“More for a Caruso than a Paganini,” Korngold said, is how he wrote his Violin Concerto. This means: a bold embrace of lyrical richness. Renaud Capuçon, with his rich, velvety violin tone, is the ideal interpreter, and Shostakovich’s 11th Symphony provides a stark counterpoint. This symphony is like a history lesson. Its title, “The Year 1905,” refers to Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg and the massacre of demonstrating workers in front of the Tsar’s palace. The tension, the confrontation between the people and the authorities, the grief for the dead are vividly audible here. Revolutionary songs, workers’ anthems, protest songs—this is the material from which Shostakovich crafts a powerfully evocative symphony—one that resonates just as strongly with its year of composition, 1957, with the Hungarian Uprising that had just been brutally suppressed, as it does with our own time. With this performance, Alain Altinoglu and the hr Symphony Orchestra continue their recording of all Shostakovich symphonies this season. Also physically demanding, energetic, and featuring a powerful percussion section, is "Alaraph," a work by Focus artist Unsuk Chin, being heard for the first time in Germany. The title comes from one of the so-called "heartbeat stars," whose pulsation resembles the heart rate in an electrocardiogram.

EPSG:4326

Shostakovich 11

Alte Oper

This season, the hr-Symphony Orchestra, together with Norwegian conductor Tabita Berglund and renowned German cellist Julian Steckel, presents a program rich in myth and utterly captivating in Fulda. Myths fascinate people because they transcend us. This is true of the music Richard Wagner created for Tristan and Isolde, as well as the music with which Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir captures the idea of ​​a "primal energy" in sound. Jean Sibelius, the great symphonist of the North, proved with his Seventh Symphony that one can express the ultimate in just 20 minutes. His last symphony is like an essence, pure and intense. Dmitri Shostakovich contributes his Cello Concerto No. 1, a work full of masks, facades, and ambiguities—both whimsical and serious.

Concerts at Fulda Castle Theatre

Fulda City Palace Theatre

Myths fascinate people because they transcend us. This is also true of the music Wagner created for "Tristan und Isolde," which sounds incredibly grand. Equally impressive is the music with which Anna Thorvaldsdottir captures the idea of ​​a "primal energy" in sound. These are sounds of singular tension and power. But one myth needs to be dispelled: that symphonies must be long to be significant. Sibelius, the great symphonist of the North, proved with his "Seventh" that the ultimate can be expressed in barely 20 minutes. His last symphony is like an essence, pure and intense, getting straight to the point without any embellishment. For all its significance, grandeur, and depth, this program also offers Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1: a work full of masks, facades, and ambiguities, whimsical yet also serious. The contrasts could hardly be sharper between broad Moderato and frantic Allegretto, between light and dark, machine-like music and grace. Alongside this, one hears and sees a soloist who is almost comically busy – Julian Steckel takes on this hyperactive role, a cellist who says of himself: "I can play Shostakovich at 3 a.m." On the podium of the hr Symphony Orchestra is the Norwegian Tabita Berglund, also a trained cellist, who for some years now has concentrated on conducting – particularly on music from the Nordic regions, on these special powerhouses that transcend the ordinary.

Archora

Hessischer Rundfunk

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) regularly performs its chamber music concerts at the Homberg (Efze) town hall. This time, musicians from within the orchestra will present a captivating quintet program featuring works by Antonín Dvořák. The two chamber music pieces to be experienced are brimming with the musical tradition and inexhaustible spirit of the Czech metropolis on the Vltava River. One is delightfully light in tone and lyrical, inviting the listener to sing along; the other is rich in melodic invention, lush sound, masterful form, and late-Romantic pathos.

Greetings from Prague

City Hall Homberg (Efze)

A grand program, weighty and deeply immersed in Romanticism: ultimate masterpieces by Brahms and Bruckner, interpreted by artists who have engaged with these works more intensely than almost anyone else. Bruckner dedicated his last symphony "to the dear Lord"—it doesn't get any lesser than that. The Austrian Manfred Honeck is among the most important Bruckner conductors of our time. He received three Grammy nominations in 2020 for his recording of Bruckner's Ninth with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; he simply finds the perfectly balanced approach to the grand symphonic architecture of this music. Leonidas Kavakos' recording of the Brahms Violin Concerto was no less celebrated, and here, too, balance is central: his interpretation is "the best to appear on CD in years," wrote the music magazine The Guardian. The Brahms concerto, the violinist himself says, is not comparable to other violin concertos—the violin here doesn't merely have to sing melodically. "Here we have this truly incredible connection with the orchestra. It has to sound as homogeneous as possible."

Bruckner 9

Great hopes rest on their shoulders, and they already prove their talent daily in orchestral performances. Once a season, the scholarship recipients of the hr-Sinfonieorchester's Orchestra Academy have the opportunity to showcase their chamber music finesse. Their abilities take center stage in a multifaceted program. These highly talented young orchestral musicians, both solo and together with members of the hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, create a consistently captivating and impressive experience. The program and cast will be announced soon. It promises to be a musically rewarding concert for both performers and audience!

