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Anyone who delves into George Frideric Handel’s vocal and instrumental music will find a wealth of treasures. Elegance, virtuosity, delicacy – all this can be discovered in an endlessly inventive world of musical expression. In a programme with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and conductor Robin Ticciati, you can experience some of Handel’s most beautiful arias and orchestral pieces from operas and other works. Iestyn Davies, one of the leading countertenors of our time, is the soloist. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a great admirer of Handel. His festive and exuberant “Haffner Symphony” concludes the programme.
It is considered one of the great unfinished works in the history of music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s »Great Mass« in C minor. He probably composed it following his wedding to singer Constanze Weber; unlike with his Requiem, at least Mozart’s death did not prevent the completion of the mass. Although remaining fragmentary, this outstanding mass setting is touching to this day due to its direct expressive power. With his Le Concert des Nations established in 1989, Catalan gambist, music researcher and conductor Jordi Savall had already often been a guest in Hamburg. As an expert in early music and historical performance practice, he consistently gives the audience new listening experiences – in particular with frequently played works. Because Savall is not only interested in music from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, but he also elicits new aspects from the seemingly well-known classics. The ensemble and its conductor recently demonstrated this in 2021, for instance, with their Beethoven cycle; now, they tackle Mozart’s »Great Mass«.
»The Chamber Orchestra of Europe is all about the music. In concert, this magical group unleashes an unbridled, emotional fervour, underpinned by profound wisdom. It is a privilege to work with this orchestra,« conductor Robin Ticciati raves about the democratically organised orchestra, with which he has been a regular guest at the Elbphilharmonie for almost ten years now. This orchestra-conductor dream team is now building on its celebrated 2019 Mozart project, and has invited Grammy Award-winning countertenor Iestyn Davies to conjure up magical moments in the Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall with arias by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and George Frideric Handel. The concert comes to an end with Mozart’s »Haffner« Symphony, whose lively finale includes melodies from the opera »Die Entführung aus dem Serail«, composed in the same year.
The programme for the 6th Philharmonic Concert includes a world premiere that reflects our times. Jörg Widmann, who has been in close artistic contact with Kent Nagano, particularly since the great success of his ARCHE for the opening of the Elbphilharmonie, has recently written a decidedly peaceful work in view of the global wars: »Cantata in tempore belli«. Jens Harzer takes on the role of narrator. Ida Aldrian sings the alto part.
Conductor René Jacobs revolutionised the sound of this opera with his recording of Mozart’s »Idomeneo«. In so doing, he says very modestly: »The only thing I want to do with Mozart’s works is to read them as if they were new.« The Freiburger Barockorchester was also involved at that time, likewise an eminent authority in historical performance practice, which enthrallingly illustrates the story about the power of love, destiny and ancient gods in this concert performance as well. The opera characters do not accept their fate and wrestle with their feelings: the king and father Idomeneo, who in accordance with God’s will is supposed to sacrifice his son Idamante. This very son, who is in love with Ilia, the daughter of his enemy. And Ilia, who is also in love, but believes Idamante already in the clutches of her jealous rival Elettra. Mozart and his librettist take the ancient material into their time of enlightenment and, in the end, let love, humanity and reason prevail. »Idomeneo« is an excellent opera – musically modern and full of arias, which sensitively interpret the emotions of the characters. The choir, which as the people of Crete gives lively commentary on the action, sung here by the Zürcher Singakademie, is weightier than in other Mozart operas. Only created in 2011, it has become a reliable partner for René Jacobs. The line-up of soloists completes the evening with great voices, all of them experienced Mozart interpreters.
The programme for the 6th Philharmonic Concert includes a world premiere that reflects our times. Jörg Widmann, who has been in close artistic contact with Kent Nagano, particularly since the great success of his ARCHE for the opening of the Elbphilharmonie, has recently written a decidedly peaceful work in view of the global wars: »Cantata in tempore belli«. Jens Harzer takes on the role of narrator. Ida Aldrian sings the alto part.
