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November 29, 2024

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / NDR Vokalensemble / Robin Ticciati

Fri, Nov 29, 2024, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, NDR Vokalensemble, Klaas Stok (Director), Simone Candotto (Trombone), Joachim Preu (Trombone), Peter Dreßel (Trombone), Thomas Cornelius (Organ), Robin Ticciati (Conductor)

Anton Bruckner would have turned 200 years old on 4 September 2024 – an occasion for the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra to focus on important works by the great composer and organist throughout the season. On this evening in the Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall, the audience can immerse itself in the various facets of his work and influence: Bruckner’s Seventh, perhaps his most popular symphony, meets lesser-known sacred music by the former organist of St Florian’s Abbey and Linz Cathedral.

Info (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

November 10, 2024

NDR Family Concert

Sun, Nov 10, 2024, 15:30

Rolf-Liebermann-Studio (Hamburg)

NDR Vokalensemble, Christina Dean

What does a gondola driver sound like, how do ghosts dance and where does the moody trout splash? The NDR Vokalensemble has rummaged through its treasure chest and invites you to »sing stories«.

Info (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

October 20, 2024

NDR Vokalensemble: Schubertiade

Sun, Oct 20, 2024, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

NDR Vokalensemble, Julius Drake (Piano), Klaas Stok (Director)

Silvery, trembling chords awaken a sense of moonlight, a rapturous tenor voice soars over the piano and the male choir responds like an echo. As here in »Nachthelle«, Franz Schubert knew how to create poetic worlds with just a few means of expression. The NDR Vokalensemble and pianist Julius Drake, under the direction of its chief conductor Klaas Stok, dedicate a programme to this master of sonic miniatures, which mainly revolves around Schubert’s choral songs. For a romantic sound, a string quintet joins the eight-part choir in works such as »Gesang der Geister über den Wassern«. An enthusiastic follower of the pioneering Romantic composer was also Arnold Schönberg. The inventor of twelve-tone music would have been 150 years old this year. And so the NDR Vokalensemble is adding some Schönberg songs to the Schubert programme. Both composers wrote wonderful works for the voice, often infused with subtle humour. While Schoenberg even named his Opus 28 »Three Satires«, Schubert’s humour is more subtle. In his »Ständchen«, the soloist sneaks up to her sweetheart at night, »hesitantly quietly« according to the text. But in the original version, she is accompanied by a whole male choir. Does the sweetheart dare to come to the window with such concentrated masculinity?

Info (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

September 13, 2024

Opening Night: NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Alan Gilbert

Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, NDR Vokalensemble, MDR-Rundfunkchor, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Simon O’Neill (Tenor), Christina Nilsson (Soprano), Jamie Barton (Waldtaube), Michael Nagy (Bauer), Michael Schade (Narr), Thomas Quasthoff (Narrator), Klaas Stok (Choir rehearsal), Alan Gilbert (Conductor)

On 13 September 1874, one of the most influential and revolutionary composers in musical history was born in Vienna: Arnold Schönberg. Exactly 150 years later, the XXL-filled NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under principal conductor Alan Gilbert and several hundred choristers along with top-class soloists congratulate him with a veritable mammoth serenade: the »Gurre-Lieder« is probably one of the most large-scale works in the entire repertoire of classical music. At the same time, a worthy start to the new NDR season full of further highlights! At the premiere of the monumental oratorio in 1913 in Vienna, Anton Webern enthused: »What a moment in my life! Unforgettable… The sensation of this roaring sound really moves me«. And this pupil of Schönberg was not the only one: the entire hall rejoiced when faced with the opulent, intoxicating sounds, which no one would have expected from Schönberg at all! The pioneer of atonality and twelve-tone music had long since distanced himself from his late-Romantic Jugendstil. When he completed the orchestration for this piece in 1910/11, which he had already started between 1900 and 1903, he, nevertheless, did not consider it obsolete, but as the »key to my entire development« and document of his musical origin. Five renowned solo singers, Thomas Quasthoff as the narrator, the combined radio choirs from Leipzig, Berlin and Hamburg as well as the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra with double and triple wind, string and percussion strengths then let the tragic story of jealousy surrounding the Danish King Valdemar and his mistress Tove become the sonorous event for the opening of the 2024/25 NDR Season. Jens Peter Jacobsen set the medieval myth play at Gurre Castle in Zealand in 1868 in several poems, which provided Schönberg with text templates for his profound orchestral song cycle.

