The question of the authenticity of Mozart's Sinfonia concertante for wind instruments has been discussed for decades without any convincing result. This plays no role for either the audience or the four soloists from the ranks of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra - either way, the Sinfonia concertante is a masterpiece of wind literature. With the tender, lyrical "Siegfried Idyll", Richard Wagner gave his young wife Cosima a personal birthday present. Opera lovers will recognize leitmotifs from Wagner's music drama "Siegfried". Nathalie Stutzmann also presents a rarity: "Lachrimae antiquae" comes from a collection of lamentations by the Renaissance composer John Dowland. Robert Schumann did not look back all the way to the Renaissance, but at least to the Baroque period when composing his 2nd Symphony. His intensive engagement with the works of Johann Sebastian Bach was reflected in the work.

Mozart Wagner Dowland Schumann

Gasteig HP8

Dima Slobodeniouk conducts a program that is entirely dedicated to Nordic dream images and winter landscapes: For large parts, Einojuhani Rautavaara's Piano Concerto No. 3 exudes peace and mysticism; one would almost think it was written at night in a snow-covered hut in front of a warming fire. The Finnish pianist Olli Mustonen, recently awarded for his recording of this work, returns to the Munich Philharmonic as soloist with this "gift of dreams." The dark, demonic side of the night, which can rob you of sleep, inspired Rautavaara's student Esa-Pekka Salonen to create his orchestral work "Insomnia," which uses a large orchestra and special sound magic to describe the nighttime discomfort until the saving sunrise. Tchaikovsky's 1st Symphony, on the other hand, is more conciliatory and calming: with this symphony, Tchaikovsky made an atmospheric declaration of love to the Russian winter with all its manifestations of horse-drawn sleighs, frost flowers and pale winter sunlight.

Rautavaara Salonen Tschaikowsky

It is probably the best-known composition of Baroque music: the famous "Air" by Johann Sebastian Bach. As a slow movement, it is part of the Orchestral Suite No. 3, which Bach, like Suite No. 4, probably composed for the court music in Köthen. Bach evidently valued these compilations of festive overtures and dance movements so much that he traveled several times with copies of the suites in his luggage. Bach's only setting of the Latin Magnificat text originally dates from his first year as Thomaskantor. With this magnificent composition, Bach wanted to demonstrate his skills and impress the Leipzig audience - which he probably succeeded in doing. Vivaldi supposedly composed faster than his copyists could copy. One of his many Concerti con molti strumenti is the masterfully composed G minor Concerto RV 576. Julian Shevlin and Andrey Godik, two members of the Munich Philharmonic, take on the solo parts. This baroque program is directed by Andrea Marcon, a proven specialist in historical performance practice.

Bach Vivaldi

EPSG:4326

David Robertson & Leonidas Kavakos

Munich Residence

In 1989, shortly before New Year's Eve, the opening of the Iron Curtain was symbolically celebrated with Beethoven's 9th Symphony. In two concerts - once in the West Berlin Philharmonie, once in the Schauspielhaus on Gendarmenmarkt in East Berlin - Leonard Bernstein conducted Beethoven's musical appeal to humanity. The orchestra was made up of members from East and West Germany, reinforced by musicians from the USA, the former Soviet Union, France and Great Britain - the four powers that were present in the formerly divided Berlin. But that was not all the symbolism, because the extraordinary circumstances prompted Bernstein to make a small but significant change to the text: instead of "Joy, beautiful spark of the gods", he had the choir sing "Freedom, beautiful spark of the gods". This historic concert event was now 35 years ago - ringing in the New Year with Beethoven's 9th Symphony is a beloved tradition of the Munich Philharmonic. The British conductor Nicholas Collon makes his debut with the Munich Philharmonic with this concert series, supported in his usual way by the Philharmonic Choir and an excellent quartet of soloists.

