Imagine you could listen to Ludwig van Beethoven composing! Crawl into his cerebral convolutions. That’s exactly what Gerard McBurney’s radio play with live orchestra X-Rayed is about. Matthias Brandt has lent his voice to Ludwig van Beethoven: He wonders where to buy his coffee beans and when the piano tuner is coming. He muses about underwear and double counterpoint. And we are immersed in the acoustic world of Biedermeier Vienna with its coffee houses, its hackney carriages and Beethoven’s scratchy quill. An immersive sound experience in which we witness the genesis of the intoxicating Seventh Symphony: This was conceived by Gerard McBurney, the English composer, radio producer, educator and programme maker who has worked for and with the world’s most distinguished conductors since the 1990s: Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and, above all and for a long time: Pierre Boulez. For him, McBurney devised more than 70 »Children’s Concerts for Adults« over a ten-year period in Chicago. Multimedia concert experiences that opened the ears of the audience and left them speechless: Enchanted and enraptured by what they discovered new in seemingly familiar music. The Beethoven Orchestra Bonn enters into a live dialogue with the surround sound experience of McBurney’s radio play – an absolutely novel listening experience.

X-Rayed

Theater Bonn Opera House

With composer, arranger and pianist Tobias Schwencke, the Ensemble Resonanz meets a good friend who has already merged the sound worlds of Franz Schubert and Nick Cave for "mercy seat - winter journey". Now they are devoting themselves to a silent film classic: "The Merry Widow" by Erich von Stroheim. In 1925, the legendary director shot his free adaptation of Franz Léhar's operetta "The Merry Widow", which is now accompanied by Tobias Schwencke's newly composed film music.

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Merry widow

Wiener Konzerthaus

Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ is a deep, contemplative drama based on the events leading up to the crucifixion and the earthquake that marked the moment of Jesus’s death. The music pulls us into an ominous and unsettled world; a lament at the foot of the cross. Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen for strings is another lament, this time for the destruction wrought in Munich in World War II and the shattering of cultural life as the composer knew it. Full of loss and anguish – but also serenity and majesty – this is music for meditation and reflection this Good Friday.

Music for Good Friday

Ulster Hall

During the last week of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the laureates withdraw to the Queen Elisabeth Chapel. Their final farewell to Belgian audiences comes in the form of the traditional laureates concert in the Queen Elisabeth Hall, during which they perform seminal milestones from the piano repertoire. Don’t miss this appointment with the future and an opportunity to see a new generation of star pianists at work after their defining performances during this world-renowned competition, before they embark on an international career!

Christoph Altstaedt

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 15, 2025

Merry widow · Ensemble Resonanz

Apr 18, 2025

Music for Good Friday · Ulster Orchestra

7 - 11 Jun, 2025

Laureates' concert Queen Elisabeth Competition · Antwerp Symphony Orchestra

Past events

May 5, 2024

X-Rayed · Beethoven Orchester Bonn

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Symphony No. 7 by Beethoven

Beethoven Orchester Bonn

Conductor in Metamorphosen by R.

Ulster Orchestra

Conductor in The Seven Last Words Of Christ by

Ulster Orchestra

About

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