Conductor

Laura Bowler is a composer of rare imagination and theatrical flair. Her new work for voice and orchestra is inspired by Booker and Nobel Prize-winning author Han Kang’s The White Book – a poetic meditation on colour, grief and the human spirit.

EPSG:4326

London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan

Barbican Centre

Composer Laura Bowler’s new work for voice and orchestra is based on Booker and Nobel Prize-winning author Han Kang’s The White Book – a poetic meditation on colour, grief and the human spirit. A performer and vocalist herself, Bowler’s settings are sure to make the most of soloist Barbara Hannigan’s theatrical stage presence and their shared flair for the dramatic.

London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Laura Bowler

In this unique world premiere, we hear Laura Bowler’s composition inspired by The White Book by Nobel Prize-winner Han Kang. The work was commissioned by Principal Guest Conductor Barbara Hannigan, who also sings at this performance. With the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and choir.

The White Book

Göteborgs Symfoniker

The mouse takes you on a journey through the life of the child prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – with rousing music and exciting, funny and factual stories about the Austrian composer.

The Concert with the Mouse

Museum Ludwig

The Liberation of Mozart

Saanen Church

Did you know that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart called his contemporary and colleague Joseph Haydn "Papa"? Undoubtedly, the two were immensely fond of each other. Haydn recognized Mozart's musical genius and championed him wherever he could. Mozart, 24 years his junior, appreciated this and viewed him as a great master and mentor: "No one can do everything—to tease and shock, to provoke laughter and deep emotion—and everything as well as Haydn!"

Alexandra Dovgan

Forum at the Castle Park

In the second academy concert, old and new are combined, the familiar with the unknown and the fairytale-like, when the forward-moving, youthful freshness of the seventeen-year-old Mozart meets the rather unknown romantic sounds of the Hamburg-born Ferdinand David. The atmosphere continues with Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose music is a sonorous reflection of their origins and homeland, England. Just like Edvard Grieg's "Peer Gynt" from Norway. A fairytale ending to a concert between Hamburg, Vienna, England and Poland, between classical, romantic and modern.

2nd Academy Concert

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

A lecture followed by a rehearsal visit: Dr. Helge Goessling from the Helmholtz Earth and Environment Center will report on weather phenomena and climate simulations. Afterwards, we'll head to the rehearsal for the 8th Philharmonic Concert.

Is this still weather or already climate?

Tobacco Quarter Hall 1

Israeli conductor Bar Avni and South Korean cellist Hayoung Choi bring female power to the stage – with a program that showcases everything an orchestra has to offer. Bach opens the evening, but not as we know it: Ottorino Respighi takes the famous Passacaglia to a new level, orchestrating it grandly and majestically, with new colors and nuances. Then comes Witold Lutosławski's Cello Concerto! Not a classical solo concerto, but a dramatic duel, orchestra against soloist, complete with attacks, lyrical moments, and explosive eruptions of sound. A musical exchange in which every note is charged with high tension. And finally: Tchaikovsky's Pathétique. His last work – and arguably his most personal. Nine days after the premiere, he died under mysterious circumstances. The final movement sounds like a requiem: deeply sad, somber, and moving. It couldn't be more dramatic.

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique” | Bar Avni

The Bell, Bremen

It is bold, well-conceived, and full of dramatic power: Mozart's G minor Symphony, a stroke of genius. Composed at just 17 years old, it is anything but a mere youthful work. It is unique – and unfathomable. "We won't get close to Mozart," the writer and Mozart expert Wolfgang Hildesheimer already suspected. Gustav Mahler is another mystery. His Fourth Symphony is a sonic vision of paradise. Mahler himself spoke of "experience and suffering, truth and poetry in tones." Critics tore the work to pieces, but Mahler remained steadfast, always searching for the great symphonic redemption. Two extraordinary musicians make Mahler's vision of "heavenly life" a reality: Erika Baikoff, one of the most successful young voices of her generation, and Tabita Berglund, a conductor with a clear style and a great sense of musical depth. This will be visionary!

Conductor

Bar Avni

Events

Upcoming events

Mar 11, 2026

Is this still weather or already climate? · Bremer Philharmoniker

15 - 16 Mar, 2026

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique” | Bar Avni · Bremer Philharmoniker

10 - 11 May, 2026

Mahler: Symphony No. 4 | Tabitha Berglund · Bremer Philharmoniker

May 13, 2026

Orchestre de Paris / Bar Avni · Orchestre de Paris

Past events

Mar 5, 2026

London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan · Barbican Centre

Mar 4, 2026

London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Laura Bowler · Barbican Centre

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Symphony No. 4 by Mahler

Bremer Philharmoniker

Conductor in Symphony No. 92 (Oxford) by Haydn

Gstaad Menuhin Festival

Conductor in Also sprach Zarathustra by Strauss

Barbican Centre

Conductor in Symphony No. 25 by Mozart

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

Conductor in Piano Concerto No. 20 by Mozart

Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele

Conductor in Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 by Grieg

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

Conductor in Cello Concerto by Lutosławski

Bremer Philharmoniker

Conductor in Suite for Viola and Orchestra by Williams

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

Conductor in Lontano by Ligeti

Barbican Centre

Conductor in Symphony No. 6 by Tchaikovsky

Bremer Philharmoniker

Conductor in Thamos, King of Egypt by Mozart

Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele

Conductor in Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor by Bach

Bremer Philharmoniker

Conductor in Violin Concerto No. 5 by David

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

Conductor in The white book by Bowler

Barbican Centre

Conductor in Clocks and Clouds by Ligeti

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Three Little Liturgies of the Divine Presence by Messiaen

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

About

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