Classical concerts featuring

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

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.

James Gaffigan & Janine Jansen

The tone colors of the strings in William Grant Still’s Mother and Child evoke the lovely flower meadows and the cradling one associates with the tender bonds between mother and child. Dvořák’s American Suite: raw, promising, yearning, impetuous, exciting – a musical depiction of the New World. Bernstein’s Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium) begins with a sighing, exquisitely flowing solo violin line, and with the addition of strings, harp, and percussion, turns into an unconventional, raging mix of styles with a “hint of jazz” at the end. The solo part is entrusted to the exceptional violinist Janine Jansen. Gershwin’s portrait of the French rush hour in An American in Paris concludes the concert. James Gaffigan will be conducting the BRSO for the third time in this very special program, which also promises to be incredibly exciting.

James Gaffigan & Janine Jansen

The tone colors of the strings in William Grant Still’s Mother and Child evoke the lovely flower meadows and the cradling one associates with the tender bonds between mother and child. Dvořák’s American Suite: raw, promising, yearning, impetuous, exciting – a musical depiction of the New World. Bernstein’s Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium) begins with a sighing, exquisitely flowing solo violin line, and with the addition of strings, harp, and percussion, turns into an unconventional, raging mix of styles with a “hint of jazz” at the end. The solo part is entrusted to the exceptional violinist Janine Jansen. Gershwin’s portrait of the French rush hour in An American in Paris concludes the concert. James Gaffigan will be conducting the BRSO for the third time in this very special program, which also promises to be incredibly exciting.

Manfred Honeck & Paul Lewis

Paul Lewis and the BRSO had actually planned to make up for Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in these concerts, which was canceled due to the pandemic. Due to a vertebral injury, the British pianist is now playing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto – instead of the young Norwegian’s unabashedly romantic piece, a work that opens the door to the Romantic era. And it would be hard to find a better interpreter than the proven Beethoven specialist Paul Lewis. In conductor Manfred Honeck’s conception, Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet will be brought to life with a more expressive, or, to be precise, more Dadaist character: rhythmically concise, ecstatically pulsating – a playful new territory for the BRSO musicians. And, indeed, every concert that includes the Eroica is bound to be one of the highlights of an orchestral season.

Manfred Honeck & Paul Lewis

Paul Lewis and the BRSO had actually planned to make up for Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in these concerts, which was canceled due to the pandemic. Due to a vertebral injury, the British pianist is now playing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto – instead of the young Norwegian’s unabashedly romantic piece, a work that opens the door to the Romantic era. And it would be hard to find a better interpreter than the proven Beethoven specialist Paul Lewis. In conductor Manfred Honeck’s conception, Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet will be brought to life with a more expressive, or, to be precise, more Dadaist character: rhythmically concise, ecstatically pulsating – a playful new territory for the BRSO musicians. And, indeed, every concert that includes the Eroica is bound to be one of the highlights of an orchestral season.

Tugan Sokhiev & Vadim Gluzman

In the hopes that in April spring will already be bursting out of the ground, the sky, and people’s hearts, this concert could not begin more fittingly than with Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps, a sonic representation of springtime. It is an entertaining and wonderfully orchestrated piece that is definitely worth listening to. Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto is a more familiar work, and has found one of its most sympathetic advocates in Vadim Gluzman; indeed, this work has become second nature to him. Additionally, Gluzman has had a long-standing collaboration with conductor Tugan Sokhiev (as well as with BRSO concertmaster Anton Barakhovsky). Chausson’s Symphony in B flat major, a pinnacle of French symphonic music, will round off the programme.

Tugan Sokhiev & Vadim Gluzman

In the hopes that in April spring will already be bursting out of the ground, the sky, and people’s hearts, this concert could not begin more fittingly than with Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps, a sonic representation of springtime. It is an entertaining and wonderfully orchestrated piece that is definitely worth listening to. Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto is a more familiar work, and has found one of its most sympathetic advocates in Vadim Gluzman; indeed, this work has become second nature to him. Additionally, Gluzman has had a long-standing collaboration with conductor Tugan Sokhiev (as well as with BRSO concertmaster Anton Barakhovsky). Chausson’s Symphony in B flat major, a pinnacle of French symphonic music, will round off the programme.