New Year's Eve Concerts

### Event Description: ASMF & Jan Lisiecki - Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Join the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and renowned pianist Jan Lisiecki for an extraordinary musical journey through Beethoven's concertos. This special tour, taking place in January 2025, will see the Canadian-Polish pianist and the esteemed British ensemble reunite to bring Beethoven’s masterpieces to life in concert halls across Germany.

#### Event Highlights:
- **Performers:**
  - **Jan Lisiecki** - Piano
  - **Academy of St Martin in the Fields**
  - **Tomo Keller** - Violin and Director

- **Programme:**
  - **Ludwig van Beethoven:**
    - Konzert für Klavier und Orchester Nr. 2 B-Dur op. 19
    - Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 in G major, Op. 58

#### Tour Dates and Locations:
- **Munich:**
  - 7 January 2025 (Tuesday) - Buy Tickets
  - 8 January 2025 (Wednesday) - Buy Tickets
  - 9 January 2025 (Thursday) - Buy Tickets
- **Mannheim:**
  - 10 January 2025 (Friday) - No Tickets
- **Freiburg:**
  - 12 January 2025 (Sunday) - No Tickets
- **Hannover:**
  - 13 January 2025 (Monday) - No Tickets
- **Hamburg:**
  - 14 January 2025 (Tuesday) - No Tickets
  - 15 January 2025 (Wednesday) - No Tickets
  - 16 January 2025 (Thursday) - No Tickets
- **Heilbronn:**
  - 18 January 2025 (Saturday) - No Tickets
- **Frankfurt:**
  - 19 January 2025 (Sunday) - Buy Tickets
- **Nuremburg:**
  - 22 January 2025 (Wednesday) - No Tickets
- **Regensburg:**
  - 23 January 2025 (Thursday) - No Tickets
- **Cologne:**
  - 24 January 2025 (Friday) - Buy Tickets
  - 26 January 2025 (Sunday) - Buy Tickets
  - 27 January 2025 (Monday) - Buy Tickets
- **Berlin:**
  - 28 January 2025 (Tuesday) - No Tickets
- **Dresden:**
  - 29 January 2025 (Wednesday) - No Tickets

#### About the Event:
In 2018, Jan Lisiecki stepped in for an ailing Murray Perahia and delivered a stunning performance of all five Beethoven concertos with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. The success of that tour and the subsequent live recording album cemented a special bond between Lisiecki and the orchestra. This January 2025 tour promises to rekindle that magic, offering audiences a chance to experience the pure joy and collaborative spirit that define their performances.

Don't miss this opportunity to witness a unique musical collaboration that celebrates the timeless beauty of Beethoven's work. Secure your tickets now for an unforgettable evening of classical music.

ASMF & Jan Lisiecki

Cologne Philharmonie

Herbert Blomstedt

Julia Hagen : Chamber orchestra

Prinzregententheater

The compositions "Christian Zeal and Activity" by John Adams and "Itaipú" by Philip Glass are dedicated to different spiritual traditions in America. In his work, written in 1973, John Adams quotes and arranges the English hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers", which, despite its military tone, was associated with the American civil rights movement. "Itaipú" by Philip Glass deals with the technical colonization of South America. With the construction of the "Itaipú" dam, the world's largest at the time and completed in 1984, which supplies Brazil and Paraguay with electricity, around 40,000 Guaraní indigenous people lost their homeland. Philip Glass composed this moving choral-symphonic work based on the Guaraní creation myth of a flood. The voices of the Guaraní are brought back to life by the Philharmonic Choir and report on the difficult relationship between man and nature. Embedded between these works of American minimalism is the new piano concerto by a crossover artist between different musical genres: Bryce Dressner. The universal US composer became famous on the electric guitar as a member of the indie rock band "The National". At the same time, his reputation as an orchestral composer developed. The German premiere of his new piano concerto will be presented by the well-known pianist Alice Sara Ott in Munich.