Academy in Concert

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) traditionally performs at the Gießen City Theatre every season – this time under the direction of the award-winning young American conductor Roderick Cox and with a special, captivating program. Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony is known as his "Fate Symphony." In it, emotions are given a cinematic treatment. The symphony is filled with sorrow and melancholy, overwhelming the audience with its powerful imagery. In contrast, a compelling concerto for the lowest of all string instruments will be presented. This work is the work of the Italian composer Bottesini, the "Paganini of the double bass." The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra's principal double bassist, Bogusław Furtok, will perform it and is sure to enthrall the audience.

Concerts at the Gießen City Theatre

Theater Gießen

Why does the double bass so rarely play the leading role – and what happens when it does? In this concert for school classes in grades 5 to 7, the lowest string instrument finally takes center stage. Together with Theo Plath, solo bassoonist of the hr Symphony Orchestra, and Bogusław Furtok, solo double bassist, the students will discover the astonishing sound and history of the double bass. The centerpiece is the F-sharp minor Concerto by Giovanni Bottesini, the "Paganini of the double bass" – a work that demonstrates just how agile, sonorous, and surprising this instrument can be. Between movements, discussions will explore fascinating facts, amusing anecdotes, and the evolution of the double bass from a sonic foundation to a solo star. A concert that opens ears and makes learning about instruments a fresh experience.

Bottesini's double bass

Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony is known as his "Fate Symphony." In it, emotions unfold on a grand, cinematic scale. Filled with sorrow and melancholy, it overwhelms with its powerful imagery. In contrast to this Russian emotional drama, this "Quick & Classy" program offers a captivating concerto – for the lowest of all string instruments. It owes its existence to the Italian Bottesini, the "Paganini of the double bass." In the mid-19th century, he was the greatest virtuoso of this instrument, revolutionizing its playing and making it far more than just sing in his music. The hr's solo double bassist, Bogusław Furtok, will enthrall audiences, as will the award-winning young American conductor Roderick Cox and the hr Symphony Orchestra in this famous Tchaikovsky symphony.

Fate with Bass

Courtly brass splendor in a South American dance club. With a multifaceted trio program featuring Baroque masters like Handel, Telemann, and others, the hr-Symphony Orchestra brings its "Kammerflimmern" series to Frankfurt's Bahnhofsviertel (station district). Assistant principal oboist Doğa Saçılık and principal bassoonist Theo Plath, together with Austrian harpsichordist Eva-Maria Pollerus, present captivating music by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Joachim Quantz, Johann Sebastian Bach, and George Frideric Handel at the Latin Palace Changó. Baroque soundscapes meet disco atmosphere and palm trees – another unusual and delightful encounter.

Harpsichord goes Changó

Latin Palace Changó

For 70 years now, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) has been a regular guest at the Kassel Music Days – this time with the Russian conductor and harpsichordist Maxim Emelyanichev and a multifaceted program centered around the French Baroque. Two suites by Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau will be performed, as well as a Baroque-inspired ballet suite by Igor Stravinsky. Audiences can also look forward to a harpsichord concerto that is not yet 100 years old. Maxim Emelyanichev is considered a rising star of early music, approaching his work with tremendous curiosity and musical passion. He will even be at the harpsichord himself for Francis Poulenc's sparkling and witty concerto.

Kassel Music Days

Kassel State Theater

A harpsichord concerto that's not even 100 years old? Yes, Francis Poulenc's "Concert champêtre" spices up the Baroque sound with modern harmonies, and the liaison is a resounding success. The suite theme is also explored in a unique way in this concert: two old pieces, one new – where freshness isn't a matter of era. 20th-century France looks back to the old masters of the Baroque: The conductor who brings this special perspective to the hr-Sinfonieorchester's "Baroque+" series is Maxim Emelyanychev. The Russian is considered a rising star of early music because he approaches his work without any affectation, but with tremendous curiosity and a true musical pulse. He conducts historically informed performance ensembles as well as large symphony orchestras and says: "I want to approach the music with a fresh perspective, but with the aim of performing it as it was possible back then." In Francis Poulenc's sparkling and witty "Concert champêtre," Emelyanychev himself will be at the harpsichord; he loves leading an ensemble from the keyboard: "It's a completely different connection with the orchestra than when you're just conducting. You feel like part of the whole."

Concert champêtre

Landscape paintings with a pianist. Framed by shimmering postcard images from Italy and Croatia, the still astonishingly youthful Alexander Malofeev will present one of the most popular and brilliant piano concertos of the Romantic era, whose legendary opening chords are known to everyone. In 2022, Malofeev stepped in for his ailing colleague Yevgeny Kissin with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, performing Rachmaninoff's formidably difficult Piano Concerto No. 3; he was just 20 years old at the time. Now he returns with Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, another work for the consummate virtuoso soloist – though Malofeev avoids every cliché at the piano, always prioritizing refinement over pathos. With meticulous brushstrokes, he paints the landscapes that Croatian conductor Ivan Repušić has grouped around the Tchaikovsky lighthouse. These are the vivid depictions of Roman nature and folklore by Respighi and Tchaikovsky, as well as those "Sunny Fields" to which the Croatian composer Blagoje Bersa dedicated a brilliant, sonorous symphonic poem in 1917.

