Name: Excursion into the Underworld
Start: 2025-05-15T19:30:00
Location: Philharmonie Mercatorhalle

In a celebration of cultural and artistic diversity, a series of breathtaking events are set to unfold across Germany, with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Duisburger Philharmoniker taking center stage. From the classic tales of Pinocchio and Beatrice di Tenda to the soulful Fado of António Zambujo, and the innovative reinterpretations by the Margulis Trio, these events promise a rich tapestry of opera and music. Join us in exploring the remarkable narratives, creative performances, and unique artistic expressions that make this a season to remember.

A Cultural Symphony: Uniting Diverse Musical Narratives

Stefan Blunier

Duisburger Philharmoniker

Do you remember your favorite (picture) book from back in the day? Were you inspired by "Struwwelpeter," "Urmel," or perhaps "Max and Moritz"? The musicians of the Duisburg Philharmonic will bring their childhood treasures to the City Library. In addition to reading excerpts from their favorite books, they will present individual and loving musical interpretations of the stories. Young and old are invited to listen to the words and music together, discover new things, or rediscover familiar ones.

Listen to a book

Duisburg City Library

Following the premiere of the "Shakespeare Monologues" in the 3rd Philharmonic Concert, Sylvain Cambreling returns to Duisburg for a guest performance. This time he will conduct the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the resident orchestra of the magnificent Laeiszhalle, where he has been chief conductor since 2018. His program includes two Viennese classics: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose genius is particularly evident in his piano concertos, in addition to his operas with their deeply felt character portraits. No. 23 in A major is one of the later concertos composed in Vienna. It was written concurrently with his work on "The Marriage of Figaro." The final movement, with its agitated parlando, is reminiscent of Mozart's great operatic finales. The solo part will be performed by the Argentinian pianist Nelson Goerner, who has already performed in Duisburg as a chamber musician with a Brahms piano quartet. A few years after Mozart, Beethoven also went to Vienna to receive "Mozart's spirit from Haydn's hands," as his Bonn patron, Count von Waldstein, wished. The "Pastorale," composed in Vienna, is one of the most famous pieces of program music—with its bird calls, a violent storm with piccolo lightning and timpani thunder, as well as shepherds' song. A typical Cambreling program, in fact, known for its multifaceted concert dramaturgy.

Hamburg Symphony Orchestra

CityPalais

The classic trio line-up actually consists of violin, cello, and piano. When Robert August Kahn presented his publisher with a Trio Serenade for oboe, horn, and piano, the publisher insisted on a version for a standard piano trio. The composer subsequently created no fewer than nine different versions of the serenade, each with its own distinctive sound. In the Profile concerto, it is the sometimes warm and full, sometimes clear and metallic sound of the horn that joins the piano and violin. We also hear this sound in the trio by Frédéric Duvernoy, one of the most famous French horn players around 1800, and in the "Premier Grand Trio" by Carl Czerny. All three offer the opportunity to encounter rarely performed but highly charming works.

Trio with horn

Theater Duisburg

Diana Tishchenko likely still has fond memories of her last performance with the Duisburg Philharmonic : In June 2024, the Ukrainian-born violinist, who was born in Crimea, played a violin concerto by the Ukrainian composer Yevhen Stankovych – and received enthusiastic applause from the audience for this politically powerful statement. Now she returns as a chamber musician and, together with her piano partner José Gallardo, who returns after his Duisburg debut in the 2024/2025 season, will present European composers who have played with the soundscape of America. The Frenchman Ravel incorporated elements of jazz, which was still new and exciting at the time, into his violin sonata. Jazz harmonies and sophisticated rhythms can also be heard in the concert fantasy that Igor Frolov compiled on themes from George Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess," including the catchy tune "Summertime." César Franck, for his part, composed his violin sonata—still a classic in the repertoire today—as a wedding gift for the Belgian violin virtuoso and fellow composer Eugène Ysaÿe. Ysaÿe, too, dedicated his sonata to a famous colleague: the Romanian composer George Enescu, with whom he once performed together.