Jordi Savall performs Mozart’s Mass in C minor, a monument of sacred music which, while partly influenced by the works of Bach and Handel, possesses a supernatural beauty belonging solely to the Austrian composer.
In 2013, Jörg Widmann composed his first—and to date his only—song cycle. Das heiße Herz (“The Hot Heart”) is based on the works of a wide range of authors, including Clemens Brentano, Heinrich Heine, Klabund, and Peter Härtling, as well as lesser known poems from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Christian Immler and Andreas Frese, who have won acclaim for their collaboration on the cycle’s premiere recording, perform Widmann’s songs opposite works by Schumann and Mahler.
Commissioned by Vienna’s »Tonkünstler-Societät« (»Society of Musicians«), Mozart wrote the cantata »Davide penitente« (»David repents«) for Lent, using parts of his large-scale Mass in C minor. He follows in the footsteps of composers including Johann Sebastian Bach with this cantata, written for a benefit concert in aid of widows and orphans of professional musicians. In Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Mass in B minor, he presented top-class music that had already been composed in a new form.
The American star baritone Thomas Hampson is regarded as one of the best opera singers in the world. His operatic repertoire comprises more than 80 roles and his discography includes more than 170 albums. He has been honoured countless times with prestigious awards for his outstanding artistic work, including the Met Mastersinger Award, the Concertgebouw Prize and the Grammy Award. In the Elbphilharmonie, opera star Thomas Hampson presents an exciting programme of works by Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven together with conductor Martin Haselböck and the Wiener Akademie orchestra.
The Sunday Morning Concert brings you wonderful and much-loved compositions, performed by top musicians from the Netherlands and abroad. Enjoy the most beautiful music in the morning! You can make your Sunday complete by enjoying a delicious post-concert lunch in restaurant LIER.The Royal Concertgebouw is one of the best concert halls in the world, famous for its exceptional acoustics and varied programme. Attend a concert and have an experience you will never forget. Come and enjoy inspiring music in the beautiful surroundings of the Main Hall or the intimate Recital Hall.
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.
„It's the sound in particular. Nobody else has it in this way [...] . And I think it's also the way you present the music to the audience. For me, it's very important that you have very quick access to the audience.“ This is how the renowned American baroque specialist, conductor and harpsichordist William Christie describes the French ensemble Les Arts Florissants, which he has led since 1979. The Konzerthausorchester is hosting them for the first time to perform Mozart and Haydn together - the latter fits in perfectly with the orchestra's focus on Haydn's works over several seasons. The „Litaniae Lauretanae“ KV 195 from 1774 is one of four litanies or supplications that Mozart composed in Salzburg during the course of his life. The name „Lauretana“ refers to the Marian devotion reflected in it. Due to its large orchestration and virtuoso solo parts, the work is one of the „Litaniae solemnes“ that were performed in Salzburg Cathedral. Joseph Haydn's Missa in B flat major or „Harmoniemesse“ was composed in 1802 and is the last of the six great mass compositions that - alongside The Creation and The Seasons - brought his vocal works to a crowning conclusion and his last completed composition. It was given its name because of the important „harmony-filling“ role of the obbligato wind parts.
„It's the sound in particular. Nobody else has it in this way [...] . And I think it's also the way you present the music to the audience. For me, it's very important that you have very quick access to the audience.“ This is how the renowned American baroque specialist, conductor and harpsichordist William Christie describes the French ensemble Les Arts Florissants, which he has led since 1979. The Konzerthausorchester is hosting them for the first time to perform Mozart and Haydn together - the latter fits in perfectly with the orchestra's focus on Haydn's works over several seasons. The „Litaniae Lauretanae“ KV 195 from 1774 is one of four litanies or supplications that Mozart composed in Salzburg during the course of his life. The name „Lauretana“ refers to the Marian devotion reflected in it. Due to its large orchestration and virtuoso solo parts, the work is one of the „Litaniae solemnes“ that were performed in Salzburg Cathedral. Joseph Haydn's Missa in B flat major or „Harmoniemesse“ was composed in 1802 and is the last of the six great mass compositions that - alongside The Creation and The Seasons - brought his vocal works to a crowning conclusion and his last completed composition. It was given its name because of the important „harmony-filling“ role of the obbligato wind parts.