Info (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

September 11, 2024

Opening Night: NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Alan Gilbert

Wed, Sep 11, 2024, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

On 13 September 1874, one of the most influential and revolutionary composers in musical history was born in Vienna: Arnold Schönberg. Exactly 150 years later, the XXL-filled NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under principal conductor Alan Gilbert and several hundred choristers along with top-class soloists congratulate him with a veritable mammoth serenade: the »Gurre-Lieder« is probably one of the most large-scale works in the entire repertoire of classical music. At the same time, a worthy start to the new NDR season full of further highlights! At the premiere of the monumental oratorio in 1913 in Vienna, Anton Webern enthused: »What a moment in my life! Unforgettable… The sensation of this roaring sound really moves me«. And this pupil of Schönberg was not the only one: the entire hall rejoiced when faced with the opulent, intoxicating sounds, which no one would have expected from Schönberg at all! The pioneer of atonality and twelve-tone music had long since distanced himself from his late-Romantic Jugendstil. When he completed the orchestration for this piece in 1910/11, which he had already started between 1900 and 1903, he, nevertheless, did not consider it obsolete, but as the »key to my entire development« and document of his musical origin. Five renowned solo singers, Thomas Quasthoff as the narrator, the combined radio choirs from Leipzig, Berlin and Hamburg as well as the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra with double and triple wind, string and percussion strengths then let the tragic story of jealousy surrounding the Danish King Valdemar and his mistress Tove become the sonorous event for the opening of the 2024/25 NDR Season. Jens Peter Jacobsen set the medieval myth play at Gurre Castle in Zealand in 1868 in several poems, which provided Schönberg with text templates for his profound orchestral song cycle.

Info (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

April 14, 2024

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov

Sun, Apr 14, 2024, 17:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, NDR Vokalensemble, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Prager Philharmonischer Chor, Knabenchor Hannover, Carolyn Sampson (Soprano), Camilla Tilling (Soprano), Miriam Kutrowatz (Soprano), Stefanie Irányi (Mezzo-Soprano), Jennifer Johnston (Mezzo-Soprano), Andreas Schager (Tenor), Adam Plachetka (Bass), Nathan Berg (Bass), Lukáš Vasilek (Choir rehearsal), Semyon Bychkov (Conductor)

Any talk about Gustav Mahler’s monumental vocal symphony No. 8 features one superlative after another: the commonly used nickname »Symphony of a Thousand« – not of the composer’s invention, incidentally – already points the way. Mahler himself called his biggest-scale work »the greatest thing I have ever written«, and he certainly wasn’t just referring to the huge body of some 500 participants, which includes several choirs, a huge orchestra and eight soloists. First and foremost, the composer was aiming at a tremendously high intellectual and religious level with this symphony. He chose to set two weighty texts to music: the holiest piece in all German national literature, the closing scene from Goethe’s »Faust« Part II, and the venerable Whitsun hymn »Veni, creator spiritus«. The premiere on 12 September 1910 was an overwhelming success. The writer Thomas Mann was deeply impressed, and sent the composer a letter expressing his gratitude for »embodying, as I see it, the most earnest and sacred artistic will of our time«. To this day, performances of Mahler’s Eighth come close to a spectacle – after all, it’s not every day that you can hear top ensembles like the Prague Philharmonic Choir, the Berlin Radio Choir, the NDR Vokalensemble, the Hanover Boys’ Choir and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra all at once, with a top-class octet of soloists added for good measure! And they don’t all fit on to the stage everywhere… But this is not a problem at the Elbphilharmonie, where star conductor Semyon Bychkov, after his acclaimed readings of the Third Symphony with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, now continues his Mahler series with the greatest work in the Classical-Romantic repertoire.

Info (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

April 12, 2024

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov

Fri, Apr 12, 2024, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Whenever there is mention of Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 8, the superlatives begin to fly. The common epithet »Symphony of a Thousand« – which did not originate from the composer – already gives a taste of this. Mahler himself described his largest-scale choral work as »the greatest thing I have ever done«. And he certainly wasn’t just referring to the gigantic apparatus of some 500 performers, which required not only a huge orchestra and numerous choirs but also no less than eight soloists. It was, above all, a tremendous spiritual and religious quality that Mahler associated with this symphony. The passages he chose for inspiration were no less than the holy of holies of German national literature, the final scene from Goethe’s Faust II, and the time-honoured Pentecost hymn »Veni, creator spiritus«. Its premiere on 12 September 1910 was an overwhelming success. Even the great Thomas Mann was incredibly impressed, writing a letter of thanks to the composer, referring to him as »the man who, as I believe, expresses the art of our time in its profoundest and most sacred form.« To this day, performances of Mahler’s Eighth remain a rare spectacle. After all, it is not every day that you have top ensembles like the Prague Philharmonic Choir, the Rundfunkchor Berlin, the NDR Vokalensemble, the Knabenchor Hannover and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra come together with a first-class octet of soloists! And it is not everywhere that the stage can accommodate everyone, but this is no problem in the Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall. After his acclaimed performances of the Symphony No. 3 with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the star conductor Semyon Bychkov now continues his Mahler series, bringing the greatest that the classical and romantic repertoire has to offer to the podium.