Pines of Rome

There is hardly another work that goes all out right from the start: Tchaikovsky's intoxicating Piano Concerto in B-flat minor is immediately at full throttle – with a striking orchestral tutti and massive piano chords that demand steely precision from the pianist. Incredibly, his teacher wanted to give him a good dressing-down for this concerto. "Perhaps one or two pages are worth saving, the rest must be destroyed," was his verdict. It's fortunate the composer didn't heed his advice, otherwise one of the most beloved and brilliant Romantic piano concertos would no longer exist. But as it is, you can experience it in this concert, with the young keyboard virtuoso Alexander Malofeev, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, and conductor Ivan Repušić. Speaking of the "world": Peter Tchaikovsky was well-versed in it, having traveled extensively in his time – including to Italy, where he collected Italian folk music and transformed it in his own unique way into a lively orchestral piece: his "Capriccio italien." And those who know their way around, like him, pronounce "italien" in the French way!

Dream of Tchaikovsky

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) will perform its double program at the Kronberg Festival in the Casals Forum, this time under the direction of Michael Sanderling. The first concert features Brahms's "Haydn Variations" and Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, performed by the acclaimed violinist Midori. The second concert presents Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt as soloist, as well as Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 4 as the main symphonic work.

Kronberg Festival

Casals Forum

To celebrate the anniversary of the "Wetzlar Master Concerts," the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Sanderling, will perform at the Wetzlar Town Hall. The program includes Johannes Brahms' "Haydn Variations," the profoundly lush Cello Concerto by the British composer Edward Elgar, and the Symphony No. 4 by the German Romantic composer Robert Schumann. The award-winning German cellist Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt will be the soloist.

80 Years of Master Concerts Wetzlar

Stadthalle Wetzlar

In early October, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) will perform two guest concerts in Vietnam as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of diplomatic relations between Germany and Vietnam. As the official contribution of the State of Hesse to the anniversary festivities, the orchestra will present two large-scale chamber concerts featuring works by German composers, one in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, and the other in Ho Chi Minh City. The program includes a double quartet by the operatic dramatist Louis Spohr, who worked for many years in Hesse, as well as Ludwig van Beethoven's Sextet for two horns and string quartet and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Octet for four violins, two viols, and two cellos. Hesse and Vietnam have enjoyed a privileged partnership since 2012. The Southeast Asian country is a significant partner in education, research, and technology.

Anniversary concerts Vietnam

Ho Guom Opera

The full force of the horns opens this chamber music concert. "When I hear a horn, my heart warms," ​​Robert Schumann once wrote. "The horn has something of the sound of nature. It speaks to the heart like the voice of a friend," Mozart remarked. For the great master of orchestration, Richard Strauss, it was "the soul of the orchestra," and Benjamin Britten believed the horn was "a true actor in the orchestra," capable of whispering, shouting, laughing, and weeping. One can only imagine what awaits when, in this chamber concert, not just one or two, but the entire horn section is featured. The program spans styles and eras, from classics like "Egmont" and "Lohengrin" to musical hits such as "Cats" and animated highlights like "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Captain Hook." The horns of the hr Symphony Orchestra at their very best!

Hornissimo

Magic and enchantment. The Jussen brothers at two pianos possess a youthful charm – just like Maurice Ravel, the composer with the pronounced childlike spirit. His program includes a hauntingly beautiful "Fantaisie lyrique" as well as delicate fairy tales about Mother Goose. Ravel, the great Frenchman celebrating his 150th birthday, loved to immerse himself in children's themes – one need only think of "Ma mère l'oye," the timelessly beautiful fairy tale about Mother Goose. Far less known, but no less sparkling with wit, is his opera miniature "L'enfant et les sortilèges" (The Child and the Spells), premiered exactly 100 years ago. In it, a child rebels against its strict mother, wreaks havoc – and suddenly finds itself threatened by all the animals and things it has tormented and destroyed. It sounds comical, but also uncanny, bizarre, and touchingly poetic. An eight-part solo ensemble, a children's choir, and the hr Symphony Orchestra with numerous effect instruments, under the direction of chief conductor Alain Altinoglu, create a soundscape of immense magic, an enchanted world where imagination reigns supreme.

Ravel's magical world

These melodies have already captivated countless children and adults with classical music. A whole menagerie of animals is presented in this concert talk for the whole family, along with colorful portraits of well-known fairytale characters like Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb, and the Empress of the Pagodas. In "Carnival of the Animals," they can all be experienced up close: the noble swan, the mighty lion, the chirping birds, the slow-moving tortoise. In them, the mischievous composer Camille Saint-Saëns also parodied many of his colleagues. And the whole thing wasn't actually intended for public consumption, but rather as a carnival joke, one that the Frenchman later even felt ashamed of. Why? And which was the only melody that Saint-Saëns didn't find embarrassing? This and more can be experienced with chief conductor Alain Altinoglu and the hr Symphony Orchestra in this spotlight – for everyone from 0 to 99.

