Name: Himmel und Hölle
Start: 2025-06-29T11:00:00
Location: Theater Bonn Opera House

The Beethoven Orchester Bonn presents a diverse array of musical events this spring, showcasing the genius of Beethoven, the charm of baroque sounds, and the modernism of Gustav Mahler's masterpieces. These events bring together an ensemble of talented performers, including saxophonist Asya Fateyeva and renowned conductor Dirk Kaftan, promising an exciting journey through music that spans centuries and continents.

A Musical Voyage: Beethoven Bonanza and the Symphony of Hope

Embark on a captivating journey with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn as they traverse a rich tapestry of musical events. From the decadent echoes of Vienna to the enchantments of the Little Prince, the orchestra invites you to partake in a diverse array of performances. Highlighting works by classical maestros such as Gustav Mahler and modern interpretations like those of Helmut Eisel, these events offer a unique glimpse into the worlds of chamber music, operatic storytelling, and more—all set against the vibrant cultural backdrop of Bonn.

Beethoven Orchester Bonn's Majestic Musical Journey: From Vienna to the Stars

Embark on a captivating journey with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn as they present a series of diverse and thought-provoking events. From the harmonious 'Great Clarity' to the introspective 'Himmel und Hölle', and the whimsical 'Of Chickens and Farms', each event offers a unique experience. Whether you're drawn to the classics, modern interpretations, or the enchanting tales of 'The Little Prince', this 2025 season promises something for every cultural enthusiast. Join us as we explore these remarkable performances and the talents behind them.

A Symphony of Emotions: Beethoven Orchester Bonn's 2025 Cultural Kaleidoscope

Dirk Kaftan

Tetiana Miyus

Beethoven Orchester Bonn

Around 1790, there was a singer in Bonn who dominated the scene, enchanting the Prince-Bishop and his subjects and inspiring composers from near and far: Magdalena Willmann. The virtuoso and highly emotional, modern music written for her forms the lion's share of the third Hofkapelle concert of the season. She will be interpreted by a singer who is in worldwide demand in the classical repertoire and who has caused a sensation in recent years with works by Ludwig van Beethoven: the Israeli soprano Chen Reiss moved the Bonn audience two years ago in our concert with Brahms' Requiem .

The Diva from the Rhine

Kurhaus Bad Honnef

Beethoven Hall

In France, the musical clock ticked differently in the 20th century than in Germany: Jean Françaix, who never composed in an avant-garde style, who remained grounded in tonality, who wrote entertaining, humorous, sentimental, and light-hearted music, is deeply revered in our neighboring country as a serious composer: something like that would never have happened here.

The Horn of the Angels

Have you ever heard a nightingale sing? The Emperor of China never has! When he hears the nightingale sing for the first time, he is amazed by its wonderful song, which had brought so many people from far and wide and which he had never even known about until then. "And the nightingale sang so beautifully that tears came to the emperor's eyes." So moved, he lets the nightingale sing day and night for him and his people. Until he is given an artfully crafted, artificial nightingale that can sing tirelessly, without a break. Replaced by a fake nightingale, the real nightingale flees, leaving the emperor and his people behind - for now. With enchanting and colorful music, this is a story about the things that make our lives rich, without any money or gold.

The Emperor's Nightingale

One work, one story: that has been the recipe for most of the concerts in our successful Pur series over the past few seasons. Some of the most beautiful musical stories can be told around the symphonies of the unique Joseph Haydn. His Symphony No. 101 (Yes, "Papa Haydn" really did write over 100 symphonies – his student Ludwig could have taken a leaf out of his book!) is a musical marvel that still amazes and makes us smile today, a work with which the composer continues to touch us like few other composers of his time can! The nickname " The Clock" , like most of the titles of Haydn's  symphonies and string quartets, does not come from the master, but was added to the composition by an enterprising publisher.

Haydn: The Clock

Musical transgressions: What worlds have we not already brought together in our "Boundless" series ! And with fado icon Ana Moura, we are opening a new chapter in this series: The yearning, passionate, infinitely colorful music from the far southwest of Europe is on the program for our second "Boundless " concert.  Ana Moura doesn't dwell on the glorious past of her music, but rather takes it further, enriching it with modern, electronic elements.

