Sebastian Knauer & Johannes Strate

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.

Wiener KammerOrchester / Sebastian Knauer

The Echo Klassik award-winning work »ÜberBach« is coming to the stage of the Elbphilharmonie. Sebastian Knauer has already celebrated great success worldwide with the piano concerto composed for him by Arash Safaian. The continuation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music into today’s world of sound fascinates, touches and inspires. The second soloist on stage alongside Sebastian Knauer is the Danish vibraphonist Morten Friis, who recently stormed the international charts with his hit »Cynical« as the founder of the band Safri Duo. The two soloists will be accompanied by the internationally acclaimed Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Also on the programme are the 5th Brandenburg Concerto BWV 1050 and the Piano Concerto BWV 1052, two original works by J.S. Bach, as well as excerpts from »Souvenir de Florence« by Peter Tchaikovsky, the »Holberg Suite« by Edvard Grieg and the Serenade op. 20 by Edward Elgar.

Sebastian Knauer / Symphoniker Hamburg / David Newman

Pianist and Echo Klassik award-winner Sebastian Knauer presents a very special programme - the sounds of Hollywood - in original works and new, never-before-heard arrangements written exclusively for him, accompanied by the large orchestra of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra. The evening will be conducted by Oscar-nominated composer and conductor David Newman. He comes from the most successful film music dynasty in the history of the Academy Awards. The programme includes music by his father Alfred Newman, the founding father of the Hollywood sound, composer of the world's most famous fanfare, the 20th Century Fox logo, winner of nine Oscars and his brother Thomas Newman, who has also been nominated for several Oscars. The Oscar-winning composers Alex North, Bernard Herrman, Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner can also be heard. Of course, the great American classics George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber are not to be missed on this evening.

Johannes S. Leung / Daniel Gaede / Sebastian Gaede

A fascinating journey through chamber music – from classical sounds to contemporary compositions. The three renowned musicians, Daniel Gaede, former concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Sebastian Gaede (NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra) on cello and internationally acclaimed Johannes Sum-Yee Leung on piano, invite you to a concert evening that will delight music lovers. Franz Schubert’s trio movement D 28 from 1812 takes centre stage, representing the classical chamber music tradition with dignity. Brahms and Rachmaninov add romantic colours. As a highlight, the audience can look forward to the world premiere of a contemporary piano trio composed by Johannes S. Leung especially for this evening.

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.

Johann Sebastian Bach - Johannes-Passion - Freiburger Bachchor und Freiburger Bachorchester

The Freiburg Bach Choir will perform Bach's St. John Passion (2nd version) on March 29th and 30th, 2025, in Freiburg, marking the 300th anniversary of its premiere. Award-winning tenor Patrick Grahl will perform the virtuosic tenor arias. A symposium with musicologist Prof. Dr. Manuel Bärwald will be held at the Catholic Academy on March 21st and 22nd.

Johannes 300

Eines der bedeutendsten Meisterwerke der abendländischen Musik feiert Geburtstag: Vor 300 Jahren kam Bachs »Johannes-Passion« in die Welt und mit ihr eine Musik, die von unbegreiflicher Größe ist und zugleich von beeindruckender Menschlichkeit. Uraufgeführt am Karfreitag des Jahres 1724, ist dieses Passions-Oratorium Bachs erstes großes Vokalwerk seiner Leipziger Amtszeit. Verglichen mit der späteren, opernhafteren Matthäus-Passion ist die nach dem Evangelisten Johannes ein Werk, das den Erlösungsgedanken in den Vordergrund stellt. Jesu Sterben soll nicht erschrecken, sondern zur Reflexion über Verantwortung, Liebe, Trost, Leben und Tod anregen. Besonders die dramatisch aufgeladenen Chor-Szenen wollen dabei aufrütteln und den Spiegel vorhalten, der Chor als die Stimme des Volkes und der öffentlichen Meinung. Diesen Part wird in dieser Jubiläums-Aufführung des hr-Sinfonieorchesters und Alain Altinoglus das Vocalconsort Berlin übernehmen, ein Ensemble auf Solistenniveau. Oder wie es Sir Simon Rattle einmal auf den Punkt brachte: einfach »bloody good singers«.Konzertdauer: ca. 120 Minuten – keine Pause!

Familienkonzert: Johann & Johannes

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.”