Name: Orchestra Academy
Start: 2025-05-10T18:00:00
Location: Rococo Theater

Matthew Halls

Raphaela Gromes

SWR Symphonieorchester

Young and old. For the orchestra academies in Schwetzingen, the SWR Symphony Orchestra looks for special conductors for special repertoire. In this case, the special conductor is Matthew Halls: a young British specialist in early music who has also made a career as a harpsichordist. The orchestra approaches the special repertoire in reverse gear. Schwetzingen's resident artist Raphaela Gromes is the soloist in Joseph Haydn's second cello concerto - a virtuoso challenge, because the composer dedicated his work in 1783 to Antonín Kraft, who was considered the world's best cellist at the time. Since Haydn copied the "singing allegro" from Mozart, the combination with his 33rd symphony is a good fit. Then Jean-Philippe Rameau's Pigmalion ballet suite lets us participate in the creation of art: Already in the overture we hear the hammer of the sculptor Pygmalion, who then falls hopelessly in love with his own statue. It is quite possible that something similar will happen to the audience while listening to Rameau's seductive sounds...