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Of all Mozart's piano concertos, Emanuel Ax particularly appreciates the majestic C major concerto KV 503: "This piece has a certain grandeur about it. It is simply so wonderful, so expansive, so big, and the slow movement is pure magic." KV 503 is the crowning conclusion of a series of twelve piano concertos that Mozart wrote between 1784 and 1786 for his performances in the "Clavierland" of Vienna. Dmitri Shostakovich composed his 8th Symphony in the summer of 1943, a few months after the bitter battle of Stalingrad, which marked the turning point in the war through unspeakable human suffering. Shostakovich himself described his 8th Symphony as a requiem, as music that speaks of individual suffering. Others saw it as a message about the fear-filled lives of artists and intellectuals under the Stalinist dictatorship. Despite the gloomy themes, moments of hope and humanity permeate the symphony. With this emotionally gripping symphony, Slovakian conductor Juraj Valčuha opens a series of concerts that the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra is dedicating to the 80th anniversary of the liberation.

Three works that were created in the shadow of the world wars: Maurice Ravel actually wanted to create a monument to French music with "Le Tombeau de Couperin", and it is accordingly designed to be lively and optimistic. Completed during the First World War, Ravel took the title "Tombeau" as an opportunity to dedicate each of the individual movements to a fallen soldier from his circle of friends. For the day of liberation, when the oppressive period of the occupation of France would end, Francis Poulenc wrote "Figure humaine" in 1943. The Munich Philharmonic Choir sings this hymn to "Liberté", an impressive masterpiece for 12-part choir a cappella. Frank Martin also composed "In terra pax" in 1944 for the long-awaited first day of peace after the end of the Second World War. Premiered on May 7, 1945, the oratorio addresses grief and fear as well as exuberant joy and relief. The French conductor Alain Altinoglu will be in charge of this program.

As a precursor to the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, this concert program will feature exclusively works by Polish composers as a tribute to the history and culture of our eastern neighbor. Almost 150 years lie between the creation of Chopin's early concert pieces for piano and orchestra and the symphonic poem "Krzesany" by Wojciech Kilar. What all three works have in common is their reference to Polish folklore. At the end of the program under the direction of Krzysztof Urbański is one of the most moving works of contemporary music, which many concertgoers will unconsciously or consciously recognize. In the early 1990s, the middle movement of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki's emotionally gripping 3rd Symphony became a favorite of radio stations and was also used frequently in films and series. The composition, entitled "Symphony of Lamentations", sets Polish texts about motherhood, love and loss to music, including a medieval Marian lament, an Upper Silesian folk song from the time of the Polish uprisings and, last but not least, a prayer written on the wall in the basement of the Gestapo headquarters in Zakopane in 1944 by an 18-year-old prisoner.

Hope and resistance in the midst of darkness. With this joint concert, members of the Munich Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra commemorate all artists who found refuge in their art in the threatening presence of oppression and persecution or who were not allowed to perform for ideological reasons. For example, the renowned pianist Ilse Fromm-Michaels, who performed with conductors such as Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Arthur Nikisch, was banned from performing because her husband was of Jewish descent. The National Socialists took a similar approach with the works of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, which were removed from all concert programs. The Austrian composer Viktor Ullmann was deported to Theresienstadt in 1942. There he wrote his one-movement third string quartet, a work that is deeply moving in its desperate beauty. The G minor piano quintet by Dmitri Shostakovich was written in 1940 and reflects the oppressive atmosphere of that time. It is a broken music full of suppressed emotions that leads through the depths of human nature. An intense and captivating listening experience.

Musicians from Israel and Munich share the podium, as members of the Munich Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra sit together on stage for this special concert on the eve of the celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the end of the war. The bridge between the two orchestras is Lahav Shani, who has been chief conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra since 2020 and will take on the same role with the Munich Philharmonic from 2026. The program features two composers of Jewish descent. The racial madness of the National Socialists drove the German-born Tzvi Avni and his family from their home in Saarland. Along with many other composers who were of "non-Aryan" descent according to the National Socialist definition, the work of Gustav Mahler was also removed from all concert and radio programs during the Third Reich. Malte Arkona leads the concert evening with background knowledge of both works.

On May 8, 2025, the Munich Philharmonic will not only look back on the day of liberation from National Socialist terror, the end of a horrific world war, but also the beginning of the history of reconciliation between Germany and Israel. To mark this occasion, the Munich orchestra is inviting members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra to jointly create this concert program under the direction of Lahav Shani. Members of both orchestras will share the podiums and play a program that illustrates the fateful connection between Germany and Israel. "Prayer" is the haunting musical prayer of Tzvi Avni, who was born in Saarbrücken in 1927 and had to emigrate to Palestine with his parents at the age of eight. There he received his training from Paul Ben-Haim, who in turn was himself a student of Gustav Mahler's close confidant Bruno Walter. Like no other work in music history, Mahler's "Sixth" is an intense musical exploration of human suffering and emotional despair. Both works convey the need to value peace, respect and cooperation as prerequisites for a hopeful future.

For an evening dedicated to peace, the Israeli conductor Lahav Shani brings together two world-class orchestras at the Kreuzkirche: the Munich Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert, in which members of each orchestra share a desk, reflects not only the 80-year anniversary of the end of World War II and thus the liberation from the Nazi reign of terror, but also marks the beginning of the history of reconciliation between Germany and Israel.

Lithuania's vibrant musical life provides the classical world with outstanding artists - and above all female artists. Giedrė Šlekytė and Raminta Šerkšnytė not only share the same country of origin, whose eventful history and archaic nature are impressively reflected in Šerkšnytė's music, both are considered musical ambassadors of Lithuania in their respective fields and attract international attention. Inspired by the "rich and sweet soprano" of his wife Pauline, Richard Strauss developed a preference for the song, both in the intimate form with piano accompaniment and for the sonically enlarged orchestral song. Franz Schreker dispensed with such genre designations when he simply called his last two songs "Vom ewigen Leben". The two songs based on texts by Walt Whitman mark a high point in Schreker's rich vocal work with their ingenious interweaving of voice and accompaniment. The Israeli soprano Chen Reiss is not only an admired Strauss interpreter but also a committed pioneer in bringing Schreker's works back to the concert stage. Scotland, with its legendary landscape and history, was popular among the artists of the Romantic era. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy found inspiration in Scotland for his Symphony No. 3, in which "Scottish moods" can actually be heard, from fog, storm and rain to a clarinet that performs like a bagpipe.

A clever marketing coup: When London audiences were fighting over tickets for Joseph Haydn's concerts, a rival concert organizer hired Haydn's former student Ignaz Pleyel. Flanked by a newspaper campaign that conjured up a "bloody harmonic war" between teacher and student, the rival company's box office was also expected to ring. In this context, the Sinfonia concertante was created as a counterpart to a Sinfonia concertante by Pleyel, which was performed in London in February 1792. However, the composer competition never materialized. Pleyel and Haydn demonstratively cultivated their friendship and paid each other mutual respect. Despite Gustav Mahler's initial complaints that his "Fifth" was a "cursed work" because no one could understand it, it is now one of his most esteemed compositions. This is probably largely due to the moving "Adagietto", which became well known outside of the concert hall through its use in Luchino Visconti's film adaptation of Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice". The Munich Philharmonic is looking forward to welcoming its honorary conductor Zubin Mehta, who was awarded the Golden Medal of Honor of the City of Munich in January 2024.