Singer

Few works convey the human struggle in the face of mortality, between hope and despair, light and shadow, as movingly as Johannes Brahms's "German Requiem." With an individual selection of biblical passages, the composer created a thoroughly personal promise of comfort, which he himself said he would have preferred to call "human" rather than "German." Christian Thielemann, the "sound gilder" (Hamburger Abendblatt), conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin.

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Brahms: A German Requiem / Christian Thielemann

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

This season, the Staatskapelle Berlin and its General Music Director Christian Thielemann will perform at three venues and three renowned European concert halls: the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, the Munich Isarphilharmonie, and the Vienna Musikverein. In addition to Brahms's impressive German Requiem , they will perform orchestral songs by Strauss and Beethoven's Pastorale – music by composers with whom the orchestra is particularly familiar and with whom it has repeatedly and intensly explored for many years.

Staatskapelle Berlin: Guest performance in Hamburg

With his German Requiem, Johannes Brahms found his own musical tone and expression. Deeply connected to the words and messages of the Bible and the spirit of Romanticism, and grounded in the achievements of tradition, he composed an astonishing work in his early thirties, intertwining vocal and instrumental parts to create a harmonious whole. He masterfully handled both the choir and solo voices, as well as the orchestra, with a multitude of haunting expressive moments that have secured the work a central place in churches and concert halls around the world since its composition in the 1860s.

Symphony Concert IV

Bebelplatz

The heart is an especially popular symbol as the physical locus of human feelings, longings, and pain. A man would like to live without the painful feelings in his heart; his lover wants to unite with his heart, while transcendental powers would also like to win it over. The composer Matthias Pintscher invents overwhelming and gripping sounds for the mysterious and strange events that take place in his opera Das kalte Herz (The Cold Heart).

Das kalte Herz

In the early 1930s, for Richard Strauss — approaching 70 — it was an auspicious moment when Stefan Zweig, a renowned author known for his artful, profound novels and plays, proposed writing a new libretto. In a mutually inspiring collaboration, they created a truly “comic opera” based on a play by Ben Jonson from the Shakespeare period filled not only with striking characters, tempo, and wit, but profound reflection as well. “The opera is a perfect, but perhaps for the twenty-first century,” according to Strauss himself, who in a difficult, dark time created a work of creative compositional virtuosity and a relaxed sense of humor, a story of people longing for rest or who lose themselves in busyness. This will be director Jan Philipp Gloger’s debut and it will be Christian Thielemann’s first new production as general music director, a position once held by Strauss himself.

The Silent Woman

From the memory of the horrors of two world wars, Benjamin Britten created a musical memorial for peace with his War Requiem . This particularly touches us now, in our present, shaken by war reports. The work begins somberly and quickly builds up to enormous drama, so that one cannot believe the choir's words "Requiem aeternam" - eternal rest. It is much more than an ordinary requiem mass, because Britten supplemented the Latin liturgy with emotional texts by the English poet Wilfred Owen, who died in the First World War. The gigantic cast, which combines several choirs, a large orchestra and vocal solos, is able to produce both powerful and fragile sounds. The sometimes loud, sometimes whispering, but always urgent protest for peace that arose from Benjamin Britten's innermost being can also release reserves of energy in us to resist hatred and violence.

7th Symphony Concert: War Requiem

Opernplatz

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andris Poga, will perform its Prokofiev-Mahler-Tchaikovsky program, part of the "Great Series," at the Aschaffenburg Town Hall. The program includes Sergei Prokofiev's "Overture on Hebrew Themes," six songs from Gustav Mahler's "Des Knaben Wunderhorn," and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 ("Pathétique"). The soloist will again be baritone Samuel Hasselhorn. Unfortunately, the originally scheduled conductor, Nathalie Stutzmann, and baritone Matthias Goerne had to cancel their participation in the concerts at short notice.

Aschaffenburg Orchestra Concerts

Stadthalle am Schloss

Music that touches the soul. Hardly any other Romantic symphony leaves the listener as deeply moved as Tchaikovsky's Sixth. The hr-Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Andris Poga, who, together with baritone Samuel Hasselhorn, has stepped in at short notice to perform the concerts. Conductor Nathalie Stutzmann and baritone Matthias Goerne unfortunately had to cancel their participation. The program remains unchanged. The concerts will open with Sergei Prokofiev's "Overture on Hebrew Themes," followed by a selection of songs from Gustav Mahler's collection "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's famous Sixth Symphony ("Pathétique"). Concert

Pathétique

Alte Oper

Repelled by the dispassion of the Wartburg society of minnesingers, Tannhäuser, a singer-knight, removes to the interior of the Venusberg in search of fulfilment. Eventually his longing for Elisabeth leads him to leave again. Back at the Wartburg castle, Tannhäuser takes part in a singing contest whose theme is the nature of love, but when he sings that love is ideally about sensual satisfaction, he is cast out and sent to Rome to seek papal absolution. He returns from Rome without the hoped-for indulgence and resolves to return to the Venusberg. Then a miracle occurs and he finds redemption after all.

Tannhäuser and the Singers' Contest at Wartburg

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Join the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for a mesmerizing evening as Nathalie Stutzmann conducts a program featuring the works of Mahler and Shostakovich. This captivating event will take place at the Atlanta Symphony Hall on September 26 and 27, 2024, offering audiences two opportunities to experience the magic at 8:00 PM.

