Finnegan Downie Dear | Elgar: Enigma Variations

The Bell, Bremen

1879 – 1899 – 1919: Three compositions from three eras, exactly 20 years apart. But that's not the only thing that connects them. All are closely linked to very specific individuals. With Le Tombeau de Couperin, Maurice Ravel creates a musical monument to one of the greatest composers of the French Baroque – François Couperin. In his Enigma Variations, Edward Elgar portrays friends and companions. But who lies behind these musical character studies was a mystery for a long time. That has long been revealed, but the magic remains. And Brahms's only violin concerto would be unthinkable without Joseph Joachim. The star violinist not only advised Brahms, he wrestled with him over every note. The result: one of the most popular works in violin literature. At the helm is Finnegan Downie Dear, one of the most promising conductors on the international scene, and the name of violinist Hana Chang is also worth remembering. This is the music of the future. And it sounds spectacular.

Ravel, Brahms, Elgar | Finnegan Downie Dear

No one can ignore him: Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most famous composers in music history—if not the most famous. Yet his music never becomes boring; even after more than 200 years, it is full of discoveries. Both violinist Isabelle Faust and the Balthasar Neumann Orchestra captivate with their meticulously detailed, energetic interpretations—the perfect setting for a concert featuring two classics and a rarity.

EPSG:4326

Balthasar Neuman Orchestra / Isabelle Faust / Finnegan Downie Dear

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Haydn’s Symphony No. 44 got the nickname »Symphony of Mourning« due to its sombre tone, the fugal finale and the air of seriousness that never lets up. Thomas Adès’s »Inferno Suite« is also anything but light-hearted. This condensed excerpt from the ballet music »Dante«, which premiered in 2021, takes up the circles of hell from the »Divine Comedy«, transforming them into garish and frenzied soundscapes that teeter on the abyss. Finally, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto seeks to balance pain with beauty, melancholy with resilience. Describing it as »a work written with love«, the composer completed the concerto during the illness of his sister-in-law, with whom he had a deep emotional bond.

Symphony Concert N° 2

Semperoper Dresden

Sometimes as a cautionary tale of a wrongdoer who eventually gets his comeuppance, sometimes as an allegory of a freedom-loving, unconventional libertine who questions the moral and religious ideas of his day: The figure of the irresistibly attractive yet unscrupulous Don Juan (or Don Giovanni) is a modern myth, among whose numerous adaptations Mozart’s "dramma giocoso" stands out.

Don Giovanni

Bebelplatz

A young woman is given a job as a governess at a country house, Bly, where she will be looking after two orphan children, Flora and Miles. She has been hired by the children’s uncle and guardian, who doesn’t want to be bothered by anything and who makes the young woman swear to absolute secrecy about the goings-on at his estate. Mysterious things do indeed start to happen at the house, including strange behaviour by the children. She also finds something inscrutable about the housekeeper Mrs Grose, who has apparently spent half her life at Bly. Later, the governess believes she sees hazy apparitions of a man and a woman gliding through the rooms of the house, and she identifies them as the spirits of former employees Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. Demonic forces appear to be running rampant and plaguing the characters. At the end, one thing is certain: one of the characters lies dead. Everything else remains unanswered …

Finnegan Downie Dear

Events

Upcoming events

6 - 25 Feb, 2026

Don Giovanni · Staatsoper Berlin

10 - 21 Apr, 2026

The Turn of the Screw · Staatsoper Berlin

Past events

Dec 17, 2025

Finnegan Downie Dear | Elgar: Enigma Variations · Bremer Philharmoniker

14 - 15 Dec, 2025

Ravel, Brahms, Elgar | Finnegan Downie Dear · Bremer Philharmoniker

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Le tombeau de Couperin by Ravel

Bremer Philharmoniker

Conductor in Symphony No. 44 (Trauer) by Haydn

Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

Conductor in Violin Concerto by Brahms

Bremer Philharmoniker

Conductor in Don Giovanni by Mozart

Staatsoper Berlin

Conductor in The Turn of the Screw by Britten

Staatsoper Berlin

Conductor in Enigma Variations by Elgar

Bremer Philharmoniker

Conductor in Cello Concerto by Dvořák

Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

Conductor in Inferno Suite by Adès

Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

About

Finnegan Downie Dear hasn't added a bio