Symphonisches Feuerwerk

Symphonisches Feuerwerk

Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8, known as the "Symphony of a Thousand," will be performed by the Bremer Philharmoniker for the first time at the season finale. Premiering in 1910 with over 1000 performers, this massive work set new standards. This performance celebrates the Philharmonic Society Bremen and Bremer Philharmoniker's 200th anniversary. It's a symphonic apotheosis, a modern hymn to joy, and a secular mass, characterized by E-flat major and a dense yet transparent structure.

Symphonisches Feuerwerk

Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8, known as the "Symphony of a Thousand," will be performed by the Bremer Philharmoniker for the first time at the season finale. Premiering in 1910 with over 1000 performers, this massive work set new standards. This performance celebrates the Philharmonic Society Bremen and Bremer Philharmoniker's 200th anniversary. It's a symphonic apotheosis, a modern hymn to joy, and a secular mass, characterized by E-flat major and a dense yet transparent structure.

Symphonisches Blasorchester Norderstedt

Wind orchestra – that is far more than marching music and folk songs. At its matinee concert in the Laeiszhalle, the Symphonisches Blasorchester Norderstedt presents the impressive variety and unique variety of sound of symphonic wind music. A special highlight of the programme is Guido Rennert’s »Hamburg – The Gateway to the World«. The composition is a tribute to the city, its moving history and unique atmosphere.

Chamber Music: Symphonisches Schrammelquintett Wien

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 «.

Haydn-Orchester / Sarah Christian / Rida Murtada

The Haydn-Orchester Hamburg is regarded as one of northern Germany’s top amateur orchestras. Founded in 1977, Rida Murtada has occupied the position of musical director since 2003. The orchestra performs biannually at the Laeiszhalle.

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 «.

Igor Levit / Berliner Barock Solisten

When Igor Levit takes his seat at the keyboard, one thing is for sure: you’ll hear the pieces on the programme as never before. The German-Russian pianist makes his very own mark, often as unexpected as it is brilliant, on every work he plays, whisking even veteran repertoire warhorses into the here and now. In this concert Levit is accompanied by the Berliner Barock Solisten in music by two composers who can be described without exaggeration as pinnacles of music history: Johann Sebastian Bach and his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The most famous of the Bach sons made a no less illustrious career for himself than his father, and was admired by fellow composers like Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn. In this cleverly thought-out programme, Levit and the Berlin ensemble create a father-son dialogue along entirely modern lines.

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Alexej Gerassimez / Edward Gardner

Percussion as a solo instrument is still a newcomer to the traditional classical repertoire – and at the same time it is a cosmos entirely its own, shimmering in a thousand colours. The young musician Alexej Gerassimez from Essen, Germany, brings this cosmos impressively to life. The award-winning percussionist is a true all-rounder, switching genres effortlessly with an equal command of jazz grooves and of the complex rhythms of contemporary music. A perfect candidate for Finnish composer Kalevi Aho’s sparkling percussion concerto, which was first performed in 2012. Aho called the work »Sieidi«, the Sami word for a sacred rock or mountain. After the interval, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra climbs an orchestral summit in the shape of Dvořák’s »New World« Symphony. Since its New York premiere in 1893, the composer’s Ninth has been an absolute audience favourite.