Sound worlds between Europe and America

It's a shame the composers can't meet in person this evening. It would certainly be entertaining to hear what the antipodes Brahms and Wagner would have to say to each other. While the musical theater reformer, who landed his first international hit with "Tannhäuser" in 1845, and the symphonists world-famous not only for his "Hungarian Dances" treated each other with at most mild malice, there had been a proverbial blowout between Brahms and Hugo Wolf. Brahms' attacks on his older colleague, which Wolf regularly published thereafter, were often amused to recount to his friends. But regardless of what one thought of the other, what one heard were nothing but masterpieces.

Pretty best enemies

After the New Year's Concert with Beethoven's 9th Symphony, including the jubilant "Ode to Joy," Stefan Blunier , a regular and welcome guest in Duisburg, returns to the podium of the Philharmonic a few months later for a no less overwhelming symphony: Anton Bruckner's 7th Symphony, a tremendous cathedral of sound and a moving reaction to the death of Richard Wagner, whom he admired and for him the "blessed, ardently beloved immortal master." Before this mighty work with its overwhelming aesthetic, the program features a piece that Carl-Sönje Montag describes with the words "virtuosity, elegance, and joy." He is actually the deputy principal bassoonist of the Duisburg Philharmonic, but for this concert he switches sides and stands as soloist in front of the orchestra. The first movement is "inviting and downright life-affirming," says Montag, "with its virtuoso passages and large interval leaps; the final rondo is folksy and humorous," while in the slow middle movement, "the cantable bassoonist's soul is allowed to sing out in melodic arches reminiscent of Hummel's teacher, Mozart." In short: for Carl-Sönje Montag, the piece is one of the three most important bassoon concertos in the Classical-Romantic repertoire, alongside those of Carl Maria von Weber and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart—not bad company.

Overwhelming

With Bijayini Satpathy, curator Kamalini Mukherji has invited a very special guest to the opening of the "Music of Now - Eigenzeit" festival in Duisburg. Through dancing, research, and teaching, the artist has been involved with the classical Indian dance form Odissi since her childhood – and indeed, it would be hard to find anyone more qualified to illuminate the background of this millennia-old art form, which was only rediscovered in the 20th century, with such insight as Bijayini Satpathy. Her first stop in Duisburg will be the Lehmbruck Museum, where she will offer insights into the practice and theory of Odissi in a lecture demonstration. Bijayini Satpathy will pay particular attention to the fluid gender roles so typical of a dance form in which the female parts are often performed by men and the male parts by women. One thing is already certain: anyone who is already looking forward to Bijayini Satpathy's festival appearance on May 2nd will likely be looking forward to the evening in the Gebläsehalle in the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord with even greater enthusiasm after the event at the Lehmbruck Museum.

Transcending Gender and Self in Odissi Dance

Lehmbruck Museum

The origins of Odissi, the characteristic dance form of the eastern Indian state of Odisha, date back more than 2,000 years. With its graceful poses and narrative gestures, it is considered one of the eight classical dance styles of the Indian subcontinent. Bijayini Satpathy brings Odissi to Duisburg. Once a leading member of the legendary Nrityagram Dance Ensemble and former artist in residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, she will open the "Music of Now – Eigenzeit" festival with an evening of her own choreography: a celebration of India's great poetic literature, a dance and musical exploration of the work of four poets from the 8th to 19th centuries. The middle section of the program will also feature this year's festival curator, Kamalini Mukherji, performing songs by Rabindranath Tagore. This unique performance interweaves powerful themes: the divine, half-male, half-female duality of Ardhanarishvara; the choice of the familiar over the powerful; the rediscovery of inner strength and beauty by a conflicted warrior princess; and the poignant episode of Sita's abduction from the epic Ramayana.

Kalapa

Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord

He is one of the world's most famous composers and has written global hits such as the "Ode to Joy," "Für Elise," and the "Symphony of Destiny." It's hard to imagine how Ludwig van Beethoven was able to compose such wonderful music despite his deafness. And it's no wonder he was often in a bad mood and often called a stubborn person. He heard the tones and melodies in his head: the rustling of the forest, the chirping of birds, the sparkling piano sound, the thunderous pounding of "destiny." In "Masterpieces," the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sebastian Ludwig, presents excerpts from Beethoven's most famous classics. Kai Bettermann tells his story and asks himself who the "immortal beloved" was and why he wanted to make all people brothers and sisters with his music.

