Name: Guest at the Rheingau Music Festival
Start: 2026-07-10T20:00:00
Location: Kurhaus Wiesbaden GmbH

Bamberger Symphoniker

To round off the year, we're treating our audience to a fun and colorful puzzle: They can create their own New Year's Eve concert – and we'll play whatever they request. Until then, however, they'll be spoiled for choice, as there's a wide selection of works in different categories to vote on: 5 sparkling overtures, 10 enchanting orchestral and violin pieces each – and even 5 lively encores. The "conductor" has already been chosen: The young and versatile conductor Aurel Dawidiuk, who is also a successful pianist and organist, was recently appointed Associate Conductor of the renowned Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

New Year's Eve À La Carte

Our principal conductor once praised the "natural quality" of our orchestra, saying that we "never play routinely" and therefore it "never sounds boring." He particularly appreciates our great enthusiasm for discovering the often still unknown music of his homeland, and so we will once again delve with him into the Czech repertoire, which has become irresistible to us – with exciting works such as the "Suita rustica" by Vítězslava Kaprálová, who was not only a highly gifted composer but also the first female conductor of the Czech Philharmonic. She came from Brno but died in exile in France at the young age of 25. In 1938, she wrote her impressive suite, inspired by the folklore of her homeland, which we will present with great joy and energy. 

Jakub Hrůša, Julia Hagen

"Fate shuffles the cards – and we play." In the spirit of this Schopenhauer quote, we look forward to the program under the direction of our honorary conductor, Manfred Honeck. It begins with the overture to a musical card game: Tchaikovsky's dramatic setting of Pushkin's poem from 1890 revolves around a countess who, in her youth, was a daring gambler nicknamed "The Queen of Spades" – and who knows a secret about three unbeatable winning cards that prove fatal for a young officer gambling in a casino. Shostakovich also had a great passion for gambling: he was an enthusiastic football fan, maintained contact with the members of his favorite club, and even completed referee training. Perhaps his stadium experiences enabled him to so brilliantly charge, channel, or unleash the masses of sound in his compositions—as in his magnificent Second Cello Concerto from 1966, for which Truls Mørk takes on the role of the charging striker in our performance. 

Manfred Honeck, Truls Mørk

PROGRAM CHANGE! Chamber concert in the Mirror Hall: String Octet

Harmony seal, Bamberg

A few orchestral Champions League matches are on the horizon: But before we take some creative shots on goal in Spain, we're looking forward to a home game in front of our loyal Bamberg fans. Our principal conductor will be leading us as our musical coach, guiding us through, among other things, "Champions League" works from his native Czech Republic.

Jakub Hrůša, Sol Gabetta

The organ world of this concert offers a wealth of evocative colors and magical impressions – and even a few mythical figures play their games. Johannes Skoog, born in Stockholm in 1992, will bring them musically to life on the keys and pedals: He won First Prize at the Canadian International Organ Competition in 2024 and was recently appointed organist to the Swedish royal court. He opens his Bamberg program with Prokofiev's Toccata of 1912, a "devilishly witty" virtuoso piece of classical modernism. Debussy's sensuously shimmering composition, written in 1894, is characterized by an arabesque-like main theme: A faun revels in intoxicating memories of beautiful nymphs on a summer afternoon.

Organ concert: Johannes Skoog

On Tour: Madrid

National Music Auditorium, Madrid

On Tour: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Alfredo Kraus Auditorium

A few orchestral Champions League matches are on the horizon: But before we take some creative shots on goal in Spain, we're looking forward to a home game in front of our loyal Bamberg fans. Our principal conductor will be our musical coach, guiding us through, among other things, "Champions League" works from his native Czech Republic. He has been sharing his enthusiasm for this repertoire with us since 2016, and we love to revel in the unique artistry of this region. First up is a lively piece by Smetana from 1874: the overture to the rarely performed opera "The Two Widows"—an entertaining composition about two very different cousins ​​and an unexpected visitor.

On tour: Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Tenerife Adán Martín Auditorium

A few orchestral Champions League matches are on the horizon: But before we take some creative shots on goal in Spain, we're looking forward to a home game in front of our loyal Bamberg fans. Our principal conductor will be leading us as our musical coach, guiding us through, among other things, "Champions League" works from his native Czech Republic. He has been sharing his enthusiasm for this repertoire with us since 2016, and we love to revel in the unique artistry of this region. First up is a lively piece by Smetana from 1874: the overture to the rarely performed opera "The Two Widows"—an entertaining composition about two very different cousins ​​and an unexpected visitor. 

On Tour: Santander

Cantabria Festival Palace

This will be a great joy for everyone involved: In keeping with the fifth season (Carnival), under the direction of Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, we will slip into different roles, individually or in groups, for the musical stories of this concert, just like at Carnival or a masquerade – and can thus demonstrate our playing skills on the respective instruments. For Berlioz's soul-searching work set in Italy, our solo violist Wen Xiao Zheng will take on the part of the melancholic dreamer Harold.

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Wen Xiao Zheng

An exciting concert for us, offering plenty of creative freedom for individual orchestra members and fresh musical perspectives. We welcome Jörg Widmann, a versatile artist, to the conductor's podium, as he is both a soloist and composer of some of the pieces. He once gave such a wonderful answer to the question of how important live music is that "especially in the age of technical reproducibility and the accessibility of music anytime, anywhere in the world, the human being singing and playing on stage in the moment, without a safety net, is able to captivate and fascinate us more than ever." We look forward to playing with him and begin this cleverly conceived program with an orchestral journey to Scotland, where we capture the legendary landscape of a Hebridean island with the atmosphere of "salt air, cod liver oil, and seagulls" that Mendelssohn envisioned. 