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15. September 2023

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

14. September 2023

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.

6. September 2023

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.

31. August 2023

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.

30. August 2023

Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra in Berlin (August 2023)

It was great to see the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra play in Berlin during their concert tour through Europe. The video below shows some impressions of this special event!

23. August 2023

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

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.

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