Carnival of the Animals

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) is now a regular guest at the Dortmund Concert Hall. This season, under the direction of chief conductor Alain Altinoglu, they will present works by Sibelius and Dvořák. Violinist Alena Baeva will perform the famous Violin Concerto by the Nordic symphonist, and the hr-Sinfonieorchester will also perform Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World").

Dortmund Concert Hall

Konzerthaus Dortmund

In September, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) returns to the Berlin Music Festival after a long hiatus. The program includes Rebecca Saunders' Piano Concerto "to an utterance," Gustav Mahler's posthumously composed Adagio from his 10th Symphony, and Helmut Lachenmann's "My Melodies – Music for Eight Horns and Orchestra." The pianist Tamara Stefanovich and the entire horn section of the hr-Sinfonieorchester will perform as soloists at the Berlin Philharmonie.

Berlin Music Festival

Berliner Philharmonie

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) has been invited to perform two concerts at the prestigious George Enescu International Festival this season. Chief conductor Alain Altinoglu will present Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 in the Sala Palatului, followed by Sibelius's Violin Concerto with Austrian violinist Julian Rachlin. The second evening's program features Elgar's Cello Concerto with French cellist Gautier Capuçon, as well as Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World").

George Enescu International Festival

The Palace Hall

The hr-Symphony Orchestra's second concert at the International Dvořák Music Festival in Prague, conducted by Alain Altinoglu, presents works by Jean Sibelius and Dmitri Shostakovich. The program at the Rudolfinum features Sibelius's Concerto and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8, performed with Austrian violinist Julian Rachlin.

Dvořák Prague International Music Festival

Rudolfinum

At the beginning of September, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, under its chief conductor Alain Altinoglu and featuring French cellist Gautier Capuçon, will open the International Dvořák Music Festival in Prague. The concert program at the historic Rudolfinum will include two popular works by Dvořák: his Cello Concerto and his Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World").

With a captivating quintet program, the hr-Symphony Orchestra's chamber concerts enrich this season's Arolsen Castle Concerts. The program is by the Czech master Antonín Dvořák. And the two chamber music pieces that will be performed are brimming with the musical tradition and inexhaustible spirit of the Czech metropolis on the Vltava River. One is delightfully light in tone and lyrical, inviting the listener to sing along; the other is rich in melodic invention, lush sound, masterful form, and late-Romantic pathos.

Arolsen Castle

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1929 as one of the first radio symphony orchestras in Germany, is now one of the leading orchestras of the country and also enjoys an excellent international reputation. Together with its chief conductor Alain Altinoglu, it will be making a guest appearance at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival this summer – with a brilliant concert programme that portrait artist 2025 Fazıl Say is particularly looking forward to.

hr-Sinfonieorchester / Fazıl Say / Selina Ott / Gábor Boldoczki / Alain Altinoglu

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

At the start of the season, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of chief conductor Alain Altinoglu, will perform at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. Joining them at Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie will be Fazıl Say (piano), Selina Ott, and Gábor Boldoczki (trumpet). The program will feature double concertos for two pianos and two trumpets by Johann Sebastian Bach and Fazıl Say, as well as the symphonic centerpiece, Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World"). In Bach's double concerto, the Frankfurt chief conductor will be featured as Fazıl Say's pianist.

Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival

To kick off the season, the hr Symphony Orchestra, in collaboration with the European Central Bank, invites you to the Europa Open Air concert series. In the unique atmosphere on the banks of the Main River in Frankfurt, you can expect another captivating summer concert evening with chief conductor Alain Altinoglu. Up to 20,000 visitors regularly enjoy the hr Symphony Orchestra's summer concerts on the banks of the Main. As always, supported by the Elisabethen Quelle Foundation, this year's program features popular orchestral works by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Aram Khachaturian, and Gustav Holst, which have also enjoyed worldwide success in film. In addition, a rousing concerto for two pianos by Francis Poulenc and the renowned "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" by Franz Liszt will be performed. Earlier in the evening, the hr Big Band, featuring Wolfgang Haffner and special guest Shantel, will provide the first musical highlights and create a lively atmosphere on the banks of the Main. In keeping with tradition, gastronomic offerings round off the Europa Open Air concert of the hr-Sinfonieorchester and the European Central Bank, to which all music lovers are once again very warmly welcomed.

Europa Open Air

Wesel shipyard

To conclude the season, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of chief conductor Alain Altinoglu, will once again perform three concerts at the Festival International de Colmar. Altinoglu has been the artistic director of this prestigious festival in Alsace since 2023. In the Church of Saint-Matthieu, he and his orchestra, featuring cellist Gautier Capuçon, pianist Alexander Malofeev, and Frankfurt Radio solo trumpeter Sebastian Berner, will present works by Stravinsky, Escaich , Dvořák, Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, Brahms, and Haydn.