Adams Dessner Glass

Watch This Space | Stefan Schilli and the BRSO Academy

Technikum

"The history of American composition at the beginning of the 20th century revolves around an absent center," states Alex Ross, music critic for the New Yorker, and even titles the corresponding chapter in his bestseller "The Rest is Noise" "The Invisibles." This refers to composers such as Charles Ives, Wallingford Riegger, Carl Ruggles and others who had to work hard to establish an identity as American composers. Barbara Hannigan has made it her mission to bring these "invisibles" back to light. After intensive research in the Library of Congress, she presents a program that is probably unique in its form. It shows American music between 1900 and 1945 as if through a magnifying glass: from radical simplicity to radical dissonance to the fusion of classical and popular music, which reached its peak on Broadway. A picture of musical diversity that must necessarily remain incomplete, but even in this form allows fascinating and surprising insights. Hannigan's particular focus is on the individual, edgy, rebellious voices that sought their own expression and broke new ground.

Ives Crawford Seeger Riegger Ruggles Rodgers Gershwin

The Violin Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy is a bridge between the form-conscious style of classical music and the individual expressive world of romanticism. Flowing melodies and a refined form have made it one of the most popular works in the repertoire. The fact that Mendelssohn spent six years tirelessly working on it is not noticeable at any point in the music. The virtuoso solo part is in the best hands with Hilary Hahn, who is valued worldwide for her perfect technique and musicality. Peter Tchaikovsky struggled with his fate. His "Fifth" with the omnipresent "fate motif" is the musical blueprint of his inner soul drama. During the composition, he was often overcome by doubts, he questioned his work as a composer and was of the opinion until the end that his Symphony No. 5 was a failure. Audiences, orchestras and conductors like Lahav Shani are convinced of the opposite.

Farrenc Mendelssohn Bartholdy Tschaikowsky

Palau de la Música de València

National Music Auditorium

Watch This Space | Kirill Gerstein & HK Gruber

Iván Fischer & Kirill Gerstein

Meistersingerhalle

Sir Simon Rattle 6

Sir Simon Rattle · BRSO hip

Sir Simon Rattle 7

Konzerthaus Wien

"Those who wrote a Ninth were too close to the afterlife," Arnold Schönberg prophesied, referring to the symphonic oeuvre of Beethoven, Bruckner and Mahler: "Anyone who wants to go beyond that must leave." Mahler's ninth and final symphony is a work of farewell - permeated by a multitude of emotions, by painful melancholy, profound ruptures, but also by ecstatic joy. In an interview, Thomas Hengelbrock said that Mahler's "Ninth" is music "that constantly confronts us with our own mortality. But because it is so truthful and taken from life and translated into great art, it fills us with vitality and new courage." For the Ninth Symphony is not a work of resignation or hopelessness. It is one of the few great symphonies that do not experience a final apotheosis or end catastrophically, as Mahler did in his "Sixth." The “Ninth” fades away quietly, as if a beloved visitor sneaks out the door unnoticed.

Mahler

With its extreme contrasts, ranging from dramatic climaxes to tender, poetic moments, Franz Liszt's 2nd Piano Concerto is a virtuoso and interpretative challenge for soloists. The French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, known for his brilliant playing and the emotional depth of his interpretations, takes on the solo part. The piano concerto is framed by Strauss twice. Josef Strauss composed his "Dynamiden Waltz" in 1865 for the Industrialists' Ball in the Redoutensaal of the Vienna Hofburg, venturing into compositional realms that are not usually touched upon by dance music. No wonder Richard Strauss plagiarized this waltz gem for his "Rosenkavalier". The famous waltz melody is of course not missing from the "Rosenkavalier Suite", which Philippe Jordan recomposed. The selected key musical passages of the opera allow the audience to experience the plot in a concentrated form and bring the famous arias of the Marschallin, Octavian and Baron von »Ochs« to life, even when there are no singers on stage.

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New Year's Eve Concerts

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Herbert Blomstedt

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