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To celebrate the beginning of spring, join James Gaffigan, Robin Poell, and the Komische Oper Berlin orchestra on a musical journey through nature's awakening. Listen to the buzzing of bees, sing along, and immerse yourselves in the sounds of spring.
Dominant alpha males or sensitive organisers: conductors are very different – and one might think that the profession has been around forever. Compared to many others, however, it is still relatively young: it only emerged in the 19th century. Before that, only one of the players or the composer himself made a few hand gestures from the piano. But during the Romantic period in particular, the ensembles became larger and larger and the scores became more complex. A person was now needed to coordinate everything in order to avoid chaos. Mendelssohn is regarded as the first conductor in today’s understanding of the term, who set the standard as Gewandhauskapellmeister. He was followed by other big names in Leipzig, including Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Kurt Masur and Herbert Blomstedt. Since 2018, Andris Nelsons has been holding the strings together there – but he also loves conducting our orchestra, and we are delighted that he is coming back to Bamberg. Because he is a phenomenon: he lives, breathes and loves music – and celebrates this with an unmistakable trademark of virtually painted lines, conveying strong emotions. The programme he has chosen combines dance works from East and West – after all, music is a wonderful means of building bridges across borders: His Latvian compatriot Arturs Maskats wrote an exciting tango in 2002, while Carlos Simon wrote the colourful »Four Black American Dances« in 2022. There is also a beguiling feast for the ears with Rimsky-Korsakov’s caleidoscope about the storyteller Scheherazade – and Andris Nelsons will certainly conduct again in the same way as he once mentioned in an interview: »Ultimately, you have to follow your heart, that’s where the impulse comes from.«
Dominant alpha males or sensitive organisers: conductors are very different – and one might think that the profession has been around forever. Compared to many others, however, it is still relatively young: it only emerged in the 19th century. Before that, only one of the players or the composer himself made a few hand gestures from the piano. But during the Romantic period in particular, the ensembles became larger and larger and the scores became more complex. A person was now needed to coordinate everything in order to avoid chaos. Mendelssohn is regarded as the first conductor in today’s understanding of the term, who set the standard as Gewandhauskapellmeister. He was followed by other big names in Leipzig, including Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Kurt Masur and Herbert Blomstedt. Since 2018, Andris Nelsons has been holding the strings together there – but he also loves conducting our orchestra, and we are delighted that he is coming back to Bamberg. Because he is a phenomenon: he lives, breathes and loves music – and celebrates this with an unmistakable trademark of virtually painted lines, conveying strong emotions. The programme he has chosen combines dance works from East and West – after all, music is a wonderful means of building bridges across borders: His Latvian compatriot Arturs Maskats wrote an exciting tango in 2002, while Carlos Simon wrote the colourful »Four Black American Dances« in 2022. There is also a beguiling feast for the ears with Rimsky-Korsakov’s caleidoscope about the storyteller Scheherazade – and Andris Nelsons will certainly conduct again in the same way as he once mentioned in an interview: »Ultimately, you have to follow your heart, that’s where the impulse comes from.«
A Persian sultan, enraged by his unfaithful wife, murders a young woman every morning. A clever princess aims to end this terror through storytelling. This frame story from "One Thousand and One Nights" inspired Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade." A solo violin portrays the princess, while the orchestra depicts her stories of storms, caravans, feasts, and flying carpets.
Playing in an orchestra - for many Cologne residents, this wish is fulfilled in the Cologne Citizens' Orchestra, which the Gürzenich Orchestra founded in the 2019/20 season. The initiative is a matter close to the heart of the musicians in the orchestra. More than 40 of them are working on the works with the participants and supporting them in their preparations for the joint concert in the Kölner Philharmonie.
The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by Principal Conductor Alain Altinoglu, will conclude their season with three concerts at the Festival International de Colmar. Altinoglu, who became the festival's Artistic Director in 2023, will present works by various composers including Strawinsky, Dvořák, and Brahms, featuring cellist Gautier Capuçon, pianist Alexander Malofeev, and Frankfurt Radio Symphony's principal trumpet Sebastian Berner.