Portrait Pascal Dusapin

Adventurous, inquisitive, independent, and principled in his approach – Pascal Dusapin has retained these qualities to this day, which explains why he is one of the most important composers of his generation. For his artfully crafted cycle of seven “orchestral solos,” he pondered for almost two decades the “question of the pure line” – which, according to the composer, is attained only in the sixth solo, entitled Reverso. Uncut concludes the collection of seven solos, and, with its iridescent prisms of color, is inspired by the legacy of Messiaen and Boulez. Conductor Ariane Matiakh will also include the Scenes from Penthesilea on the programme – a dramatic suite with three central roles interpreted by one singer, who in this concert will be the wonderful Christel Loetzsch. Another highlight is Dusapin’s Violin Concerto, characterized by sophisticated timbral changes, and performed by Renaud Capuçon.

Karina Canellakis & Alice Sara Ott

Lumière et pesanteur, written by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho as a gift for the conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, radiates a shimmering sonic texture that is captivating, and serves as a brief opening prelude. Maurice Ravel’s brilliant and jazzy Piano Concerto in G major, written between 1929 and 1931, is entrusted to the sensitive and assured hands of pianist Alice Sara Ott – its colorful, playful style providing an exciting contrast to the dark, incisive soundworld of Jean Sibelius. The American conductor Karina Canellakis has chosen to showcase this soundworld by performing the four-movement suite that portrays the adventures of the hero (and womanizer) Lemminkäinen, as found in the Finnish national epic Kalevala.

Karina Canellakis & Alice Sara Ott

Lumière et pesanteur, written by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho as a gift for the conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, radiates a shimmering sonic texture that is captivating, and serves as a brief opening prelude. Maurice Ravel’s brilliant and jazzy Piano Concerto in G major, written between 1929 and 1931, is entrusted to the sensitive and assured hands of pianist Alice Sara Ott – its colorful, playful style providing an exciting contrast to the dark, incisive soundworld of Jean Sibelius. The American conductor Karina Canellakis has chosen to showcase this soundworld by performing the four-movement suite that portrays the adventures of the hero (and womanizer) Lemminkäinen, as found in the Finnish national epic Kalevala.

Simone Young

Sound sorceress Simone Young will be conducting the BRSO for the third time in a program that she herself has chosen. It includes Anton Webern’s Five Pieces for Orchestra, in which Webern condenses the atonal language established by Schönberg into a miniature form (the fourth movement consists of only six measures). This masterful aphorism forms an antipode to the grotesque atmosphere of Alban Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra, which the 29-year-old composer wrote as an apprentice piece for the 40th birthday of his teacher, Arnold Schönberg: it arises out of distorted sound masses that gradually coalesce into music. Zemlinsky’s magnificent Lyric Symphony completes the program: eclectic, sophisticated, and one of his most important compositions, in which soloists Maria Bengtsson and Michael Volle will add their own personal touches.

Simone Young

Sound sorceress Simone Young will be conducting the BRSO for the third time in a program that she herself has chosen. It includes Anton Webern’s Five Pieces for Orchestra, in which Webern condenses the atonal language established by Schönberg into a miniature form (the fourth movement consists of only six measures). This masterful aphorism forms an antipode to the grotesque atmosphere of Alban Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra, which the 29-year-old composer wrote as an apprentice piece for the 40th birthday of his teacher, Arnold Schönberg: it arises out of distorted sound masses that gradually coalesce into music. Zemlinsky’s magnificent Lyric Symphony completes the program: eclectic, sophisticated, and one of his most important compositions, in which soloists Maria Bengtsson and Michael Volle will add their own personal touches.

Matthias Hermann

“It may well be that through the systematic use of monophony I have arrived at the purest form of melody,” said Claude Vivier about his 1981 work, which he described as a return to the melodies of his past. Helmut Lachenmann presents a broad spectrum ranging from stifled sounds of indeterminate pitch and different shades of noise all the way to distinct pitches. According to Lachenmann, it represents an “offer of expressive intensity that seeks to overcome the bourgeois longing for beauty.” In Rebecca Saunders’ Piano Concerto, glissandi audaciously hurtle across the keyboard, expanding the sonic space and letting it collapse once again. Saunders worked on these gestures together with pianist Nicolas Hodges, and states: “I like exploiting the instruments’ technical possibilities and discovering the very limits of their timbral palette.”

