When Martin Grubinger announced his retirement from the concert stage two years ago, people wondered who could step into his shoes. A whole flood of outstanding percussionists applied to succeed him. By BaseCamp 2023 at the latest, we had taken Vivi Vassileva, a young percussionist from Upper Franconia with Bulgarian roots, to our hearts. Anyone who has seen and heard her sweep through a whole park of percussion instruments and make metal, skins and wood sound will never forget it. The young percussionist and ancient instruments, archaic rhythms and contemporary music: for the Finnish composer Sauli Zinovjev, the ritual component of percussion is of great importance, even while he is writing his new percussion concerto, which Vivi Vassileva and we have commissioned. The rite and the rites, constancy and change: these are the topics of our Spiegel discussion, to which Dirk Kaftan and Bettina Böttinger jointly invite you.

Rituale

Theater Bonn Opera House

An endless melody. The clarinet weaves its threads further and further – so far that it is impossible to say exactly where the theme ends. Perhaps one of the longest and most moving adagio themes in symphonic literature. Deep calm, bright beauty: this is the beginning of the slow movement of Sergei Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2 – after the passionate turbulence of its first movement and the fierce whirls of the second, you almost didn’t expect it. But Rachmaninov explores the whole circle of human emotions in this symphonic giant, which is rarely performed in Germany. The work was last performed by the Beethoven Orchestra in 2008 under its Ukrainian General Music Director Roman Kofman.music as a powerhouse of emotions: This idea unites the composers Sauli Zinovjev and Sergei Rachmaninov, who are separated by 115 years of musical history. Rachmaninov described music as a » mirror of life «, Zinoviev is convinced that a whole life can be reflected in a piece of music, indeed in a single moment. During the creation of this season’s issue, Sauli Zinovjev is writing a percussion concerto for the percussionist Vivi Vassileva (see also Im Spiegel 1) and for us. We are looking forward to his music and to the musical powerhouse Vivi Vassileva!

Powerhouse of Emotions

Between the fatum that attaches itself to Shakespeare's tragic lovers and the Taste of Metal, presented for the first time to French listeners, Schumann's Concerto slips its worried murmur into both light and shadow.

Sauli Zinoviev

Events

Upcoming events

Jun 10, 2026

Orchestre de Paris / Klaus Mäkelä · Orchestre de Paris

Past events

Nov 17, 2024

Rituale · Beethoven Orchester Bonn

Nov 15, 2024

Powerhouse of Emotions · Beethoven Orchester Bonn

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