the joyous announcement that the journey with Jakub Hrůša will continue for several more wonderful years. And he sums it up perfectly, because our Chief Conductor is completely happy with his »friendly and harmonious home«: he loves the city Bamberg, the amicable atmosphere in the orchestra and the whole team behind the scenes, the magnificent hall and the enthusiastic audiences – who return his love in such a way that the concerts with him have been constantly sold out for years. And since fate has been particularly kind to this close relationship since 2016, Jakub Hrůša has fittingly included the Beethoven symphony on the programme for our season opener, with its world-famous tones revolving around the much-invoked Fatum – and about which it was said early on that it is a »living image of great passion«. This symphonic blockbuster is combined with favourites from the heart of our Chief Conductor: With compositions from his and our Bohemian homeland, which he regularly familiarises us with on our journey together. And in doing so, we are always moving on to lesser-known repertoire. Dvořák's Violin Concerto, for example, is not heard very often, even though it is in no way inferior in quality to the great Romantic concertos of his colleagues: it is »original, full of cantilenas and written for accomplished violinists« – including Isabelle Faust, whose wish it was to play the solo part with us one day. However, before that, we should first congratulate this year's birthday boy, Smetana: With his fascinating tone poem »Wallenstein's Camp«, which for Jakub Hrůša is a »fantastic opener« for concerts – which makes the piece a perfect opening for the new season themed »What we love«.

Moderated rehearsal with Vladimir Jurowski

In our moderated rehearsals, visitors get to know the most important genres of classical music: Symphony, solo concerto, symphonic poem. In conversation with the conductor, orchestra musician or soloist, you will learn exciting facts about the works and gain an in-depth insight into the orchestra’s rehearsal work. This is an offer for school classes from intermediate level and adults. Duration: approx. 90 minutes. Participation free of charge. The moderation will be in German.

Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Vladimir Jurowski

Season opening with the Orchestra Academy

Since 2016, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra has hosted an ”Orchestra Academy”. The international RSPO Orchestra Academy is a one-year, advanced academic programme for young musicians. Under the guidance of the section leaders from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Piteå School of Music, the musicians receive intensive training individually, in chamber music, and orchestral playing. They also showcase their talents through a series of public chamber music concerts – such as this one featuring this year’s academy students.The Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz was 23 years old when she wrote her Wind Quintet in 1932, the same year she graduated in composition and violin from the Warsaw Conservatory. The music from this period is in a neoclassical style, and the quintet is a fine example of this.Elizabeth Maconchy was a composer of great versatility and unfailing integrity, amply deserving of a British critic’s description of her as one of the most substantial composers these islands have yet produced. She studied at the Royal College of Music with Vaughan Williams, but she was attracted less by English pastoralism than by the central European modernism of Bartók and Janáček. The prize-winning quintet featured here is an early work, composed in 1932 when she was 25 years old. The Czech-born Antoine Reicha was a contemporary and friend of Beethoven and was primarily active in Paris, where he became a professor at the Conservatoire (with students including Hector Berlioz). Reicha is particularly known for his writings on music theory, but his chamber music is also regularly performed. Here, we hear the Octet in a finale that brings together all the musicians.

Vladimir Jurowski & Martin Helmchen

The concert will be broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur on 18 April 2024 at 8.03 pm.

Vladimir Jurowski & Alina Ibragimova

Vladimir Jurowski & Yefim Bronfman