International Festival of Colmar

Église Saint-Matthieu de Colmar

This anniversary program invites you to a Hindemith-style celebration of his milestone birthday: with music that is unusual and rich, playful yet provocative, from his mature and youthful, rebellious days – all by Hindemith. This pioneer of modernism from Hanau opposed the cult of genius and the confessional nature of Romanticism throughout his life, in favor of a "new objectivity" that embraced parodic elements, quotations, and a playful engagement with popular genres. From Hindemith's extensive oeuvre, you will experience four sonatas for viola, oboe, and cello – with, without, or even solo piano – as well as an unconventional serenade. Chamber music at its finest!

Chamber Music Festival

In keeping with tradition, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt), under the baton of its chief conductor, opens the Rheingau Music Festival each year. The impressive acoustics of the Eberbach Abbey Basilica always create a unique musical atmosphere. The centerpiece of the 2025 opening concerts, conducted by Alain Altinoglu, is Charles Gounod's "St. Cecilia Mass." On June 21st at Eberbach Abbey, this work will be paired with a Ravel-Sarasate-Waxman program featuring Armenian violin virtuoso Diana Adamyan. On June 22nd at the Kurhaus Wiesbaden, two Ravel works will be performed with Italian pianist Beatrice Rana. Alongside an internationally renowned trio of vocal soloists, the MDR Radio Choir, the hr-Sinfonieorchester's well-known and highly esteemed musical partner, will once again be featured in both programs.

Rheingau Music Festival

Kurhaus Wiesbaden GmbH

In keeping with tradition, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt), under the baton of its chief conductor, opens the Rheingau Music Festival each year. The impressive acoustics of the Eberbach Abbey Basilica always create a unique musical atmosphere. The centerpiece of the 2025 opening concerts, conducted by Alain Altinoglu, is Charles Gounod's "St. Cecilia Mass." On June 21st at Eberbach Abbey, this will be paired with a Ravel-Sarasate-Waxman program featuring the Armenian violin virtuoso Diana Adamyan. On June 22nd at the Kurhaus Wiesbaden, two works by Ravel will be performed with the Italian pianist Beatrice Rana. Alongside an internationally renowned trio of vocal soloists, the MDR Radio Choir, the hr-Sinfonieorchester's well-known and highly esteemed musical partner, will once again be featured in both programs.

Eberbach Abbey

Thierry Escaich is a guest in the chamber music series, presenting highlights such as Mozart's "Kegelstatt" Trio and Schumann's "Märchenerzählungen" (Fairy Tales), as well as his own virtuosic "Trio américain," both as a chamber music partner and as a gifted improviser. Mozart's Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano once marked the birth of a new instrumental formation, to which Schumann offered his first musical response 70 years later. After hearing the "Kegelstatt" Trio with his wife Clara at the piano, he made his decision and composed his four wonderfully poetic pieces in a very short time, during a final creative frenzy before his ultimate collapse. Schumann is also the subject of a piano improvisation by Thierry Escaich in this program, who in turn evokes reminiscences from much earlier eras in his own Trio – "one thing works and lives within the other," thus creating a truly exceptional concert.

Trio summit with Escaich

Chamber music by a Hungarian composer who remains underappreciated to this day. Unlike Bartók and Kodály, Dohnányi remained committed to Romanticism throughout his life. His sonorous Piano Quintet and Sextet captivate with their inventiveness. They are a discovery, as is the uniquely scored Trio by the German Romantic composer Reinecke. Dohnányi was a pianist, conductor, and composer, and in his youth, as a celebrated soloist, he was compared to Franz Liszt. He therefore had a particularly fortunate touch when it came to piano chamber music, as can be experienced in this concert. As a composer, Dohnányi saw himself firmly in the tradition of Brahms. His late Sextet, however, transcends the world of Brahms and simultaneously revels in the broad stylistic panorama of the 1930s.

Piano Romanticism

In early summer 2025, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor Alain Altinoglu will perform in Paris as part of a special concert project. In Notre-Dame Cathedral, they will give the world premiere of Thierry Escaich 's "Te Deum ," which the orchestra's current Composer in Residence is writing to mark the reopening of the world-famous cathedral in the French capital.

