With Jakub Hrůša and Martin Fröst in Berlin

Berlin, Konzerthaus
20:00 Uhr

These concerts will start with a real orchestral hit about »Jupiter«, the Greek father of the gods. Mozart’s last symphony is a radiant work that portrays the entire gamut of emotions in music, from intense introspection and the passionate anguish of grief to the noble, solemn tones of the tremendous final fugue. We will also be staging a symphonic puppet show: Stravinsky’s »Petrushka«! Every Russian child knows the puppet Petrushka, who is brought to life by a magician’s flute: a life in which he loves, suffers and dies as if he were not an inanimate doll, but a flesh-and-blood human being. In between these two »symphonic tales«, Martin Fröst will interpret the outstanding clarinet concerto by Aaron Copland, whose works are always marked by a combination of both instinct and keen intellect, by a sense for musical effect and joy in experiment. Much like Stravinsky, the Brooklyn-born composer was a »young rebel« who went to live in Paris during the 1920s, a sojourn that was source of many important ideas and much inspiration. After returning to America, Copland also worked in film. He wrote his captivating clarinet concerto with its extensive cadenzas for jazz legend Benny Goodman. In it, we hear what Copland was always striving to create: a music »that is instantly recognisable as American in nature«. And thus he created a congenial combination of jazz and the symphonic – including a melody in the expressive first movement originally written for the documentary film »The Cummington Story«, a tale about Eastern European refugees who find a temporary home in a small American town.

Jakub Hrůša Conductor
Martin Fröst Clarinet

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphonie Nr. 41 C-Dur KV 551 »Jupiter«
Aaron Copland Konzert für Klarinette und Orchester
Igor Strawinski »Petruschka« (Fassung 1947)

Jakub Hrůša conducts Copland, Martinů and Mozart

Abo C
Bamberg, Konzerthalle, Joseph-Keilberth-Saal
20:00 Uhr

In this concert, we will be welcoming two notable soloists as our virtuoso storytellers! This year’s featured artist, Martin Fröst, will play the Clarinet Concerto by Aaron Copland – a key figure of American music, a music that always »speaks of the universal«. Listening to the luxuriant concerto, one can tell that Copland also wrote the scores for a number of films. This work was written for the legendary clarinettist Benny Goodman – and thus combines jazz elements with symphonic traits in a congenial manner. The Czech composer Martinů said of his Fourth Piano Concerto: »The artist is always searching for the meaning of life, that of his own life and that of humanity, searching for truth.« Martinů wrote this splendidly colourful work, which Ivo Kahánek will interpret for us, in 1956 during his exile in America. It bears the epithet »Incantation«, using magical spells to conjure up far-off worlds in its strikingly dramatic music. Martinů also said the following: »It is absolutely clear to me what our contemporary music is lacking: a Mozart!« We will conclude by paying tribute to Viennese classicism: Mozart wrote his three last symphonies in an incredibly brief period of just under ten weeks – a phase during which he was struggling with considerable financial difficulties. However, none of the works reveals much despair, and the »Jupiter« symphony was even praised as the »greatest triumph of instrumental composition«. Nobody really knows where its later title comes from, however. One biographer wrote: »Perhaps an excellent literary scholar – maybe even a journalist – gave it this name, which did not contain any kind of ‘programme’, of course, but referred to a characteristic. But why should we not be allowed to think of a god of the ancient world when entering this musical landscape?«

Jakub Hrůša Conductor
Martin Fröst Clarinet
Ivo Kahánek Piano

Aaron Copland Konzert für Klarinette und Orchester
Bohuslav Martinů Konzert für Klavier und Orchester Nr. 4 »Incantation«
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphonie Nr. 41 C-Dur KV 551 »Jupiter«