Two highlights of classical music, W.A. Mozart’s Requiem in D minor and the mighty »German Mass« No. 2 by Franz Schubert - two of the most moving masterpieces for orchestra and choir on one concert evening! The Czech Symphony Orchestra Prague takes up the great challenge of presenting these two works in one event.They will be masterfully and vocally supported by four excellent soloists and the Coro di Praga.
A servant tricks a nobleman: even in the arts, such a thing was practically a call for revolution in 1786. And yet the title character of Mozart’s opera »Le nozze di Figaro« was allowed to take his employer Count Almaviva for a full ride on the stage of the Vienna Court Opera that very year and end up making a real fool of himself. The Emperor himself had authorised the performance after Mozart had played him a few pieces from the new opera: he was evidently just as unable to resist the pull of the wonderful music as the audience, who still celebrate the opera as one of Mozart’s absolute masterpieces to this day. At the Elbphilharmonie, the performance of this brilliant work by Mozart specialist Giovanni Antonini with his Basel Chamber Orchestra and a top-class line-up of soloists promises nothing less than a masterly performance.
Haydn's "Missa in angustiis," his only mass in a minor key, reflects the turbulent times of the Napoleonic Wars. Beethoven's Symphony No. 2, written as his deafness began, is surprisingly playful and full of contrast. Mozart's Symphony No. 1, composed at the age of eight, reveals a composer brimming with energy, imagination, and original ideas.
Haydn's "Missa in angustiis," his only mass in a minor key, reflects the turbulent times of the Napoleonic Wars. Beethoven's Symphony No. 2, written as his deafness began, is surprisingly playful and full of contrast. Mozart's Symphony No. 1, composed at the age of eight, reveals a composer brimming with energy, imagination, and original ideas.
In Monday at Last, violinist Cecilia Zilliacus and cellist Kati Raitinen invite guest artists to perform both newer and older music. The guests this time are Swedish pianist Peter Friis Johansson and South African violist, composer, and overtone singer Gareth Lubbe.We get to hear the incredible possibilities and resources of the voice in Lubbe's Miniatures, where he uses a special singing technique to create a whole range of resonant overtones. It's a completely unique sound world that conveys the feeling of something magical and primal.British-American composer Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979) was a highly skilled violist and a pioneer among female composers. Her Morpheus for viola and piano was first performed in 1918 at Carnegie Hall and was her first major success. After Schnittke's both wild and contemplative string trio, and Mozart's lively Duo, "Finally Monday" concludes with the rarely performed ecstatically charged piano quartet by Finnish composer Helvi Leiviskä in a late romantic style.
Grating death, parodied death, omnipotent death, death staved off by art: this program invites us to a veritable musical “thanatography”, in which Ullmann's score, rescued from the Nazi terror, preludes Mozart's timeless masterpiece.
Grating death, parodied death, omnipotent death, death staved off by art: this program invites us to a veritable musical “thanatography”, in which Ullmann's score, rescued from the Nazi terror, preludes Mozart's timeless masterpiece.
What would have happened if Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had had time to complete his Requiem? What worlds might have opened up to us if the then 35-year-old had not been carried off in 1791 by the »severe miliary fever« – a diagnosis that has not been clearly identified to this day? Now his last, most mysterious and existential work has remained a fragment – albeit skilfully completed by Franz Xaver Süßmayr. It is only logical that the world-famous Dresdner Kreuzchor (boys’ choir) understands the fragmentary nature of the Requiem as a quality and sets it with works by a contemporary composer who is known for his deeply spiritual attitude like almost no other: Arvo Pärt. At the Elbphilharmonie, compositions by the Estonian composer are combined with the masterly sounds of Mozart to create a new whole that illuminates death – and life – from a perspective between then and now.