Notre-Dame de Paris

One symphony isn't a symphony at all – the other, however, is one of the most famous ever! Stravinsky's Wind Symphony bears only this name, so prepare to be surprised. Dvořák's Symphony "From the New World," on the other hand, is music that grips and completely captivates every listener. Dvořák's Ninth Symphony was composed in New York. While the New World has certainly left its mark on this music, it remains quintessentially Bohemian Romanticism. The striking English horn solo in the Adagio has contributed significantly to its enormous popularity. It is as catchy as it is simple – and thus a world away from what Igor Stravinsky presented to the woodwind and brass players in his "Symphonies for Wind Instruments." There, the rhythms are sharp, the melodies incisive – and everything is delivered with the precision of the early 20th century, without any unnecessary embellishment. Thierry Escaich, the hr-Symphony Orchestra's Composer in Residence, sums it up perfectly when asked to categorize his Cello Concerto No. 2, "Les chants de l'aube": he sees it as an aria—specifically, in the style reminiscent of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Dvořák 9

When solo harpist Anne-Sophie Bertrand and tenor Kent Carlson take the stage, something extraordinary is to be expected. At the Latin Palace Changó, their performance spans centuries. Harp sounds meet songs. Poetry encounters drag, melancholy meets irony, and emotion meets sensation – not only in the unusual ambiance of the trendy South American dance club in Frankfurt's Bahnhofsviertel district, but also in a truly unique setting.

L'heure extraordinaire

Bach is the beginning and the end of all music. This truth is constantly reaffirmed – even in this intimate, industrial setting. From the unfathomable dimensions of his "Musical Offering" to virtuosic concert music for the rare oboe d'amore and the intimate sphere of his duo sonatas, the program spans to instrumentally arranged arias from the "St. Matthew Passion" and the magnificent court music of the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto. The inexhaustible cosmos of Bach's music will fill the former factory hall of the Naxos Union, opening space and senses to a unique experience.

Bach Cosmos @ NAXOS

Produktionshaus NAXOS

Following its current Baroque+ program, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra will perform at the Würzburg Mozart Festival. In Würzburg's Great Residence, the program will include a symphony by Johann Christian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Violin Concerto in A major, K. 219, and Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 103 ("with the timpani roll"), featuring violinist Noa Wildschut and conductor Ivor Bolton.

Mozart Festival Würzburg

London has always been a musical metropolis, no question. But those who once shaped its music scene rarely bore typically British names. This was ultimately no disadvantage, however, as these new "London Masters" produced some of the finest works. Johann Christian Bach was one of them, Joseph Haydn another. Haydn wrote his last symphonies in London, and they set new standards not only there. His Symphony No. 103 is considered one of his most modern, indeed visionary. It has an opening that is hard to forget: a solo timpani intrada – an unprecedented effect for the London audience and still breathtaking in its impact today. Before Haydn, Johann Christian Bach had already set the tone in London, and Mozart revered the "London Bach" like almost no other composer colleague – they had met there in 1764. Conductor Ivor Bolton is not from London, but from near Manchester. However, he studied in the capital and worked there in the 1980s with historically informed performance ensembles before forging a career in Munich, Salzburg, and Madrid. He regularly brings this vibrant, spirited approach from the world of early music to the world of classical symphony orchestras – so it's not just the famous timpani roll that will have a special effect.

London champions

A Brahms of today must sound fresh, agile, "without a beard"—that's the ideal of Alain Altinoglu, who continues his Brahms cycle with the Third Symphony. He skillfully integrates this sunny symphony into a program of Brahms-Haydn connections, featuring an appearance by the award-winning hr solo trumpeter. The "Third" is an unusually bright, even sunny work; Clara Schumann described it as a symphonic forest idyll. This demands a particularly delicate approach from the orchestra, says the chief conductor of the hr Symphony Orchestra: "Transparency is more important than opulence," he succinctly puts it. Brahms with classical virtues, then. And Brahms himself was quite classically oriented when he composed his "Variations on a Theme by Haydn," although the source material probably wasn't actually by Haydn. A guaranteed Haydn experience: his Trumpet Concerto, one of his most popular works, with Sebastian Berner as soloist. The principal trumpeter of the hr Symphony Orchestra won First Prize at the 2022 International Maurice André Competition in Paris – with the Haydn Trumpet Concerto as his final piece.

Brahms 3

Music reflecting on the horrors of war, performed by musicians from the hr-Symphony Orchestra from five countries whose grandfathers fought against each other in World War II – a concert of reflection, remembrance, and hope! With his String Quartet No. 8, the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich created a moving musical monument to the victims of fascism and war in 1960. The American composer Aaron Copland was deeply affected by the death of a lieutenant friend during World War II, an experience he processed in his only violin sonata, written in 1943. In "Tenebrae," the Romanian-Israeli composer Osvaldo Golijov draws on his own experiences, juxtaposing the violence of war with the tranquility of a planetarium and the hope for peace. Interspersed are two contemporary works by the American composer Jessie Montgomery and the Japanese composer Michiru Oshimas, which explore themes of peace and remembrance, opening the senses to profound reflection.

In remembrance…

With a program dedicated entirely to Bach, the hr-Symphony Orchestra will be performing its chamber concerts for the first time this season at Birstein Castle. In the princely "White Hall," audiences will be able to enjoy the rich spectrum of Bach's music in an authentic and aesthetically pleasing atmosphere: from virtuosic Baroque concert music for the rare oboe d'amore to intimate duo sonatas, instrumental arrangements of Passion arias, and the magnificent court music of the 5th Brandenburg Concerto.