Jakub Hrůša conducts Copland, Martinů and Mozart

Abo C
Bamberg, Konzerthalle, Joseph-Keilberth-Saal
20:00 Uhr

In this concert, we will be welcoming two notable soloists as our virtuoso storytellers! This year’s featured artist, Martin Fröst, will play the Clarinet Concerto by Aaron Copland – a key figure of American music, a music that always »speaks of the universal«. Listening to the luxuriant concerto, one can tell that Copland also wrote the scores for a number of films. This work was written for the legendary clarinettist Benny Goodman – and thus combines jazz elements with symphonic traits in a congenial manner. The Czech composer Martinů said of his Fourth Piano Concerto: »The artist is always searching for the meaning of life, that of his own life and that of humanity, searching for truth.« Martinů wrote this splendidly colourful work, which Ivo Kahánek will interpret for us, in 1956 during his exile in America. It bears the epithet »Incantation«, using magical spells to conjure up far-off worlds in its strikingly dramatic music. Martinů also said the following: »It is absolutely clear to me what our contemporary music is lacking: a Mozart!« We will conclude by paying tribute to Viennese classicism: Mozart wrote his three last symphonies in an incredibly brief period of just under ten weeks – a phase during which he was struggling with considerable financial difficulties. However, none of the works reveals much despair, and the »Jupiter« symphony was even praised as the »greatest triumph of instrumental composition«. Nobody really knows where its later title comes from, however. One biographer wrote: »Perhaps an excellent literary scholar – maybe even a journalist – gave it this name, which did not contain any kind of ‘programme’, of course, but referred to a characteristic. But why should we not be allowed to think of a god of the ancient world when entering this musical landscape?«

Jakub Hrůša Conductor
Martin Fröst Clarinet
Ivo Kahánek Piano

Aaron Copland Konzert für Klarinette und Orchester
Bohuslav Martinů Konzert für Klavier und Orchester Nr. 4 »Incantation«
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphonie Nr. 41 C-Dur KV 551 »Jupiter«

Jakub Hrůša conducts Mozart, Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Strawinski

Abo C
Bamberg, Konzerthalle, Joseph-Keilberth-Saal
20:00 Uhr

Wondrous enchantment of the faery realm! While composing his outstanding violin concerto, Mendelssohn said: »I sense that with each piece, I am getting closer to writing precisely what I feel in my heart.« The concerto was soon described as an »evergreen«: it was written in 1844 during a happy summer holiday in Bad Soden in the Taunus. In his letters, Mendelssohn waxed lyrical about the many flowers, the unbelievable pear and apple trees and century-old oaks. He produced a work with numerous magical melodies, full of scintillating drama and elvish romance. Mendelssohn dedicated the concerto to Ferdinand David, who promised that he would »practice it so well that the angels in heaven will rejoice«. Not only the angels will rejoice to hear our soloist Serge Zimmermann’s masterful interpretation! Our concerts will combine Mendelssohn’s concerto with Mozart’s popular last symphonies, which were written in a veritable creative frenzy during a time of great financial difficulty. Despite these obstacles, Mozart created musical milestones and a »divine legacy« for those that followed after him. The symphonies give musical expression to a range of different emotions – including unrest, passion and agitation, lamentation and despair. Under our principal conductor’s baton, we will also be bringing a famous »Punch« character of Russian popular theatre to the concert stage: Stravinsky took the »terrible confusion« of the tragicomic tale of Petrushka as the basis for a ballet with numerous stylised folk melodies, a large dash of irony and a brilliantly sophisticated sound palette – and the suite is likewise a true symphonic »play about the eternal misfortunes of the fairground hero«!

Jakub Hrůša Conductor
Serge Zimmermann Violin

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphonie Nr. 40 g-Moll KV 550
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Konzert für Violine und Orchester e-Moll op. 64
Igor Strawinski »Petruschka« (Fassung 1947)

• Brahms Danze Ungheresi     nn. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
• Dvorak Concerto per violino
• Prokofiev Romeo e Giulietta: Suite dal balletto

• Brahms Danze Ungheresi     nn. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
• Dvorak Concerto per violino
• Prokofiev Romeo e Giulietta: Suite dal balletto

• Brahms Danze Ungheresi     nn. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
• Dvorak Concerto per violino
• Prokofiev Romeo e Giulietta: Suite dal balletto

Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto

Jakub Hruša, conductor
Karen Gomyo, violin

BARTÓK The Miraculous Mandarin Suite
TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 9

Described by the St. Louis Post Dispatch as “dazzling,” Karen Gomyo returns to perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, a work full of tuneful melodies and an impressive virtuosic display for soloist and orchestra.

• Acclaimed for her performances of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto as a “revelation,” Karen Gomyo returns to Powell Hall for this mighty concerto.
• A wild chase, drama and a passionate embrace are all part of Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin Suite. Let the music captivate you as this adventure enfolds.
• Written at the close of the Second World War, Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony is full of waltzes, marches and spirited melodies that will mesmerize.

Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto

Jakub Hruša, conductor
Karen Gomyo, violin

BARTÓK The Miraculous Mandarin Suite
TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 9

Described by the St. Louis Post Dispatch as “dazzling,” Karen Gomyo returns to perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, a work full of tuneful melodies and an impressive virtuosic display for soloist and orchestra.