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

Alan Gilbert & Alisa Weilerstein

More Sibelius! What fortune! After the Lemminkäinen Suite, we first take a wild ride through the night and into the liberating sunrise the Finnish composer evokes in his symphonic poem, before finally immersing ourselves in the splendid soundworld of his Fifth Symphony. Sibelius searched for this special sound throughout his life. It took him three attempts and a total of five years to complete this work, which he described as “wrestling with God.” Placed between the ride and the wrestling is a composition by Thomas Larcher, whose music The Times praised as “one of this century’s wonders”: returning into darkness is a work written for cellist Alisa Weilerstein, who recently premiered it with the New York Philharmonic. The European premiere will be performed by the BRSO conducted by Alan Gilbert.

Alan Gilbert & Alisa Weilerstein

More Sibelius! What fortune! After the Lemminkäinen Suite, we first take a wild ride through the night and into the liberating sunrise the Finnish composer evokes in his symphonic poem, before finally immersing ourselves in the splendid soundworld of his Fifth Symphony. Sibelius searched for this special sound throughout his life. It took him three attempts and a total of five years to complete this work, which he described as “wrestling with God.” Placed between the ride and the wrestling is a composition by Thomas Larcher, whose music The Times praised as “one of this century’s wonders”: returning into darkness is a work written for cellist Alisa Weilerstein, who recently premiered it with the New York Philharmonic. The European premiere will be performed by the BRSO conducted by Alan Gilbert.

Esa-Pekka Salonen & Igor Levit

Mr. Levit, almost 75 minutes long, a large men’s chorus, and an immensely demanding piano part that is considered “not really rewarding.” What do you find particularly rewarding about Busoni’s Piano Concerto? The obvious: the work itself. It is so voluptuous, so romantic, so beautiful, so lyrical, so exciting, so thrilling, so elegiac. The Tarantella blows the roof off the concert hall! It is crazy, colorful, and profound. Playing and listening to this work is a unique experience. Despite, or perhaps because of, all the challenges.

Esa-Pekka Salonen & Igor Levit

Mr. Levit, almost 75 minutes long, a large men’s chorus, and an immensely demanding piano part that is considered “not really rewarding.” What do you find particularly rewarding about Busoni’s Piano Concerto? The obvious: the work itself. It is so voluptuous, so romantic, so beautiful, so lyrical, so exciting, so thrilling, so elegiac. The Tarantella blows the roof off the concert hall! It is crazy, colorful, and profound. Playing and listening to this work is a unique experience. Despite, or perhaps because of, all the challenges.

Esa-Pekka Salonen & Igor Levit

Mr. Levit, almost 75 minutes long, a large men’s chorus, and an immensely demanding piano part that is considered “not really rewarding.” What do you find particularly rewarding about Busoni’s Piano Concerto? The obvious: the work itself. It is so voluptuous, so romantic, so beautiful, so lyrical, so exciting, so thrilling, so elegiac. The Tarantella blows the roof off the concert hall! It is crazy, colorful, and profound. Playing and listening to this work is a unique experience. Despite, or perhaps because of, all the challenges.

Klassik am Odeonsplatz

When Daniil Trifonov played Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, one critic recommended begging for a ticket for the following concert, or even stealing one if necessary, in order to experience the “electrifying performance” of this “fiendishly difficult” work. He praised the pianist for his “almost superhuman” technique and for imbuing his performance with exceptional visceral energy. At this Klassik am Odeonsplatz concert, Trifonov will perform this work in glorious harmony with the BRSO under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst, who is an expert in this repertoire. Strauss’ Rosenkavalier Suite (lasting a good 50 minutes), which renders the elegant conversations between the Marschallin, Baron Ochs, and Octavian audible even without words and singing, will then send the listeners dancing into the evening in infectious three-four time.

Kissinger Sommer

When Daniil Trifonov played Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, one critic recommended begging for a ticket for the following concert, or even stealing one if necessary, in order to experience the “electrifying performance” of this “fiendishly difficult” work. He praised the pianist for his “almost superhuman” technique and for imbuing his performance with exceptional visceral energy. At this concert, Trifonov will perform this work in glorious harmony with the BRSO under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst, who is an expert in this repertoire. Strauss’ Rosenkavalier Suite (lasting a good 50 minutes), which renders the elegant conversations between the Marschallin, Baron Ochs, and Octavian audible even without words and singing, will then send the listeners dancing into the evening in infectious three-four time.