Info (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

April 11, 2024

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov

Thu, Apr 11, 2024, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Whenever there is mention of Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 8, the superlatives begin to fly. The common epithet »Symphony of a Thousand« – which did not originate from the composer – already gives a taste of this. Mahler himself described his largest-scale choral work as »the greatest thing I have ever done«. And he certainly wasn’t just referring to the gigantic apparatus of some 500 performers, which required not only a huge orchestra and numerous choirs but also no less than eight soloists. It was, above all, a tremendous spiritual and religious quality that Mahler associated with this symphony. The passages he chose for inspiration were no less than the holy of holies of German national literature, the final scene from Goethe’s Faust II, and the time-honoured Pentecost hymn »Veni, creator spiritus«. Its premiere on 12 September 1910 was an overwhelming success. Even the great Thomas Mann was incredibly impressed, writing a letter of thanks to the composer, referring to him as »the man who, as I believe, expresses the art of our time in its profoundest and most sacred form.« To this day, performances of Mahler’s Eighth remain a rare spectacle. After all, it is not every day that you have top ensembles like the Prague Philharmonic Choir, the Rundfunkchor Berlin, the NDR Vokalensemble, the Knabenchor Hannover and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra come together with a first-class octet of soloists! And it is not everywhere that the stage can accommodate everyone, but this is no problem in the Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall. After his acclaimed performances of the Symphony No. 3 with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the star conductor Semyon Bychkov now continues his Mahler series, bringing the greatest that the classical and romantic repertoire has to offer to the podium.

Info (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

March 15, 2024

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / NDR Vokalensemble / Matthias Brandt / Jonathan Stockhammer

Fri, Mar 15, 2024, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, NDR Vokalensemble, Siobhan Stagg (Soprano), Noa Frenkel (Alto), Simon Bode (Tenor), Jonathan Stockhammer (Conductor), Matthias Brandt (Narrator)

Luigi Nono always saw himself as a political person and composer. But rather than composing musical manifestos against social injustice, he believed in the power of music to educate and enlighten. As in 1956, when he – in his large-scale cantata »Il canto sospeso« – translated farewell letters by members of the resistance that had been sentenced to death into a stirring and highly poetic tonal language. The German-American conductor and Nono specialist Jonathan Stockhammer now presents this »suspended song« in the Grand Hall. Luigi Nono’s musical credo was to »awaken the ear, the eyes, human thought« with his works. This aspiration is reflected in the »Canto sospeso«, which was premiered in Cologne in 1956 and which – with its orchestra parts, a-cappella chorales and arias – also underlines Nono’s affinity for Italian madrigal and operatic art. Yet in its musical recollection, this »song« exudes a blazing presence.

Info (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov

Thu, Apr 11, 2024, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Whenever there is mention of Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 8, the superlatives begin to fly. The common epithet »Symphony of a Thousand« – which did not originate from the composer – already gives a taste of this. Mahler himself described his largest-scale choral work as »the greatest thing I have ever done«. And he certainly wasn’t just referring to the gigantic apparatus of some 500 performers, which required not only a huge orchestra and numerous choirs but also no less than eight soloists. It was, above all, a tremendous spiritual and religious quality that Mahler associated with this symphony. The passages he chose for inspiration were no less than the holy of holies of German national literature, the final scene from Goethe’s Faust II, and the time-honoured Pentecost hymn »Veni, creator spiritus«. Its premiere on 12 September 1910 was an overwhelming success. Even the great Thomas Mann was incredibly impressed, writing a letter of thanks to the composer, referring to him as »the man who, as I believe, expresses the art of our time in its profoundest and most sacred form.« To this day, performances of Mahler’s Eighth remain a rare spectacle. After all, it is not every day that you have top ensembles like the Prague Philharmonic Choir, the Rundfunkchor Berlin, the NDR Vokalensemble, the Knabenchor Hannover and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra come together with a first-class octet of soloists! And it is not everywhere that the stage can accommodate everyone, but this is no problem in the Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall. After his acclaimed performances of the Symphony No. 3 with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the star conductor Semyon Bychkov now continues his Mahler series, bringing the greatest that the classical and romantic repertoire has to offer to the podium.

Info (www.elbphilharmonie.de)