Masterpieces

The tabla is one of the traditional percussion instruments of Indian music. Few master it as virtuosically as superstar Bickram Ghosh – who is considered one of his home country's leading musicians not only as a percussionist, but also as a film composer and world musician. This all-round ability connects him with Kala Ramnath, who fell in love with the Indian violin as a child. Today, the internationally acclaimed musician is at home not only in Indian and European classical music, but also in jazz and other musical genres, such as flamenco. After Bickram Ghosh's opening solo performance with tabla and body percussion, Kala Ramnath joins the group for the second half of the concert. The performance concludes with a tribute to sitar and world music legend Ravi Shankar, arguably the most famous Indian musician of recent decades – and a close musical partner of Bickram Ghosh. He can be heard alongside Shankar on the Grammy-winning album “Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 2000,” released in 2002, among others.

One Beat, One World

As curator of the Eigenzeit Festival 2026, singer Kamalini Mukherji invites Duisburg audiences to experience the musical culture of her Indian homeland in as many different facets as possible. A leading exponent of this musical genre known as Rabindra Sangeet, she will present the chants of Indian Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) at her festival performance: a lyrical-musical Gesamtkunstwerk that Kamalini Mukherji cultivates in the spirit of the performance tradition and, inspired by her own literary and musical ideas, develops in a contemporary way. In Duisburg, she will be joined by prominent guests Bickram Ghosh, one of the greatest masters of Indian tabla, who has received numerous Grammy awards and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, India's highest honor for the performing arts, and the celebrated violinist Kala Ramnath, who will enrich the Rabindra Sangeet evening with the melodic and gentle tones of the classical Indian violin. For the first time, the three of them will share the same stage. All arrangements from this diverse selection of Tagore's songs are by the performing artists. Exciting musical discoveries are guaranteed.

Tagore Song Night

There are seasons all over the world, but depending on where we are, they look – or sound – different. Around 300 years ago, Antonio Vivaldi set spring, summer, autumn, and winter to music in a "European" way in his concert cycle "The Four Seasons." Kala Ramnath, in turn, explores the seasons of her home country India (divided into six periods) in her composition "Indian Seasons," arranged by the accomplished composer and sitar player Indro Roy-Chowdhury. Following the opening concert – together with the celebrated percussionist Bickram Ghosh – the master of the Indian violin will then contrast her musical impressions of the cycle of the seasons with Vivaldi's famous concertos. Both works will enter into a global, not merely meteorological, dialogue – at the height of the Duisburg spring – which is thematically complemented by Kala Ramnath's new work "Panchabhoota – The Voice of Nature." In five movements, the composer deals with the classical Indian pentad of the primal elements ether (Akash), air (Vayu), fire (Agni), water (Āpas) and earth (Prithvi).

East-Western Seasons

Steinhof Duisburg

 Conductor Stefan Blunier has put together an exciting program full of discoveries and various references for his return to the Duisburg Philharmonic. At the end is Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky's darkly flowing "Symphony of Fate", which fits wonderfully with the magnificent overture by Dora Pejačević at the beginning, which also has a tragic undertone. The Croatian countess who composed was a real superstar during her lifetime, but was pushed out of the collective memory by music history. However, she is slowly emerging from oblivion, thanks in part to initiatives such as those of Stefan Blunier and the Duisburg Philharmonic. The program then includes one of Franz Liszt's rarely played symphonic poems. In it, the virtuoso piano composer deals with the ancient Orpheus myth, which also builds a content-related bridge to Manfred Trojahn's work, which will premiere in 2023. The name "Achéron" also comes from Greek mythology and refers to the river of suffering and pain into which the other rivers of the underworld flow. The concert is thus also a continuation of the orchestra's intensive engagement with the work of one of the most important living composers.

Excursion into the Underworld

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