SOPHIE RENNERT & JOSEPH MIDDLETON

Joseph Haydn / Harmoniemesse

William Christie directs two titans of sacred music: Mozart’s Litaniae Lauretanae, described by Albert Einstein as ‘a marvel of art and youth’, followed by Harmoniemesse, one of Haydn’s most imposing compositions.

RAFAEL FINGERLOS & JOSEPH MIDDLETON

In 2016, the composer Robert Fürstenthal died in San Diego, California, at the age of almost 100. After fleeing the Nazis and settling in the United States in 1939, he had a successful career as an accountant before returning to composition in the 1970s, writing music that evokes his hometown of Vienna. Rafael Fingerlos, who collaborated with the composer on the premiere recording of his songs shortly before Fürstenthal’s death, is joined by Joseph Middleton to present a selection of these works, juxtaposed with compositions by Max Bruch, Johannes Brahms, and Franz Schubert.

Sophie Straat – Punk & Plush

Joseph Haydn: Die Schöpfung

Haydn had been deeply impressed by the spectacular performances of Handel oratorios when he travelled to England in 1791. Such choirs did not exist in the Italian tradition, to which the Viennese oratorios were also rooted. Why shouldn’t he try something of this kind himself? So he brought back a libretto from England, which had probably first been presented to George Frideric Handel: John Milton’s (1608-1674) epic poem »Paradise Lost«.

Anthony Joseph

Sophie Hunger: Walzer für Niemand

»Walzer für Niemand« (Waltz for Nobody): that’s the name of a song by Sophie Hunger, released in 2008 on her debut album »Monday’s Ghost«. And it is also the name of her first novel, which will be published in spring 2025. The coming-of-age story, which is as unfathomable as it is poetic, tragicomic and sophisticated, tells of what we have to lose in order to become something. As part of her »Reflektor« festival at the Elbphilharmonie, Sophie Hunger will read from her book and sing some of her songs, accompanied only by herself on the guitar. The novel tells the story of a girl and her best friend Niemand. Their upbringing is characterised by constant changes of location. Carried by the rhythm of music, they experience the magic and shocks of childhood and adolescence. They are happiest when they lose themselves in their record collection or find the phrases in songs that have always lurked inside them. They hide in the music and are hidden by it, but they always have each other. But then the friendship cracks and a catastrophe is in the offing.

Sophie Hunger / Metropole Orkest / Jochen Neuffer

»The result is astonishing, surprising, often absolutely stunning,« wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung about concerts featuring Sophie Hunger and the orchestra from her home city of Bern. Now the Swiss singer-songwriter icon celebrates the start of her »Reflektor« festival at the Elbphilharmonie with symphonic arrangements of her best songs, this time accompanied by the Metropole Orkest, one of the best pop orchestras in the world. With this major concert event, Sophie Hunger joins the ranks of Shirley Bassey, Ella Fitzgerald, Laura Mvula, Snarky Puppy and many other musical greats. They all performed with the Metropole Orkest, which earned them 21 Grammy nominations and 4 Grammy awards. It is not only the large line-up with integrated big band that makes the Metropole Orkest from Hilversum unique, but also its decades of specialisation in large-scale popular music. The orchestra is conducted by Jochen Neuffer, who arranged Sophie Hunger’s songs for the symphonic line-up. Numerous projects of this kind have already seen him join forces with pop and jazz greats such as Gregory Porter, Lalah Hathaway, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Robbie Williams, Donny McCaslin, Jacob Collier and Mark Guiliana.

Sophie Hunger / Metropole Orkest / Jochen Neuffer

»The result is astonishing, surprising, often absolutely stunning,« wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung about concerts featuring Sophie Hunger and the orchestra from her home city of Bern. Now the Swiss singer-songwriter icon celebrates the start of her »Reflektor« festival at the Elbphilharmonie with symphonic arrangements of her best songs, this time accompanied by the Metropole Orkest, one of the best pop orchestras in the world. With this major concert event, Sophie Hunger joins the ranks of Shirley Bassey, Ella Fitzgerald, Laura Mvula, Snarky Puppy and many other musical greats. They all performed with the Metropole Orkest, which earned them 21 Grammy nominations and 4 Grammy awards. It is not only the large line-up with integrated big band that makes the Metropole Orkest from Hilversum unique, but also its decades of specialisation in large-scale popular music. The orchestra is conducted by Jochen Neuffer, who arranged Sophie Hunger’s songs for the symphonic line-up. Numerous projects of this kind have already seen him join forces with pop and jazz greats such as Gregory Porter, Lalah Hathaway, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Robbie Williams, Donny McCaslin, Jacob Collier and Mark Guiliana.

Joseph Haydn – Die Tageszeiten

Musical works of Joseph Haydn , Johann Baptist Vanhal

Joseph Bastian | Brass ensemble