Author: Andrea Kerner

One of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe‘s most important partners is Robin Ticciati, with whom the COE will perform in Berlin and Hamburg in January 2025. Joining as soloist is British countertenor Iestyn Davies, who is performing with the COE for the first time. The concert programme juxtaposes arias from operas and oratorios by George Frideric Handel with arias from Mozart’s opera Mitridate, which he composed at the age of 14, and explores the transition between the late Baroque and Classical periods. For as different as the two epochs appear in form, content and orientation, there are still significant references to be discovered.

The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra (FBO) and René Jacobs, who have long been settings standards for opera productions, present their interpretation of Mozart’s Idomeneo, a work that the then 25-year-old composer commissioned from the Munich Elector Karl-Theodor. Mozart broke new ground in Idomeneo; while its core elements are still indebted to the traditions of opera seria, its differentiated role portraits (which were literally composed to fit the cast of the premiere) and the extensive choral parts already point to the musical future. With a more than promising vocal cast and the congenial Zürcher Sing-Akademie, the FBO and René Jacobs are guests in some of the most important opera houses and concert halls in Europe.

Ian Koziara, tenor (Idomeneo) / Kateryna Kasper, soprano (Elettra) / Olivia Vermeulen, mezzo-soprano (Idamante) /Polina Pastirchak, soprano (Ilia) / Mark Milhofer, tenor (Arbace) / Kresimir Spicer, tenor (Gran Sacerdote di Nettuno & La voce) / Zürcher Sing-Akademie / René Jacobs, conductor

23 January 2025, Teatro Real Madrid / 29 January 2025, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona / 31 January 2025, DeSingel, Antwerpen / 2 February 2025, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg / 4 February 2025, Konzerthaus Freiburg

W. A. Mozart: Idomeneo, Rè di Creta K 366

Together with conductor José Méndez and pianist Jorge Aragón, Sarah Willis has been invited to present the Mozart y Mambo repertoire with the Coro Orquesta Sinfónica de Las Palmas at the Festival de Música de Canarias – enjoy some musical island hopping!

15 January – Auditorio Insular de La Gomera, Islas Canarias
16 January – Palacio de Formación y Congresos de Fuerteventura
17 January – Auditorio de Las Jameos del Agua, Lanzarote
18 January – Theater Cirdo de Mars, La Palma

Sarah Willis, horn / Jorge Aragón, piano & arrangements / Sinfónica de Las Palmas G.C. / José Méndez, conductor

Works by R. Egües, W.A. Mozart, J. Davis, J. Peña, I. Carrillo, M. Simons

Dear colleagues & friends

Another eventful and turbulent year is drawing to a close. Old and new crises, more or less unforeseen challenges, urgent topics and questions are hitting the world at a seemingly unprecedented speed. Of course, these developments do not stop at the cultural sector, even if we would actually prefer to focus on the good, the true and the beautiful. At the moment, it is the planned cuts to culture at federal, state and local levels that are causing us and many of our partners concern, but the wars in the Middle East and even closer to home are also having an impact on our work. It was with great regret that we had to cancel a tour with the Galilee Chamber Orchestra, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider and Saleem Ashkar in the summer.

This makes it all the more important for us to continue to actively work together with our many international partners towards a better world, to face the many challenges creatively and with good humour, and to do our part to ensure that art and music can freely unfold their potential for democratic, open and diverse societies and reveal their unifying power as often as possible.

This is another reason why we can look back on many enriching and great concerts, connections and events in our anniversary year and look forward to 2025 with energy and joy! Before we take a short holiday, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy and peaceful festive season and, of course, a happy new year! It may not be any easier than 2024 was, but we would like to continue working with you to ensure that there is a chance for improvement.

Let’s stay healthy and optimistic!

Andreas Richter, Andrea Kerner, Michael Sauter, Ina Holthaus, Daniela Gast, Raphael Reher, Capucine Valois & Benjamin Kaiser

Our office will not be staffed between 23 December 2024 and 6 January 2025.  