Bach's Cosmos

Schloss Birstein

Springtime feelings of a young, deceased Frenchwoman, full of magical radiance; an early Beethoven defying his fate with musical optimism; and hr solo cellist Peter-Philipp Staemmler with a modern cello concerto brimming with intense colors – all this in a compact Quick & Classy format. The young Bulgarian conductor Delyana Lazarova will not only bring Lili Boulanger's moving orchestral music to life in its forward-looking arrangement, but also the nocturnal world of the French sound magician Henri Dutilleux, oscillating between reality and dream. Not to mention Beethoven's virtuosity, characterized by sharp dynamic and harmonic contrasts, in which the deep despair over his increasing deafness and isolation is completely imperceptible.

Cello Spring

While working on his Second Symphony, Beethoven's life was marked by profound despair over his increasing deafness and growing isolation. None of this, however, is audible in the music itself – quite the opposite: it is cheerful, at times even exuberantly joyful. All the more reason to look forward to the concert with our musician and presenter, Theo Plath, in which the orchestra will be examined in detail. This concert, exclusively for school classes in grades 3 to 6, focuses on the orchestra and its instruments in Beethoven's time, exploring precisely how he used them to create timeless music.

Beethoven's Orchestra

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) will perform at the Gießen City Theatre this time under the direction of conductor Delyana Lazarova, with hr solo cellist Peter-Philipp Staemmler, and with another attractive and diverse program. The young Bulgarian-born Lazarova will not only bring to life the moving orchestral music of Lili Boulanger, but also the nocturnal world, oscillating between reality and dream, in the Cello Concerto by the French sound magician Henri Dutilleux. She will also vividly portray the dynamic and harmonic contrasts of Beethoven's Second Symphony, in which his despair over his increasing deafness and isolation is completely undetectable.

What begins with four gentle timpani strokes ends in a pianissimo that, however, has nothing gentle about it. Beethoven's magnificent Violin Concerto, with star soloist Hilary Hahn and the timpani as a proud accompanist to the violin, opens the program – followed by Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony, a work of powerful seriousness. As part of their complete recording of all Shostakovich symphonies, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor Alain Altinoglu have arrived at the eighth. With this composer, Altinoglu says, one must dare to push the boundaries of instrumental possibilities. Hilary Hahn also offers experiences of every kind that push boundaries, while her tone always remains flawless – it is no coincidence that the American violinist with roots in the Palatinate region of Germany is considered one of the world's elite. It was in 1995, at the age of 15, that she made her German debut with the Beethoven Violin Concerto, which she already mastered with an almost dreamlike certainty. In this program, part of the "Focus on Hilary Hahn" series at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, she will return to the stage exactly 30 years later with Beethoven, bringing her own unique and warm vocal presence and mastery to the music.

Shostakovich 8

Well, she did start early… She received her first violin lessons at the age of three, performed publicly at six, and began studying violin before she was even ten. Child prodigy, once-in-a-century talent—Hilary Hahn was all of these things. And today? A star violinist, there's no other way to put it. Early practice makes perfect, and that's still the rule in classical music. But not everyone capitalizes on their early dream start as successfully as the now 44-year-old violinist from the USA. She has long since reached the very top. Hilary Hahn plays in the violin pantheon. Exactly 30 years ago, she performed in Germany for the first time, with Beethoven's Violin Concerto—and it is precisely with this groundbreaking concerto, one of the absolute masterpieces for violin and orchestra, that she now returns to the Alte Oper for the Young Concert series. What caused such a stir among experts and audiences back then, however, will not be repeated. Because today, it can no longer surprise anyone how stylistically assured, beautifully toned, and masterfully she handles Beethoven's Violin Concerto. But holding your breath, that's something you can and will do again quite automatically.

masterpiece

While everyone else is busily gathering grain for winter, Frederick the field mouse seems to be sitting idly by. But Frederick isn't idle: he's collecting sunbeams, colors, and words for long, gray winter days. The children's classic "Frederick" by Leo Lionni has accompanied generations of children. And when the hr Symphony Orchestra's family concert adds music by Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, Grieg, and Elgar, which brings Frederick's stories, the changing seasons, and the lives of field mice vividly to life, everything becomes even more beautiful and the story even more vibrant.

Frederick the Field Mouse and the Colors

At the beginning of May, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) will perform a world premiere opera at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival. The festival will open with the premiere of "Adam and Eve" by the American trombonist, composer, and conductor Mike Svoboda – a music theatre piece for six singers, one actor, choir, and orchestra, based on the comedy of the same name by Peter Hacks, commissioned by SWR and the Linz State Theatre.

Schwetzingen SWR Festival

Three concerts will bring the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of chief conductor Alain Altinoglu, to the Salzburg Festival Hall in April. This time, Viide Frang will be the soloist, performing Schumann's Violin Concerto. The main symphonic works on the program are Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 on the first evening and Brahms' Symphony No. 2 on the second and third evenings.

