10. Philharmonic Concert

We conclude our series of Philharmonic Concerts with three musical wonders and the great conductor Sebastian Weigle. As General Music Director of the Oper Frankfurt (Main) and the Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, he has been crowned Conductor of the Year an impressive four times. He has dazzled audiences at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Bayreuth Festival and the Berlin State Opera. In addition to his commitments in Frankfurt am Main and his numerous conducting engagements at the world’s finest opera houses and concert halls, Sebastian Weigle has also been Chief Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo since 2019.

Under his baton, we will perform Bergen’s Bonfire, a contemporary work by Alissa Firsova. The piece premièred at the BBC Proms in 2015, which was a special honour for both the composition and its creator. Alissa Firsova says that Bergen’s Bonfire was inspired by an apocalyptic dream. The music begins like a wild storm. Then it calms down, as if floating above an empty plain, and fades away, shimmering, playful and hymnal.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Symphony No. 3 also transports us to a dream world. Its blossoming melodies, rousing temperament, sparkling sound effects and colourful orchestration give this music an almost fairytale aura.

By contrast, the mood in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 is more ambivalent. It begins in melancholic D minor before ending in an almost hymn-like D major finale. With remarkably sparse means, Rachmaninoff created a piano part of the highest intensity, with a magnetic expressiveness and a spectacular degree of difficulty. The solo part is performed by a Rachmaninoff expert. The piano works of this Russian composer are a speciality of our »Artist in Residence« Alexander Krichel.