We are very much looking forward to the collaboration with BRYGGEN – Bruges Strings, the Festival Strings Lucerne, the Munich Chamber Orchestra & Simone Menezes and the Ensemble K!

From its home port of Bruges, the string orchestra BRYGGEN boldly sets course for the north, along the routes of the Hanseatic League, all the way to Scandinavia and the Baltic States. In search of new sounds and connections with cultures from all over the world. With united forces, sometimes even against the current.

“Bryggen’s interpretation is a bit like allowing yourself a moment of
meditation, free, in the sun and under an open sky.”
(crescendo, 22 July 2022)

The Festival Strings Lucerne have been setting off on musical adventures around the world from Lake Lucerne for almost 70 years – with a flexible ensemble size, the orchestra dedicates itself to repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary music, in chamber music formations or symphonic ensembles. Daniel Dodds has been the artistic director since 2012.

“They breathe together.”
(Süddeutsche Zeitung, 7 February 2022)

With its varied concert programmes, which always combine the familiar and the new in an exciting way, the Munich Chamber Orchestra delights audiences worldwide with its special sound culture and its outstanding level of interpretation.

“An impressive, warmly celebrated evening.”
(Süddeutsche Zeitung, 24 May 2024)

Simone Menezes explores the repertoire to create dialogues with contemporary society and develop projects of universal scope. In 2019, she founded an ensemble made up of a core of 14 strong and creative artistic personalities who share a cosmopolitan and curious vision. This is how Ensemble K was born, creating musical experiences that the term ‘concert’ does not adequately describe.

“Those who are open to new worlds of sound will have a lot to discover.”
(Onlinemerker, 21 Sept. 2024)

Dear colleagues & friends,

After an exciting and positively turbulent start to the current season, we are looking forward to the next concerts and tours of our orchestras: with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe we celebrate musical awakenings, with the Sarahbanda Cuban Christmas. With Tähe-Lee Liiv we present the future of the piano world, with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and René Jacobs eternal musical youth.

We are also proud and happy to welcome some other high-calibre ensembles from the orchestral world to our list: Bryggen Bruges Strings, Festival Strings Lucerne, the Münchner Kammerorchester as well as Simone Menezes and Ensemble K!

The East Tyrolean Musicbanda Franui and the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks immerse themselves in the musical cosmos of Gustav Mahler and illuminate his seemingly kaleidoscopic oeuvre from different perspectives. While the ten musicians of Franui uncover Mahler’s folk music sources of inspiration, break down large-scale orchestral songs into a pocket version and are not afraid to translate its musical language to today’s standards, the Bavarian Radio Choir is particularly at home in Mahler’s large-scale symphonic music. A combination that perfectly reflects the richness of Mahler’s compositions!

1 November 2024, Philharmonie Essen
WOHIN ICH GEH’
Musicbanda Franui / Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Andreas Schett, moderator / Howard Arman, conductor
Works by C. Loewe, G. Mahler, M. Moszkowski, R. Strauss, W. Grosz

The Babylon ORCHESTRA unites European and Middle Eastern music, combining different cultures to bring the cultural diversity of our time to life at the highest artistic level. In its concerts, the ensemble tells musical stories, revives traditions and takes its audience on journeys to distant worlds. Founder and artistic director, Mischa Tangian, has written a work for orchestra and percussion for the Staatsorchester Stuttgart, which will be premiered in Stuttgart at the end of October. The work, entitled The Order of Time, centers on the encounter between European and non-European musical cultures and their instruments. The soloist for the evening is Iranian percussionist Roshanak Rafani, conducted by Tianyi Lu.

27 & 28 October 2024, Staatsoper Stuttgart / Liederhalle
THE ORDER OF TIME
Roshanak Rafani, percussion / Babylon ORCHESTRA & Staatsorchester Stuttgart / Tianyi Lu, conductor
Works by G. Kancheli, M. Tangian (world premiere) & A. Dvořák