• Acclaimed for her performances of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto as a “revelation,” Karen Gomyo returns to Powell Hall for this mighty concerto.
• A wild chase, drama and a passionate embrace are all part of Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin Suite. Let the music captivate you as this adventure enfolds.
• Written at the close of the Second World War, Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony is full of waltzes, marches and spirited melodies that will mesmerize.

Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto

Jakub Hruša, conductor
Karen Gomyo, violin

BARTÓK The Miraculous Mandarin Suite
TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 9

Described by the St. Louis Post Dispatch as “dazzling,” Karen Gomyo returns to perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, a work full of tuneful melodies and an impressive virtuosic display for soloist and orchestra.

• Acclaimed for her performances of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto as a “revelation,” Karen Gomyo returns to Powell Hall for this mighty concerto.
• A wild chase, drama and a passionate embrace are all part of Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin Suite. Let the music captivate you as this adventure enfolds.
• Written at the close of the Second World War, Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony is full of waltzes, marches and spirited melodies that will mesmerize.

Leoš Janáček’s three-act opera The Cunning Little Vixen is based on motifs of Rudolf Těsnohlídek’s tale of the same name which came out first in serial form in the newspaper ‘Lidové Noviny’ and subsequently in book form. Janáček wrote the opera, his seventh, from 1921-1923 and over time it has become one of his most frequently performed operas. In addition to its unprecedented melodic inventiveness, striking eloquence and correspondingly dramatic denouement, an interesting feature of the work is the characters’ use of fox dialect and the slang used by woodcutters in the Adamov area. Tonight the Orchestra performs the full suite and two extracts from the opera, with the solo parts sung by the Prague National Theatre’s Opera Company sopranos Kateřina Kněžíková and Alžběta Poláčková, and leading baritone and 2017 Thália Prize winner Svatopluk Sem.

The four symphonies written by Robert Schumann represent a conceptual link between those of Beethoven and Brahms. His third C-major symphony was completed in 1846 but is designated Symphony no. 2 because Schumann revised the original second symphony in D minor a few years after it was written. Opus 61, as performed by the Orchestra tonight, is the result of Schumann’s strong yearning from within to extricate himself from a creative crisis of sorts and redeem some of his earlier less successful compositions.

Both tonight’s works are played by the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic under the baton of Jakub Hrůša, who is justly recognised as one of the world’s top-flight conductors.

Charity concert with Jakub Hrůša, Olga Peretyatko und Rolando Villazón

Bamberg, Konzerthalle, Joseph-Keilberth-Saal
20:00 Uhr

The church of St. Michael had to be closed in November 2012. Ever since then, Bamberg’s citizens have had to do without their favourite wedding church. At present, neither the wonderful garden of heaven on the church’s arched ceiling, nor Bishop Otto’s grave, nor any of the other church treasures are available for viewing. St. Michael’s historic organ has fallen silent and, like many things in and around the former monastery church, needs to be restored. The proceeds of this charity concert will go to the Bamberg World Cultural Heritage Foundation to support the church’s renovation. Join us for an outstanding concert in aid of a good cause, and help to preserve one of Bamberg’s greatest gems!

In cooperation with »Lied & Lyrik«

Jakub Hrůša conducts Dvořák, Lundquist, Brahms and Glanert

Abo A / Schüler-Abo
Bamberg, Konzerthalle, Joseph-Keilberth-Saal
20:00 Uhr

Not every story has a happy ending! For his symphonic poem, Dvořák selected a subject-matter from his fellow countryman Karel Jaromír Erben’s ballad collection »Kytice«: the »Wood Pigeon« is based upon an old Bohemian legend about the feigned sorrow of a woman who murdered her husband to marry her lover. The pigeon’s song becomes the voice of her conscience, accusing her ceaselessly until she kills herself in despair. A funeral march runs through the entire tone poem – although Dvořák brings the piece to a conciliatory conclusion. After this, an instrument only rarely in the spotlight will make a grand appearance: our orchestra’s tuba player, Heiko Triebener, will interpret the multifaceted concerto »Landscape« by Torbjörn Ivan Lundquist. In his works, the Swedish composer was always concerned with »the essence of life; not to escape reality, but to reinstate it.« His tuba concerto is a fascinating and virtuoso exploration of the specific sound of the lowest brass instrument. Lundquist was struck with the idea for this piece on the west coast of Sweden: »The title alludes to the ideal state of nature or a landscape before its ecological balance is disturbed – and this also applies metaphorically to the inner ‘landscape’ of human beings.« Brahms’s Second Symphony was also shaped by the experience of nature: drafted during a summer on the Wörthersee, it is occasionally referred to as his »Pastoral Symphony«. Many of its passages seem to be flooded with sunlight, like the place it was written – but the composer also warned a friend: »You will never have heard anything filled with greater Weltschmerz.« To conclude, we will be performing a brand new work by the musical magician Detlev Glanert, whose music is always moving. We can all look forward to the premiere of his »angry« Allegro!