Ana Moura

The German Music Competition will take place again in Bonn in March 2026. This prestigious competition for young, professional musicians in various disciplines serves as a launching pad for diverse careers in the music world every year. Its sponsor, the Bonn-based German Music Council, Germany's largest organization for music culture and the umbrella organization for the interests of 15 million musicians, has even more outstanding projects in store: In March 2025, Yura Yang, Principal Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Opera, sponsored by the Conducting Forum,
conducted with us.

German Music Competition 2026

University of Bonn

A great journey into the inner human being: This is Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion , perhaps the most significant religious musical work of the 18th century, which can still touch us today as it did 300 years ago: with its story of faith and doubt, of loyalty and betrayal, of hope and despair. In contrast to its dramatic sister, the St. John Passion , the focus of the St. Matthew Passion is on the inner journey that we all take when we relive and experience the suffering of Jesus Christ. And the St. Matthew Passion is not just a work for believers, for those connected to the Christian religion, but it also questions our values, our relationship to life and death, to this world and the next. The scope and instrumentation are larger, more powerful than in the St. John Passion : two choirs and two orchestras are contrasted, symbolizing the earthly and the divine spheres.

St. Matthew Passion

Great classical music in our chamber concert series: Every year we invite an international ensemble to the Old Federal Council and look forward to a world-class chamber music evening. This time, the French Quatuor Hanson is our guest, a young French ensemble that will present three pieces of chamber music from Austria: two important works by Mozart and Beethoven, as well as a youthful work by the far too long neglected Johanna Müller-Hermann. Listening to their poetically fragrant Quartet in E-flat major is a heartwarming experience!

Mind and Heart

You can hear them from far away: chattering wild geese flying overhead in a perfect "V," on their way to their breeding grounds in Lapland. If they fly low enough, we can hear their powerful wings. And maybe even Nils, the boy transformed into a gnome; this cheeky boy who couldn't stop teasing the animals on his parents' farm and was full of silly ideas, who one day met a gnome who enchanted him into his own kind, so that from then on he could be teased by the animals.

Nils Holgersson

Four notes: Ta ta ta taaa. Symphony of Destiny. The Fifth. It doesn't take much to immediately know that Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is meant. The four notes immediately catch the ear and don't want to go away. Likewise, the symphony's relevance, the liberal ideas that Beethoven brought into the world with it, are reflected. School classes from the Beethoven-Gymnasium, which celebrates its 400th anniversary in 2026 and the school Beethoven himself once attended, will show us how relevant these are and what we can learn today from studying this symphony. 

Beethoven 5

Petrushka is the eternally unfortunate hero of all fairs: the story that underlies one of the greatest ballets of the 20th century is a tale of exclusion and belonging, of love and alienation, of rebellion and adaptation. As a listener, you are swept away by the colorful score, by wild rhythms and memorable themes that characterize the story's main characters and their fates. But you also suffer with Petrushka , the doll made of cloth and straw who wants to win the ballerina's heart. Moderator Bettina Böttinger and conductor Alondra de la Parra examine Petrushka and its relevance to our time. The Beethoven Orchestra will be on stage playing examples from the work, music and content flowing into one before Stravinsky's masterpiece is heard as a whole.

Petrushka

Glitter and glamour, scandals and minor scandals, the avant-garde and the traditions of different nations: all this awaited the audience that flocked to the Parisian performances of the legendary Ballets Russes, arguably the best ballet company in the world, shortly after the beginning of the 20th century. The important composers, the renowned set designers, the wonderful stories created productions that sometimes still have an impact today. One of the most famous Russian ballets was Stravinsky's Petrushka , and the most exciting evening with a Spanish background was Manuel de Falla's The Three-Cornered Hat - an entertaining story about a miller and his clever wife who have to fend off the inappropriate advances of a civil servant...

Aranjuez

1900: The world flew apart! Psychoanalysis dissected the human soul, physics divided atoms, the churches visibly lost their importance. The belief in a God-created and God-ordained universe was reduced to rubble in numerous conflicts that flared up all over the world, but at the latest in the trenches of the First World War. One of the first to attempt to capture the world in musical form in all its collage-like, kaleidoscopic diversity was Gustav Mahler. His 4th Symphony, written in seemingly cheerful G major, tells of heaven and hell, promises us paradise and pulls the rug from under our feet. What is the balance between diversity and unity in our time? What do we believe in and what do we long for? Bettina Böttinger and Dirk Kaftan get to the bottom of these questions.

Himmel und Hölle

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