Classical concerts featuring

Sir Simon Rattle

Sir Simon Rattle

Boulez, Berio, and Lachenmann: all three are celebrating anniversaries in 2025, and all three have contributed landmark works to modern music. Three of these exceptional works will be presented by Sir Simon Rattle, the Bavarian Radio Chorus, and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in this concert. First on the program will be Cummings ist der Dichter – a work in which Boulez convincingly accentuates the phonetic and semantic dimension of the words in an extremely refined and breathtakingly colorful manner. Laborintus II combines the anarchic charm of the 1960s with a quasi-baroque opulence. In his tuba concerto Harmonica, Helmut Lachenmann explores the sonic boundaries between eruption and silence. Stefan Tischler, principal tuba of the BRSO, will be the soloist.

London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle

Janáček’s hilarious satire about art, lunar travel, nationalism – and sausages.

Sir Simon Rattle

Francis Poulenc’s cantata for double mixed choir Figure humaine creates an immense impression: the piece, which transforms poems by surrealist poet Paul Éluard into sound, rapturously culminates in a chord spanning over four octaves that requires the sopranos to sing a high E – an outcry serving as the overwhelming conclusion to this choral masterpiece, which is one of Sir Simon Rattle’s favorite works. With Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé (of which, regrettably, only the second suite is often performed), the BRSO chief conductor continues his musical journey through the Ballets Russes following Falla’s The Three-Cornered Hat. Rattle will also conduct Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna in honor of Pierre Boulez’s 100th birthday which falls this year: “My teacher, mentor, and friend, whom I miss dearly.”

Sir Simon Rattle

Francis Poulenc’s cantata for double mixed choir Figure humaine creates an immense impression: the piece, which transforms poems by surrealist poet Paul Éluard into sound, rapturously culminates in a chord spanning over four octaves that requires the sopranos to sing a high E – an outcry serving as the overwhelming conclusion to this choral masterpiece, which is one of Sir Simon Rattle’s favorite works. With Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé (of which, regrettably, only the second suite is often performed), the BRSO chief conductor continues his musical journey through the Ballets Russes following Falla’s The Three-Cornered Hat. Rattle will also conduct Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna in honor of Pierre Boulez’s 100th birthday which falls this year: “My teacher, mentor, and friend, whom I miss dearly.”

Sir Simon Rattle

Festival d’Aix-en-Provence

8th Subscription Concert