Jakub Hrůša Conductor
Heiko Triebener Tuba

Antonín Dvořák »Die Waldtaube«, Symphonische Dichtung op. 110
Torbjörn Iwan Lundquist »Landscape« für Tuba und Streicher
Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 2 D major op. 73
Detlev Glanert encore! Uraufführung einer Zugabe

Featuring

Jakub Hrůša conductor
Vadim Gluzman violin

Program

Dvořák The Wood Dove
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Mussorgsky/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition

About the performance

Brilliant young Czech maestro Jakub Hrůša returns to the MSO with Dvořák’s subtly scored orchestral ballad, The Wood Dove, based on a Czech legend of infatuation and murder in a rural village. A muted funeral march, a typical Dvořákian wedding dance and the tragic epilogue, relieved by the song of the wood dove. Ukranian-born Vadim Gluzman is a superb violinist of the Russian school and his interpretation of the beloved Tchaikovsky concerto with its fiery virtuosity and wistful poetry is not to be missed.

Mussorgsky’s wrote his famous memorial to his dear friend, the artist Victor Harmann in the form of a suite of piano pieces depicting the composer “roving through the exhibition, now leisurely, now briskly, in order to come closer to a picture that had attracted his attention, and at times sadly, thinking of his departed friend.”

Ravel was on his own mission when he orchestrated the suite in 1922. With a strong experimental impulse he introduces new sounds with the saxophone and celeste, and explores the outermost reaches of instrumental possibilities in his search for new colours and contrasts. Revel in Ravel’s great 20th century orchestral showpiece.

Featuring

Jakub Hrůša conductor
Vadim Gluzman violin

Program

Dvořák The Wood Dove
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Mussorgsky/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition

About the performance

Brilliant young Czech maestro Jakub Hrůša returns to the MSO with Dvořák’s subtly scored orchestral ballad, The Wood Dove, based on a Czech legend of infatuation and murder in a rural village. A muted funeral march, a typical Dvořákian wedding dance and the tragic epilogue, relieved by the song of the wood dove. Ukranian-born Vadim Gluzman is a superb violinist of the Russian school and his interpretation of the beloved Tchaikovsky concerto with its fiery virtuosity and wistful poetry is not to be missed.

Mussorgsky’s wrote his famous memorial to his dear friend, the artist Victor Harmann in the form of a suite of piano pieces depicting the composer “roving through the exhibition, now leisurely, now briskly, in order to come closer to a picture that had attracted his attention, and at times sadly, thinking of his departed friend.”

Ravel was on his own mission when he orchestrated the suite in 1922. With a strong experimental impulse he introduces new sounds with the saxophone and celeste, and explores the outermost reaches of instrumental possibilities in his search for new colours and contrasts. Revel in Ravel’s great 20th century orchestral showpiece.

Featuring

Jakub Hrůša conductor
Vadim Gluzman violin

Program

Dvořák The Wood Dove
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Mussorgsky/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition

About the performance

Brilliant young Czech maestro Jakub Hrůša returns to the MSO with Dvořák’s subtly scored orchestral ballad, The Wood Dove, based on a Czech legend of infatuation and murder in a rural village. A muted funeral march, a typical Dvořákian wedding dance and the tragic epilogue, relieved by the song of the wood dove. Ukranian-born Vadim Gluzman is a superb violinist of the Russian school and his interpretation of the beloved Tchaikovsky concerto with its fiery virtuosity and wistful poetry is not to be missed.

Mussorgsky’s wrote his famous memorial to his dear friend, the artist Victor Harmann in the form of a suite of piano pieces depicting the composer “roving through the exhibition, now leisurely, now briskly, in order to come closer to a picture that had attracted his attention, and at times sadly, thinking of his departed friend.”

Ravel was on his own mission when he orchestrated the suite in 1922. With a strong experimental impulse he introduces new sounds with the saxophone and celeste, and explores the outermost reaches of instrumental possibilities in his search for new colours and contrasts. Revel in Ravel’s great 20th century orchestral showpiece.