Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Kirill Gerstein / Daniel Harding

Daniel Harding & Kirill Gerstein

Daniel Harding & Kirill Gerstein

Daniel Harding & Kirill Gerstein

London Symphony Orchestra/Daniel Harding

Night music and love songs – Mahler and Schumann at their romantic best.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Kirill Gerstein / Omer Meir Wellber

Omer Meir Wellber’s conducting is »a miracle of transparency and rigour« according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The Israeli conductor has held a number of posts, including chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and he will be assuming the position of general music director at the Hamburg State Opera in 2025. Those who’d like to see the globetrotter in action in the Hanseatic city before then now have their chance. The unconventional conductor – who once inserted a techno interlude into an acclaimed Verdi production at the Bavarian State Opera – gave his debut with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in 2019. And he is now back on the conductor’s stand here for the third time. As an introduction to the programme, Wellber has chosen a work that was originally conceived as incidental music for a play: Gabriel Fauré’s »Pelléas et Mélisande«. Shortly after composing it, Fauré revised his opulent music for Maeterlinck’s Symbolist fairy-tale to create an independent orchestral work. The suite featuring the famous »Sicilienne« is followed by Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, which »was written in the spirit of Mozart’s and Saint-Saënsʼs concertos,« as the composer himself emphasised. That, however, does not mean that Ravel neglected his own tonal language – he opens the concerto with a spirited lash of the whip and Spanish sounds. Jazz harmonies and rhythms then increasingly come to the foreground. The soloist tasked with performing this virtuosic score is the American pianist Kirill Gerstein – a popular guest with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra for many years now. The concert comes to a close with Franz Schubert’s Third Symphony. Schubert composed the masterpiece in just a few days when he was only 18 years old. With that level of productivity, it is no surprise that the composer, despite his early death at the age of 31, still managed to leave behind an impressive oeuvre. The theatre critic Eduard Hanslick described Schubert’s Symphony No. 3 as »a work of youth and of youth’s gleefully raucous zeal «.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Kirill Gerstein / Omer Meir Wellber

Omer Meir Wellber’s conducting is »a miracle of transparency and rigour« according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The Israeli conductor has held a number of posts, including chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and he will be assuming the position of general music director at the Hamburg State Opera in 2025. Those who’d like to see the globetrotter in action in the Hanseatic city before then now have their chance. The unconventional conductor – who once inserted a techno interlude into an acclaimed Verdi production at the Bavarian State Opera – gave his debut with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in 2019. And he is now back on the conductor’s stand here for the third time. As an introduction to the programme, Wellber has chosen a work that was originally conceived as incidental music for a play: Gabriel Fauré’s »Pelléas et Mélisande«. Shortly after composing it, Fauré revised his opulent music for Maeterlinck’s Symbolist fairy-tale to create an independent orchestral work. The suite featuring the famous »Sicilienne« is followed by Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, which »was written in the spirit of Mozart’s and Saint-Saënsʼs concertos,« as the composer himself emphasised. That, however, does not mean that Ravel neglected his own tonal language – he opens the concerto with a spirited lash of the whip and Spanish sounds. Jazz harmonies and rhythms then increasingly come to the foreground. The soloist tasked with performing this virtuosic score is the American pianist Kirill Gerstein – a popular guest with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra for many years now. The concert comes to a close with Franz Schubert’s Third Symphony. Schubert composed the masterpiece in just a few days when he was only 18 years old. With that level of productivity, it is no surprise that the composer, despite his early death at the age of 31, still managed to leave behind an impressive oeuvre. The theatre critic Eduard Hanslick described Schubert’s Symphony No. 3 as »a work of youth and of youth’s gleefully raucous zeal «.

Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra / Josef Špaček / Petr Popelka

When Petr Popelka conducts the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra in music by three of the most famous composers from his Czech homeland, that is a speciality in itself. And Dvořák’s »The Noon Witch« adds another rarity to the programme. In this symphonic poem, a witch appears on the scene at exactly noon and has a decisive influence on events in both the underlying fairy tale and the music. Of course, Dvořák did not miss the opportunity to incorporate the chimes of the church clock into his composition. We also hear a work by Dvořák’s son-in-law Josef Suk, who set four other fairy tale scenes to music in his orchestral piece »Pohádka«. But this Czech evening opens with music by Suk’s pupil Bohuslav Martinů. With his numerous echoes of folk music, Martinů enchanted not only his fellow countrymen, but also American culture-lovers in the 1940s and 1950s. It goes almost without saying that his Violin Concerto is performed by the exceptional Czech violinist Josef Špaček.

Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Daniel Harding

L’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the baton of its new music director, Daniel Harding, who succeeds Sir Antonio Pappano at the helm of the prestigious Roman orchestra.

ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra / Vanessa Porter / Bas Wiegers

Most of all celebrated for its interpretations of works from the 21st century, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra has its finger on the pulse of current developments with its exciting programme for the »Elbphilharmonie Visions« Festival: under the leadership of Dutch conductor Bas Wiegers, it presents various facets of some new and newest orchestral music. As a soloist on drums, the former Rising-Star and meanwhile internationally acclaimed Vanessa Porter will join them for Fracesca Verunelli’s »from scratch«.

Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Joshua Bell / Daniel Harding

»I’m in love with Dvořák’s Violin Concerto and I don’t see that changing in the foreseeable future.« With this declaration of love, star violinist Joshua Bell takes the wind out of the sails of all those who think you only need to know the Bohemian composer’s – undeniably wonderful – Cello Concerto. In fact, the Violin Concerto offers everything you could wish for in a great evening at the Elbphilharmonie: melting melodies, highly virtuosic splendour, rousing dances. The Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia accompanies this enchanting work with Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony – a gathering of classical music masters!