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10. August 2023

Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” on tour (August 2023)

After the successful start at the Dresdner Musikfestspiele in June 2023, Kent Nagano will go on tour with Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” in historically informed performance practice in August 2023. With musicians from the Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln as well as a renowned cast, there will be guest performances at the Cologne Philharmonie (18 August), the Ravello Festival (20 August) and the Lucerne Festival (22 August).

28. July 2023

New recording of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck (July 2023)

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra with Music Director Manfred Honeck and Reference Recordings present a new recording of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and Erwin Schulhoff’s Five Pieces, newly arranged for large orchestra by Manfred Honeck and Tomáš Ille.

Schulhoff’s (1894-1942) Five Pieces for String Quartet were written in 1923 and premiered in Salzburg the following year. When Manfred Honeck heard them a few years ago in a concert by the Clarion Quartet from Pittsburgh, he had the idea

“to arrange these five jewels for large orchestra. Upon listening to them again, it was quite clear to me how to orchestrate this effectively for full orchestra and I knew that I wanted this to be the next in our line of new works performed and recorded for the first time.”

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 has accompanied Manfred Honeck since his earliest years as a conductor:

“There is hardly another composer whose music has been unjustifiably characterized as overly-sentimental and bombastic than Tchaikovsky in his Fifth Symphony. Not to deny the sentiment or triumphant fortissimi, but for me, the secret lies in not overplaying these moments. Highlighting or exaggerating them runs the risk of distorting the music into insufferable mawkishness or turning a triumphant march into nothing but hysterical racket. Perhaps this may be the reason why this great Symphony has, at times, been criticized. But in my point of view, I find Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony to be one of the most profound of its time.”

This album was recorded live in June 2022 in the historic Heinz Hall, home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

24. July 2023

Jonathan Biss at the Marlboro Music Festival (July 2023)

Jonathan Biss has been Co-Artistic Director of the Marlboro Music Festival since 2018. Together with Mitsuko Uchida, Artistic Director since 2013, he will spend this summer rehearsing and performing a wide variety of chamber music works with musicians of all ages. For Jonathan Biss, the festival is all about the idea that “time is the most precious commodity and the most important ingredient in a musician’s life,” which aligns with the festival’s concept of performing only a small portion of the rehearsed works. Over five weekends, individual ensembles of musicians present the results of their intensive rehearsal work, but neither the concert repertoire nor the lineup is finalized more than a week in advance due to the dynamic planning process.

Find out more about the festival here.

Jonathan Biss rehearses Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G Minor, K. 478 with Randall Goosby (violin), Haesue Lee (viola) and Chase Park (cello). Photo by Pete Checchia.

19. July 2023

Jonathan Biss on tour with Mitsuko Uchida (July 2023)

Acclaimed American pianist Jonathan Biss is touring Europe this summer with a special four-hands program together with pianist Mitsuko Uchida – concerts will take them to the Salzburg Festival, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Quincena Musical de San Sebastian, Dublin and London with two concerts at the renowned Wigmore Hall.

“Schubert’s 4-hand music is a treasure trove, and largely neglected. These works have every quality that makes Schubert’s music so uniquely affecting – the lyricism and tenderness, the loneliness and terror. But they require two pianists with a deep attunement to one another. When I play with Mitsuko, I feel that our ears are pointed towards the same things, that the same events in the music speak to us most deeply. She has been an essential presence in my life for 25 years – first as a mentor, then as a close friend and colleague, always a source of inspiration“, says Jonathan Biss.

7. July 2023

Omer Meir Wellber’s Novel Published in Hebrew (July 2023)

Tomorrow the Hebrew edition of Omer Meir Wellber’s novel ארבע פעמים התעלף חיים בירקנר (The four faints of Chaim Birkner) will be published by Keren Publishing House. A publication event will take place tomorrow, 7 July 2023 at the Guitar Loft in Tel Aviv/Israel, more information can be found here.

The book which the author wrote in his native tongue Hebrew tells the story of Chaim Birkner, a tired and broken man who is forced by his daughter to face life one last time. Originally published in German by Berlin Verlag in autumn 2019, the novel was also published in Italian by Sellerio Editore in 2021 and in French by Éditions du sous-sol in 2022.

