Name: Carmina burana
Start: 2026-06-28T18:00:00
Location: Gewandhaus

Experience a world of song and celebration as the MDR Children's Choir embarks on a series of enchanting performances. From Christmas carols that span the globe to dynamic orchestral works and evocative explorations of light and shadow, these events promise to captivate audiences with their diversity and artistry. Join us as we explore the unique cultural and artistic contributions of these concerts, featuring the vibrant voices of the choir and the exceptional talents of renowned conductors and musicians.

A Symphony of Seasons: Unveiling Global Music Traditions

Levy Sekgapane

Rafael Fingerlos

Sandra Hamaoui

Dennis Russell Davies

MDR-Sinfonieorchester

MDR Radio Choir

MDR Children's Choir

A Christmas classic: Tchaikovsky's music for the ballet "The Nutcracker." E.T.A. Hoffmann's story of a memorable Christmas Eve, where dream and reality merge, isn't danced, but narrated. When the toy soldiers march, the Sugar Plum Fairy begins to dance, the battle against the Mouse King rages, and Marie travels with the Nutcracker through the Sugar Plum Fairy's kingdom, the music begins and enchants the audience, not least thanks to the great linguistic artistry of the actor Wanja Mues, who is also well-known in Central Germany.

Nutcracker

Festhalle

Gewandhaus

Konzerthaus Liebfrauen Wernigerode

The world comes together in this atmospheric choral concert and celebrates an international Christmas together. The MDR Children's Choir takes you far beyond Germany's borders and, with Christmas compositions from around the world, explores the festive customs of other nations. Wherever Christmas is celebrated, this special festival has its own unique sound. And everywhere, it has left its mark on all stylistic levels: The elaborate choral setting is as much a part of the Christmas repertoire as the simple folk song. Thus, the global concert presents the good news in a multilingual and colorful way, allowing Christmas carols to resonate in a new guise.

Sind die Lichter angezündet

King Albert Theater Bad Elster

When the first candle burns on the Advent wreath and bright strings of lights begin to glow in the windows, when the calendar doors are gradually opened and the kitchen smells of cinnamon stars, gingerbread, and almond cookies – then it's Advent. And, of course, familiar Christmas melodies also put us in the mood for the festive season. That's why the MDR Children's Choir is touring with concerts, especially in the run-up to Christmas. For many years, it has been a tradition for the MDR Children's Choir to awaken anticipation of Christmas in its broadcast area with cheerful, contemplative songs.

A Thousand Stars

Kaisersaal

Josep Vila i Casañas, the new chief conductor of the MDR Radio Choir, captures the spirit of Christmas with music from various regions of Spain. The main work of the concert is "Nit de Nadal" (Christmas Eve), an oratorio by one of Catalonia's most important composers and musicians, Joan Lamote de Grignon. He composed it at the turn of the 20th century based on poems by the Catalan composer Francesc Casas i Amigó, combining folk music elements with a post-Wagnerian style to create a moving, musically late-Romantic narrative about the events of Christmas Eve.

¡Navidad!

What would a New Year's Eve be without the immortal melodies of Johann Strauss, especially at the end of the anniversary year of his 200th birthday? Our New Year's Eve program doesn't stop there, but focuses on the significant role of the waltz in music history. Under the expert baton of Florian Ludwig, the musical champagne will certainly bubble over in a program that conveys joie de vivre and entertainment in equal measure. Actor, singer, and avowed operetta fan Max Müller will lead the audience through the colorful program with a wink, offering numerous samples of his artistic diversity. Here's to a Happy New Year 2026!

New Year's Eve Concert

Congress Centrum Suhl

What would a New Year's Eve be without the immortal melodies of Johann Strauss? Our New Year's concert program doesn't stop there, but focuses on the significant role of the waltz in music history. Under the expert baton of Florian Ludwig, the musical champagne will certainly bubble over in a program that conveys joie de vivre and entertainment in equal measure. Actor, singer, and avowed operetta fan Max Müller will lead the audience through the colorful program with a wink, offering numerous samples of his artistic diversity. Here's to a Happy New Year 2026!

Alles Walzer!

Like the MDR Symphony Orchestra, our chamber music series focuses on Joseph Haydn—particularly on the compositions he composed during his two stays in England in 1791/92 and 1794/95. This includes a selection of folk song arrangements from Scottish and Welsh sources, as well as two of the four so-called London Trios for two flutes and cello. The program is complemented by the incredibly charming Harmoniemusik from Mozart's Don Giovanni, arranged by Joseph Triebensee around 1810. Incidentally, the Bohemian composer and oboist himself participated in the premiere of The Magic Flute under Mozart's direction.

Wiener Klassik

Augustusplatz

In 2026, the Free State of Saxony will celebrate a statewide "Year of Jewish Culture" – 100 years after the founding of the first Saxon state association of Jewish communities. Under the title "Tacheles," projects, events, and exhibitions will make Saxony's rich Jewish culture and history, past, present, and future, as well as irretrievable losses, visible and audible for a year. Our chamber concert also addresses this theme, featuring well-known and lesser-known compositions from a wide variety of genres spanning approximately one hundred years of Jewish musical creation.

Tacheles

Gastkonzert Wernigerode

Ravel's Piano Concerto was written for the pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in the First World War. The paradoxical sonic power with which the soloist performs in this virtuoso concerto is all the more remarkable – with exaggeration, parody, and the constant impression of two hands on the keyboard. Almost ten years earlier, La Valse portrayed the glorious collapse of society dancing to its doom. Pēteris Vasks depicts the opposite path: his response to the loud, garish, and chaotic is silence, to which he ultimately returns – his premonition of eternity.

With Left

Explaining his orchestral arrangement of Brahms's First Piano Quartet, Arnold Schoenberg told a music critic: "1. I love the piece. 2. It is rarely played. 3. It is always played very poorly because the better the pianist, the louder he plays, and you can't hear anything from the strings." In the end, Schoenberg created a new soundscape that develops a completely unique appeal without denying its origins. Complemented by Brahms's own arrangement of the Liebeslieder Waltzes and Richard Strauss's setting of Goethe's Op. 14, this program is conducted by Giuseppe Mengoli, one of the most versatile young conductors of our time.

Lieben Sie Brahms?

George Frideric Handel composed his Messiah, which tells the Christian story of salvation in three parts, between 1741 and 1742. Mozart's version was written for a performance in Vienna in 1789; he adapted Handel's composition to suit contemporary audiences' tastes, ensuring its greater success. He replaced the English text with a German translation and altered the instrumentation to better reflect contemporary sound ideals. He incorporated the latest developments in playing technique and instrument making, and employed the newly invented clarinets. Mozart left the composition untouched—a sign of his respect for the master from Halle/Saale.

Mozarts Messias

Theater Erfurt

It was his involvement with musical theater, music education, and his turn to historical music that led Carl Orff to his "archaic" compositional style. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he looked back and led the audience of Carmina Burana into a world of medieval songs from the 11th to 13th centuries, in which people were not afraid to attack the church and society and to praise sensual and depraved life. The evocative power of the rhythm in the music, the extraordinary use of instruments, and the declamatory vocal style have lost none of their gripping urgency to this day.

Carmina burana

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