ConcertPulse
Guest performance
Philharmonie Berlin, Chamber Music Hall (Berlin)
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Soprano Julia Lezhneva's career was prophesied early on: ‘I must have shouted so suddenly right after giving birth that the doctor almost dropped me and told my mother that I was a born opera singer,’ she says. The Moscow-trained artist clearly has a sense of humour - and is now one of the most sought-after soloists of her generation, from the Salzburg Festival to the Royal Opera House. This is not the first time she has performed with us either. The programme includes ouvertures as well as arias by Mozart and Rossini, and the Konzerthausorchester will continue its seasons-spanning Haydn focus with one of the composer's famous London symphonies under the baton of Joana Mallwitz.
Soprano Julia Lezhneva's career was prophesied early on: ‘I must have shouted so suddenly right after giving birth that the doctor almost dropped me and told my mother that I was a born opera singer,’ she says. The Moscow-trained artist clearly has a sense of humour - and is now one of the most sought-after soloists of her generation, from the Salzburg Festival to the Royal Opera House. This is not the first time she has performed with us either. The programme includes ouvertures as well as arias by Mozart and Rossini, and the Konzerthausorchester will continue its seasons-spanning Haydn focus with one of the composer's famous London symphonies under the baton of Joana Mallwitz.
The Concertgebouw’s famous Main Hall is one of the best concert halls in the world, well-known for its exceptional acoustics and special atmosphere. In the Main Hall, you will feel history. Here, Gustav Mahler conducted his own compositions, as did Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. Sergei Rachmaninoff played his own piano concertos in the Main Hall. This is also where musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Yehudi Menuhin gave legendary performances. Right up to now, the Main Hall offers a stage to the world’s best orchestras and musicians. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Main Hall for yourself!
»Scena di Berenice«, which is rarely performed nowadays, was composed by Joseph Haydn during his second visit to London. The content is quintessential for a classical aria: a woman in love has been abandoned by her partner and now laments sonorously. 130 years later, a work by Béla Bartók caused a far-reaching scandal: the fiery dance pantomime called »The Miraculous Mandarin« was banned in Cologne in 1926 by the then Lord Mayor Konrad Adenauer. This is how barbaric the music seemed to the listeners. And it is indeed true: Bartók was not interested in music as edification. He wanted to depict reality. And reality in the early 20th century was often a long way from harmonious. In the second half of the concert, Gustav Mahler’s fourth and arguably most light-filled symphony takes us back to the beginning of the century. But beware: the light in the symphony is tempered with some dark shallow waters. At a children’s concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall back in 1960, the great rediscoverer of Mahler, Leonard Bernstein, said: »Well, you might not believe it, but the man who wrote all that jolly stuff was one of the most unhappy people in history!«
»Scena di Berenice«, which is rarely performed nowadays, was composed by Joseph Haydn during his second visit to London. The content is quintessential for a classical aria: a woman in love has been abandoned by her partner and now laments sonorously. 130 years later, a work by Béla Bartók caused a far-reaching scandal: the fiery dance pantomime called »The Miraculous Mandarin« was banned in Cologne in 1926 by the then Lord Mayor Konrad Adenauer. This is how barbaric the music seemed to the listeners. And it is indeed true: Bartók was not interested in music as edification. He wanted to depict reality. And reality in the early 20th century was often a long way from harmonious. In the second half of the concert, Gustav Mahler’s fourth and arguably most light-filled symphony takes us back to the beginning of the century. But beware: the light in the symphony is tempered with some dark shallow waters. At a children’s concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall back in 1960, the great rediscoverer of Mahler, Leonard Bernstein, said: »Well, you might not believe it, but the man who wrote all that jolly stuff was one of the most unhappy people in history!«
Journeys are an excellent balm for the soul – Mendelssohn already knew this when he set off for Italy in 1830 and, during a stopover in Weimar, may well have heard his friend Goethe say: »The free sea frees the spirit«. The Italian landscape inspired Mendelssohn to compose his fourth symphony: especially the melodic, gushing opening movement and the intoxicating saltarello finale seem wonderfully bathed in sunlight. Mozart's numerous itineraries have also left their mark: in 1773, at the age of only sixteen, he wrote the sometimes jubilant, sometimes heartfelt motet »Exsultate, jubilate« in Milan for an Italian castrato who is said to have sung »like an angel«. No less angelic will star soprano Julia Lezhneva perform this work for us. Unlike Mozart, Haydn spent most of his time in the provinces in his cherished »Esterházy's fairy land«, except for his later trips to London – but the great cities nevertheless became aware of him, so he travelled in spirit. The symphony no. 85, written for Paris in 1785, was given the title »La Reine« because Queen Marie Antoinette held it in particularly high esteem: A splendid composition that takes the folk song »La gentille et jeune Lisette« and integrates it with a number of surprises. Rossini also left behind grandiose numbers in his many operas, such as the soulful lament »Assisa a piè d'un salice« and the bravura aria »Tanti affetti in tal momento«. Born in a small harbour town on the Adriatic Sea, he was revered throughout Europe. We look forward to the conducting of Giovanni Antonini, who has become a regular guest in Bamberg!Recording & broadcast BR-KLASSIK
Journeys are an excellent balm for the soul – Mendelssohn already knew this when he set off for Italy in 1830 and, during a stopover in Weimar, may well have heard his friend Goethe say: »The free sea frees the spirit«. The Italian landscape inspired Mendelssohn to compose his fourth symphony: especially the melodic, gushing opening movement and the intoxicating saltarello finale seem wonderfully bathed in sunlight. Mozart's numerous itineraries have also left their mark: in 1773, at the age of only sixteen, he wrote the sometimes jubilant, sometimes heartfelt motet »Exsultate, jubilate« in Milan for an Italian castrato who is said to have sung »like an angel«. No less angelic will star soprano Julia Lezhneva perform this work for us. Unlike Mozart, Haydn spent most of his time in the provinces in his cherished »Esterházy's fairy land«, except for his later trips to London – but the great cities nevertheless became aware of him, so he travelled in spirit. The symphony no. 85, written for Paris in 1785, was given the title »La Reine« because Queen Marie Antoinette held it in particularly high esteem: A splendid composition that takes the folk song »La gentille et jeune Lisette« and integrates it with a number of surprises. Rossini also left behind grandiose numbers in his many operas, such as the soulful lament »Assisa a piè d'un salice« and the bravura aria »Tanti affetti in tal momento«. Born in a small harbour town on the Adriatic Sea, he was revered throughout Europe. We look forward to the conducting of Giovanni Antonini, who has become a regular guest in Bamberg!Recording & broadcast BR-KLASSIK
The concert will be broadcast live on rbbKultur.Due to construction work, access to the Konzerthaus is currently restricted. Please note the following information:
A milestone in the 19th-century symphonic repertoire: even Robert Schumann waxed ecstatic at the “heavenly lengths” of Schubert’s Great C-major Symphony. Schubert’s path-breaking achievement was to compose, only one year after Beethoven’s Ninth, a similarly ambitious work that nonetheless struck out on paths all its own. Mozart’s virtuoso motet Exsultate, jubilate, sung by the Russian coloratura soprano Julia Lezheva, provides stunning opening to our annual benefit concert, held for the Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Advent Calendar. The programme will open with two of the Four Psalms for a cappella chorus by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. Herbert Blomstedt, a Swedish conductor highly esteemed by the Munich public, will lend these pieces a delightful Scandinavian tinge.