Under the baton of Nathalie Stutzmann, known for her profound interpretations of Mahler, the concert will present the complete song cycle "The Boy’s Magic Horn," bringing to life a rich tapestry of stories inspired by centuries of folk poetry. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will be joined by two of the classical music world's rising stars: Fleur Barron, a mezzo-soprano celebrated for her "meltingly rich" voice (L.A. Times), and Samuel Hasselhorn, a baritone praised for his "rich, dark sound and gift for evoking emotional extremes" (The Guardian).

In addition to Mahler's enchanting work, the program will feature Shostakovich's Symphony No. 6, a piece that stands as a defiant and action-packed tragicomedy, composed under the oppressive regime of Soviet Russia.

This event is part of the Delta Classical Series, and tickets are currently on sale. Don't miss the chance to save with a subscription to the series. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's website.

Prepare for an evening of emotional depth and musical brilliance as Nathalie Stutzmann leads the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in this unforgettable performance.

Nathalie Stutzmann Conducts Mahler Shostakovich

Atlanta Symphony Hall

"The Song of the Earth" - as simple as this title is, there is so much hidden behind this late work by Mahler, which is half song cycle and half symphony. It is one of the best he has written: the music is hyper-sensual, the lyrics extremely atmospheric. A great song as if from another world. Based on adaptations of ancient Chinese poetry, Mahler has composed an all-encompassing swan song, a farewell to the earth, to life, which Alain Altinoglu and the hr Symphony Orchestra have realized with two excellent soloists. And what happens beyond? "Metacosmos" is the title Anna Þorvaldsdóttir gave her symphonic poem in 2017, and it is precisely about the dark journey that goes beyond every horizon. "The title refers to the idea of ​​falling into a black hole and arriving at a place that no one knows and over which you have no control," says the Icelandic composer. She has succeeded in creating music with an almost Mahlerian atmosphere, sometimes dark and amorphous, sometimes of unreal Nordic beauty.

Song of the Earth

One of the most important masterpieces of Western music is celebrating its birthday: 300 years ago, Bach's "St. John Passion" was born, and with it a music of incomprehensible grandeur and at the same time of impressive humanity. Premiered on Good Friday in 1724, this passion oratorio is Bach's first major vocal work during his time in Leipzig. Compared to the later, more operatic St. Matthew Passion, the one based on the Evangelist John is a work that puts the idea of ​​redemption at the forefront. Jesus' death is not meant to frighten, but to inspire reflection on responsibility, love, consolation, life and death. The dramatically charged choral scenes in particular are intended to shake people up and hold up a mirror, the choir as the voice of the people and public opinion. This part will be taken on by the Vocalconsort Berlin, an ensemble at soloist level, in this anniversary performance by the hr Symphony Orchestra and Alain Altinoglu. Or as Sir Simon Rattle once put it: simply "bloody good singers".

John 300

Richard Wagner's redemption operas continually invite new interpretations. Joana Mallwitz was already deeply involved with the composer's oeuvre during her time as General Music Director in Nuremberg. Director and musician Johannes Erath will stage the Baden-Baden Lohengrin production. He began his directing career as an assistant to Willy Decker, worked at the Semperoper in Dresden among other venues, and has been awarded the Götz Friedrich Prize and the Austrian Music Theater Prize.

Richard Wagner: Lohengrin

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

"Since Bach's Mass in B minor and Beethoven's Missa solemnis , nothing has been written that can compare with Brahms' German Requiem in this field ," according to the influential music writer Eduard Hanslick. Transcending all denominational boundaries, Brahms created a work that most impressively expresses feelings of suffering and grief, consolation and hope, through a carefully considered selection of texts and with particular sensitivity in the way they are set. Music for Good Friday that reflects this day and simultaneously points beyond it.

Good Friday Concert

Berliner Philharmonie

‘I will comfort you as a mother comforts her child": Johannes Brahms' Requiem in German touches the heart - because it focuses on the grieving bereaved and not on the deceased and their salvation. Brahms himself called his unusual and not at all liturgically bound contribution to the genre ‘funeral music as a beatitude for those who suffer’ and thus created one of his most popular works. The Alte Oper gives amateur singers the opportunity to rehearse this work in the specially formed Enthusiastenchor and perform it together on the stage of the Great Hall - supported by the choir and orchestra of the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst.

Baritone

Samuel Hasselhorn

Events

Upcoming events

Mar 28 - Apr 5, 2026

Richard Wagner: Lohengrin · Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Apr 3, 2026

Good Friday Concert · Staatskapelle Berlin

May 16, 2026

Brahms, Requiem · Alte Oper Frankfurt

Past events

Jan 31, 2026

Brahms: A German Requiem / Christian Thielemann · Elbphilharmonie

Jan 31, 2026

Staatskapelle Berlin: Guest performance in Hamburg · Staatskapelle Berlin

Future and recently performed repertoire

Singer in War Requiem by Britten

Staatstheater Hannover

Singer in Des Knaben Wunderhorn by Mahler

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

The king's army caller in Lohengrin by Wagner

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Wolfram in Tannhäuser by Wagner

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Singer in A German Requiem by Brahms

Alte Oper Frankfurt

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