Name: Sir Donald with Mahler
Start: 2026-06-11T19:00:00
Location: Palace of Culture

Sir Donald Runnicles

Masaya Kamei

Dresdner Philharmonie

The organ is an instrument that for many creates a sense of reverent silence in churches rather than enjoyable music. But in this concert, it shows how versatile and modern the organ can be! Poulenc was a French composer who liked to play with musical contrasts: sacred meets secular, serious meets playful. His concert begins almost like a meditation - dark and mysterious - and suddenly the music breaks into lively, almost dance-like rhythms. The other piece, just recently composed for the organ in the famous Royal Albert Hall in London, captivates the listeners. It is a journey through moods and sounds that showcases the organ at its most exciting. Lean back and let yourself be surprised - maybe today you will discover your new favorite instrument!

abgeFRACKt: Roaring Whistles

Palace of Culture

Our concert hall organ, the "orchestra in one instrument," is at the center of Francis Poulenc's Organ Concerto - a work full of contrasts. Sometimes deeply serious, almost sacred, then surprisingly playful, Poulenc combines tradition and modernity in a fascinating way. The soloist of the evening, Anna Lapwood, one of the most exciting organists of her generation, impresses with her virtuosity and her ability to engage people with classical music.

Lapwood with Poulenc

Sergei Rachmaninov's First Piano Sonata, created in Dresden, is one of the great works he composed in our city. He was inspired by Goethe's "Faust" and assigned one of the main characters to each of the three movements: Faust, Gretchen, and Mephisto. The piece marks the beginning of another evening in our series "Stars at the Piano", featuring none other than Artist in Residence Boris Giltburg. Following the sonata is an arrangement for piano of Prokofiev's ballet music "Romeo and Juliet" – an opportunity for Giltburg to present the tragic and tender moments of the famous love story with compelling clarity. Ravel's "Gaspard de la nuit", the third work of the evening, is inspired by dark poetry and pushes the limits of what is possible on the piano with its dream-like and devilishly difficult passages. The highly acclaimed pianist demonstrates in this recital why he is considered one of the outstanding musicians of his generation. By invitation of the Dresden Philharmonic in cooperation with DK Deutsche Klassik.

Giltburg with Rachmaninov

Under the direction of Michael Sanderling, Dmitri Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony will be performed on the Dresden Memorial Day, a work deeply influenced by the experiences and traumas of the Stalin era. In it, Shostakovich processes darkness, pain, and hope that wrestle with each other in a very unique way. South African artist William Kentridge has created a film titled "Oh To Believe in Another World" for this piece, which interprets Shostakovich's symphony in a fascinating manner. With his characteristic collages, animations, and drawings, Kentridge takes a poetic look at the themes of loss and longing that resonate in the music. Music and film merge into a unique work of art that connects remembrance and art, while also forming a final accent of the Kentridge focus of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden 2025 (with exhibitions at the Albertinum, Kupferstich-Kabinett, and in the Puppet Theater Collection).

Kentridge and Shostakovich

Creating a film to accompany a symphony is something special, after all, classical music is something abstract and leaves a lot of room for associations. But perhaps that is precisely the key. William Kentridge, to whom the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden have dedicated a focus in 2025, had plenty of associations with Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony and turned them into an impressive film for a visually-acoustic experience. Michael Sanderling, who enjoys an excellent reputation as a Shostakovich specialist, conducts this symphony while Kentridge's film is simultaneously shown on the big screen.

Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 – also known as the New World Symphony – is one of the most popular works of classical music. Why? Because it goes straight to the heart! Dvořák wrote it in the USA, when he heard the sounds of spirituals and music of the indigenous population for the first time. He mixed these influences with his unmistakable style full of melodies that you can't get out of your head. The symphony takes you on a journey: from the longing English horn solo in the second movement, which sounds like a memory of home, to the thrilling finale that exudes pure spirit of adventure. And if you listen closely, you may even discover the film music that was later inspired by this symphony – from "Jaws" to "Star Wars"!

