Midori is featured guest on the Speaking Soundly podcast this week (October 2023)

The mission of the podcast Speaking Soundly is to offer a window into the soul of today’s premier professional performing artists, to show the process and personal journey of great artists seeking connection, beauty, and spirituality through music.

Speaking Soundly is hosted by Principal Trumpet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra David Krauss.

Midori is this week’s guest on Speaking Soundly.
To listen to the podcast, click below, as appropriate.

Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/cmoE7
Spotify: https://shorturl.at/kryCV

Livestream on 22 September at 20:05: Midori with Bernstein’s Serenade with the WDR Sinfonieorchester at the Cologne Philharmonie (September 2023)

Violinist Midori will perform Bernstein’s Serenade for violin, strings, harp and percussion in Cologne – the concert on Friday, 22 September together with the WDR Sinfonieorchester conducted by Constantinos Carydis will be broadcast live on YouTube as well as on the website of the WDR Sinfonieorchester and on the radio on WDR 3 and will also be available afterwards to listen to and watch. The work by the U.S. composer has been with Midori for what feels like her entire life; with 14, she played it under the composer’s baton in her debut performance at Tanglewood. During the performance, her string broke twice and Midori quickly exchanged her ¾-instrument for the concert master’s violin and then for another one. The special moment is also available on YouTube, but unfortunately in poor quality, nevertheless you get an impression: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkp8YSuePPM

Information about the concert can be found here. The concert program includes:

Gustav Mahler: Blumine, Symphonic Movement
Leonard Bernstein: Serenade for violin, strings, harp and percussion
Dimitri Mitropoulos: Burial
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9 in E-flat major op. 70

Another concert will take place on Saturday, 23 September in Duisburg.

Kent Nagano with Modest P. Mussorgsky’s opera “Boris Godunov” at the Hamburg State Opera (September 2023)

This coming Saturday, 16 September, Kent Nagano will open the 2023/24 season of the Hamburg State Opera with Modest P. Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov in a new production by Frank Castorf.

The years between the death of Ivan the Terrible and the ascension of the Romanov family to the throne are known in Russia as the “Time of Troubles”. During this time, Boris Godunov strives to gain power with an iron determination. However, the ghosts of the past catch up with him and he dies a madman, abandoned and betrayed by everyone. In the meantime, the country sinks ever deeper into corruption, putsches and intrigue. A new “Time of Troubles” dawned during Modest Mussorgsky’s lifetime: the old order faltered and could not survive, everyone felt it. During a period of political upheaval and shaken by dramatic developments in his private life, Mussorgsky created a work about the arrogance of power and the eroticism of betrayal – as contradictory and fascinating as his personality itself.

More information can be found here.

16. September     Hamburg, Staatsoper      
Philharmonic State Orchestra Premiere
Mussorgski: Boris Godunov
Director: Frank Castorf
Set: Aleksandar Denić
Costumes: Adriana Braga Peretzki
Lighting: Rainer Casper
Video: Andreas Deinert, Severin Renke, Jens Crull, Maryvonne Riedelsheimer
Dramaturgy: Patric Seibert
Further performances: 20., 23., 26., 28. Sep, 4., 7. Okt

Omer Meir Wellber with Salome at the Volksoper in Vienna (September 2023)

Today, 15 September, Omer Meir Wellber presents an opera production at the Volksoper Wien that is very special for him – Richard Strauss’ Salome. Omer Meir Wellber had a special relationship with Luc Bondy (1948 – 2015) since his collaboration with him for a production of Rigoletto at the Theater an der Wien in 2011 and his direction of two further productions, La Traviata (2012) and Il Trovatore (2013), during Luc Bondy’s directorship of the Wiener Festwochen. Now Luc Bondy’s production of Salome, which premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 1992, is premiering in Vienna under the musical direction of Omer Meir Wellber in a scenic rehearsal by Marie-Louise Bischofberger-Bondy.

15 September Vienna, Volksoper              premiere
Richard Strauss: Salome
Recreation of the 1992 Salzburg Festival production by Luc Bondy
Scenic rehearsal Marie-Louise Bischofberger-Bondy
Further performances: 18, 22 September, 23, 26, 29 October

David Philip Hefti as Composer in Residence of the Zermatt Music Festival with, among others, a commissioned work for the 40th anniversary of the Scharoun Ensemble (September 2023)

Conductor and composer David Philip Hefti is Composer in Residence at this year’s Zermatt Music Festival, where he will present his new octet Des Zaubers Spuren, commissioned by the festival for the Scharoun Ensemble, among other works. The festival was founded in 2005 by the Scharoun Ensemble of the Berliner Philhamoniker and built around an orchestral and chamber music academy.

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Baton handover at the Volksoper Wien (September 2023)

Omer Meir Wellber announces his resignation as Music Director of the Volksoper Wien for personal reasons as of 31 December 2023. His successor as of 1 January 2024 is the British conductor Ben Glassberg.

It is with a heavy heart and after careful consideration that Omer Meir Wellber announces his resignation as Music Director of the Volksoper Wien from 31 December 2023 for personal reasons. Wellber’s artistic visions have brought extraordinary performances to the Volksoper, creating lasting memories for both artists and audiences. The young British conductor Ben Glassberg will become Music Director of the Volksoper Wien on 1 January 2024. He has been Principal Guest Conductor at the house and celebrated a great success with the premiere of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

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Mari Kodama with Beethoven’s 2nd Piano Concerto in Hamburg (September 2023)

This Saturday, on 2 September, pianist Mari Kodama will present Beethoven’s 2nd Piano Concerto with the Philharmonic State Orchestra under the baton of Kent Nagano at the annual Rathausmarkt Open Air.

Mari Kodama is one of the benchmark Beethoven interpreters of our time and has recorded all of the composer’s piano sonatas, among others. The 2nd Piano Concerto has also been released on CD, together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Kent Nagano on Berlin Classics. More information about Mari Kodama and her recordings can be found here.

Omer Meir Wellber on tour with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie (August 2023)

Omer Meir Wellber will tour Germany and Spain in August and September with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. In ten concerts at the Musikfest Bremen, Rheingau Musik Festival and Festival Internacional Santander, among others, Wellber will present together with violinist Hilary Hahn a program with works by Mozart and Schubert as well as with choir and soloists a program with works by Beethoven and Haydn.

Please find more information about the concerts here.

22 August     Bremen, Musikfest
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Mozart: Overture from “Don Giovanni” KV 527
Mozart: Concerto for violin and orchestra no. 5 in A major
Mozart: Symphony No.. 1 Es-Dur KV 16
Schubert: Symphony No. 2 B flat major D 125
Hilary Hahn – violin

23 August     Lübeck, Musik- und Kongresshalle, Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Program see 22 August

25 August     Wiesbaden, Kurhaus
Rheingau Musikfestival
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Program see 22 August

27 August     Pollenca, Mallorca, Claustro de Santo Domingo
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Program see 22 August 29 August      San Sebastián, Auditorio
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Program see 22 August

30 August     Santander, Palacio de Festivales, Sala Argenta
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Program see 22 August

31 August     Santander, Palacio de Festivales, Sala Argenta
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C major op. 21
Haydn: Missa in agnustiis “Nelson Mass” in D minor Hob.XXII:11
Heidi Stober – soprano
Rachel Frenkel – mezzo-soprano
Martin Mitterrutzner – tenor
Stefan Cerny – bass
Andra Mari – choir


1 September     San Sebastián, Auditoro
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Program see 31 August 29 September     Düsseldorf, Tonhalle
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Program see 22 August

1 Oktober     Bad Wörishofen, Kurhaus
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Program see 22 August

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