29. June 2023

Max Volbers is awarded with the OPUS KLASSIK in the category “Young Artist of the Year” (June 2023)

Congratulations! Max Volbers is awarded with the OPUS KLASSIK in the category “Young Artist of the Year” for his debut CD “Whispers of Tradition”.

29. June 2023

Two world premieres by David Philip Hefti with the Berliner Barock Solisten (June 2023)

On 30 June 2023, Kammerkonzerte Laufen will premiere two works by composer and conductor David Philip Hefti – Fünf Concertini for string orchestra and Vier Momente for flute and string orchestra. Fünf Concertini is dedicated to the Berliner Barock Solisten and, with five micro-concerts for the five principals of a string orchestra, is also a tribute to Antonio Vivaldi; more information about the work can be found here. Vier Momente was commissioned by flutist Philipp Jundt and is a reference to Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2, more information about the work can be found here.

30. June 2023, Kammerkonzerte Laufen
Berliner Barock Solisten – Philipp Jundt, flute
Willi Zimmermann, violin & conductor
David Philip Hefti, conductor

C. P. E. Bach: Concerto for flute, strings and basso continuo in D minor (Wq 22), cadenzas and interludes between the movements by David Philip Hefti
1. allegro
2. un poco andante
3rd Allegro di molto

Hefti: Fünf Concertini – for string orchestra (world premiere)
1. blendend (violin solo)
2. ätherisch (double bass solo)
3. samtig (viola solo)
4. bittersüss (violin solo)
5. rauschend (violoncello solo)

J. S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor (BWV 1067) alternating with Hefti: Vier Momente – for flute and string orchestra (world premiere)
1. Orchestersuite, 1. Ouverture
2. Vier Momente, 1. verspielt
3. Orchestersuite, 2. Rondeau
4. Orchestersuite, 3. Sarabande
5. Vier Momente, 2. verrückt
6. Orchestersuite, 4. Bourrée I & II
7. Vier Momente, 3. verborgen
8. Orchestersuite, 5. Polonaise
9. Vier Momente, 4. verklärt
10. Orchestersuite, 6. Menuett
11. Orchestersuite, 7. Badinerie

16. June 2023

Omer Meir Wellber with the Münchner Philharmoniker (June 2023)

Omer Meir Wellber is currently a guest with the Münchner Philharmoniker at the Isarphilharmonie – the program includes works by Schumann, Tchaikovsky and the world premiere of a work by Manfred Trojahn. In an interview with BR Klassik, Wellber talks about the special program, as well as his current projects and future in Hamburg, listen in here.

The concert of June 15 will be broadcast next week on Wednesday, June 21 on BR Klassik here.

Concert program:

Robert Schumann: »Manfred«-Ouvertüre
Manfred Trojahn: »Achérōn«, Auftragswerk und Uraufführung
Peter I. Tschaikowsky: »Manfred«-Symphonie

16. June 2023

Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” with the Dresdner Festspielorchester & Concerto Köln at the Dresdner Musikfestspiele (June 2023)

With standing ovations, the audience celebrated the team of the Wagner Project of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele at the performance on Wednesday – under the direction of Kent Nagano, the musicians of the Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln and soloists presented Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” in historically informed performance practice. But it is the intensive work of the scientific team around PD Dr. Kai Hinrich Müller that gives this project its uniqueness and relevance in working with Wagner’s music. In the press lounge last Tuesday, the scientific insights as well as backgrounds of the project were discussed with, among others, Intendant of the Musikfestspiele Jan Vogler, a synopsis can be found here.

13. June 2023

Jan Vogler’s video interview at the TANCKSTELLE (June 2023)

TANCKSTELLE with Jan Vogler and Fanny Tanck – “In this episode (16) the well-known cellist, music missionary and festival founder/leader Jan Vogler makes a stop to fill up his inner tancks. What is a commissioned work? What does a world premiere feel like? And what does living between two musical worlds, the USA and Germany, bring about? That’s what we talk about over a glass of tasty-savory berry juice. The cello is keeping us company. Jan Vogler gives an exclusive performance of: a bit of Sean Shepherd and the “Sarabande” from Bachs Cello Suite Nr.1.”

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