Name: In bloom
Start: 2025-03-23T11:00:00
Location: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud

March 2025 in Cologne and Brussels witnessed a celebration of classical music, bringing together some of the most extraordinary artists and compositions. From the orchestral brilliance of the Kölner Philharmonie's 'Magisch' to the emotive 'Carnival of Emotions' by the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, each event offered a unique experience. This series of concerts not only showcased renowned compositions by Berlioz, Ravel, and Shostakovich but also highlighted the talents of eminent performers like Emanuel Ax and Elisabeth Leonskaja, creating a captivating symphony of emotions.

A Symphony of Emotions: Celebrating Classical Concerts and Performances in March 2025

Sebastian Poyault

Paolo Ferraris

Paulo Ferreira

Fabiola Tedesco

Jee-Hye Bae

Michael Borgstede

Gürzenich-Orchester Köln

Chaos, whistles, angry heckles, and even physical altercations: When Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring premiered in Paris in 1913, the audience was outraged by a real scandal. What music, pounding, orgiastic, of almost obscene sensuality! And then there was the subject matter: a pagan ritual celebrating spring and fertility, including the sacrifice of a virgin. Shocking! Often, however, it is precisely the most heated waves that calm down particularly quickly. 

Scandal

Cologne Philharmonie

Lust and desire, gracefulness and abandon, seduction and catastrophe: anyone who gets close to Lulu, who succumbs to the undertow of her charisma, is doomed to die. She seems innocent yet dangerous, an angel and a monster rolled into one. A woman portrayed with almost painfully realistic brushstrokes who is also a projection screen for subconscious fantasies and abysses. Lulu balks at nothing, and all her encounters are fatal – for those she meets. In the end, she herself has fallen, working as a prostitute whose last customer is the serial killer Jack the Ripper … Lulu is Alban Berg’s second opera. In 1928, he began composing it, but interrupted work multiple times, ultimately failing to complete the monumental project: in 1935, his death put a stop to his efforts, and Lulu remained a fragment. Based on texts by Frank Wedekind, the opera is one of the most important works of 20th-century musical drama, and the first to employ twelve-tone technique throughout. Its strict formal construction, however, is always in service to dramatic expression and the uncommonly subtle, colourful characterization of each of the numerous characters on stage – this is one of the secrets behind the success of this masterwork, so influential for 20th-century music.

Sakari Oramo and an exquisite ensemble of soloists take the gripping rollercoaster ride between beauty and feverish nightmares.

In bloom

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