 Short & Casual The Curious One abgeFRACKt: New World

Alma Mahler's Seven Songs immediately lead us into the world of the turn of the century: emotions between melancholy and hope, set to music with a deep, almost intimate expressiveness. In the arrangement for medium voice and orchestra, they unfold a sonic dimension that both touches and inspires. On the other hand, Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, known as "From the New World," is quite different. It bridges the gap between two continents and pours the impressions of a life in foreign America into grand symphonic arches. Longing sounds here like a distant memory, pulsating yet full of vastness. Dvořák's famous English horn theme, often referred to as the "Song of the Lonely Wanderer," captivates as much as the dynamic contrasts between drama and delicate lyricism. An evening that explores completely different soundscapes – and shows how diverse musical longing can sound.

From the New World

In the Octet in F major, Franz Schubert showcases his entire artistry. It combines lightness and depth, dance-like rhythms and intimate melodies that sound like a familiar conversation among friends. He was inspired by the famous septet of his predecessor Beethoven, but created something entirely unique: music that sounds like a great adventure, where each voice - from the string quartet to the clarinet, bassoon, and horn - brings its own character.

Schubert Octet

A Journey to the Moon - as early as 1929, Fritz Lang dared to take a visionary look into the future with "Woman in the Moon". The silent film, based on a screenplay by Thea von Harbou, is considered one of the first serious science fiction films. With scientific precision and fantastic elements, it tells the story of an ambitious moon expedition, overshadowed by greed and betrayal. Lang's spirit of innovation is evident not only in the impressive special effects and the introduction of the now iconic countdown before the rocket launch, but also in his precise depiction of space travel technology - groundbreaking and remarkably forward-thinking at the time. On this evening, the film will be accompanied live by Cameron Carpenter, an exceptional artist on the organ. His virtuoso and unconventional playing style gives the classic a new dimension. An adventure for the eyes, ears, and imagination! Note: The program will be played without an intermission. A film from the collection of the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation (www.murnau-stiftung.de) in Wiesbaden.

Woman in the Moon

With "Elektra," Richard Strauss created one of the most gripping and emotionally intense works in opera literature. The story, based on the ancient tragedy, revolves around Elektra's relentless desire for revenge for the murder of her father.

Elektra

There are not many instruments that are played simultaneously with hands and feet. The organ is one of them. It's not surprising that one has to use the whole body to make such a huge apparatus sound. Believe it or not, our organ in the Kulturpalast has a total of 4109 pipes! How to make them produce music, what a register is, what lies behind the strange word "manual," and much more will be learned at our school concert. Oh, and why is the organ actually in the concert hall and not in a church?

The Queen of Instruments

A music that doesn't need any explanation, that one understands all by itself? That's what the French composer Hector Berlioz wanted when he wrote his "Fantastic Symphony." He was heartbroken, and he composed his experiences directly into the music. In fact, while listening, we can imagine how someone falls in love, experiences happiness with the beloved woman, and how love fails. But of course, there are still some open questions – how does Berlioz manage to create so many different timbres? What role do the individual instruments play in this? Malte is on a quest to find answers for you...

Fantastic Symphony

When Beethoven wrote his Fifth and final piano concerto in 1809, Vienna was besieged by Napoleon's troops. The sounds of war and economic uncertainty – his patron Archduke Rudolf had left the city – influenced the creation of the work. Beethoven composed a piano concerto with an exceptionally new form for the time, in which the soloist alternates between heroic and peaceful moments. Despite the difficult circumstances, the work does not reflect fatalism, but rather a solemn struggle for freedom and against oppression. Gustav Mahler's First Symphony also reflects intense personal experiences. His unhappy love for the singer Johanna Richter inspired him to create the "Songs of a Wayfarer," from which he incorporated motifs into the first and third movements of the symphony. In an emotional state of exception, Mahler completed the symphony in just six weeks. The premiere in Budapest in 1889 was met with incomprehension, prompting Mahler to revise the work multiple times. Today, it is among his most frequently performed symphonies.