Salzburg Cultural Association

Great Festival House

Conducting is the most natural way for her to communicate music, says conductor Erina Yashima. And this approach is proving remarkably popular with orchestras, audiences, and critics alike. The Hamburger Abendblatt called her a "new star in the conducting firmament." Now, she is making her debut in Frankfurt. The German-Japanese conductor, First Kapellmeister at the Komische Oper Berlin, is at home in the symphonic realm of Eastern European and Russian late Romanticism. More precisely, she is currently in her Dvořák phase, a composer who is very close to her heart, as Erina Yashima explains. The woman with the dance-like agility on the podium introduces him here with Tchaikovsky's "Winter Dreams" Symphony, a work steeped in dark sound, and also presents a piece by the Syrian-American composer Kareem Roustom as well as Camille Saint-Saëns' Cello Concerto No. 1. The soloist is Bryan Cheng, also a debutant with the hr-Sinfonieorchester. The Canadian-born, Berlin-based cellist has recently enjoyed considerable success at some of the world's most prestigious international competitions, showcasing his instantly appealing, bright yet warm tone, achieved through his 1699 Stradivarius cello "Dubois".

Winter Dreams

It was the dawn of a new world, both romantic and fantastical. The "Symphonie fantastique" takes an artist's life as its program, and the audience is right there with him. They experience a sonic intoxication unlike anything heard before, so vivid, so powerful, and so dramatic. This artist is infatuated with a woman he adores, encounters her at a ball in a waltz frenzy, seeks peace on a country outing, has visions of his execution in an opium-induced haze – and finally dreams of his burial, accompanied by witches and grotesque faces, by funeral bells and a parodied "Dies irae." Dark Romanticism, with all its demons, enters the music of its time – another achievement that Berlioz deserves for his truly fantastic symphony. Even before this, the soloist in Béla Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2 traverses different worlds – in the elegiac middle movement, whose variations have an almost narrative character. Christian Tetzlaff will be the wanderer here, and he too experiences a rapturous, bucolic finale. The sensual aspect of this music, says Tetzlaff, is simply fantastic.

Symphonie fantastique

What on earth was he on? Berlioz's "Symphonie fantastique" is about a man who becomes increasingly unhinged because his love is unrequited. Grotesque dreams, funeral bells, a guillotine, an orgy with witches – all vividly portrayed in this truly fantastic symphony. Berlioz called his masterpiece of mental imagery an "episode from the life of an artist." And this artist is on a truly bizarre trip: first, a bit of reverie and waltzing at a ball, all good. But then, thoughts of murder, he is condemned to death, and a somber march to the executioner can be heard. The protagonist has visions; everything becomes increasingly wild and orgiastic, and rarely do the percussionists of the orchestra get to treat their instruments with such abandon. What Berlioz has set to music is utterly dark, gothic romanticism, dazzlingly staged with extreme sound effects. This symphony lives up to its name, even for the most lucid listener.

Fantastic Symphony

The title is French and says it all: "Six Concerts avec plusieurs instruments," as Bach himself called his famous concert series. The Swiss recorder player and conductor Maurice Steger presents them all – each one a class unto itself. Today, they are world-famous as the "Brandenburg Concertos." But their actual title, in all its modesty, gets to the heart of the matter: they are neither purely solo concertos nor true concerti grossi; rather, Bach explored in them all the possibilities and combinations of how instrumentalists can perform together. A showcase of constructive collaboration, so to speak, which only truly comes to life in a complete cycle of performances. Maurice Steger will also demonstrate that while Bach rarely used the recorder, it plays an exceptionally sophisticated role in the "Brandenburg Concertos." And he is uniquely qualified for this role, having long been considered an unrivaled virtuoso on this instrument.

Brandenburg Concertos 1–6

Female composers have long faced challenges, largely ignored by history. This year's chamber concert by the hr-Symphony Orchestra in Erbach offers the opportunity to experience several of them, showcasing their rich music and creative output. Clara Schumann, Lili Boulanger, and Rebecca Clarke are still familiar figures, but the same cannot be said for Isabella Leonarda, a 17th-century Italian nun who was among the most prolific composers of her era, or Marie Jaëll, a 19th-century French pianist and composer. The French composer Mélanie Bonis, whose works were mostly published under the pseudonym Mel Bonis in the 19th century, is also largely unknown in Germany, as is the Austrian Maria Theresia von Paradis, who was blind from childhood and a prominent figure in the Viennese Classical music scene as a pianist, singer, and composer. In this concert you can get to know them all, including Emilie Mayer, a 19th-century German composer who was celebrated during her lifetime as the "female Beethoven".

Women Power

Werner-Borchers-Halle

The encounter of different musical worlds is the hallmark of this major music event, which fills the Jahrhunderthalle once a year. Unusual mixes and contrasts between classical and pop, orchestra and electronic music – with the hr Symphony Orchestra and special guests. This time: ClockClock.

Music Discovery Project 2025

Culture and Congress Center Jahrhunderthalle GmbH

A program entirely in the spirit of the great American composer, whose music always exudes such a unique nonchalance. Add to that the sound of the hr Big Band, which here interacts seamlessly with the hr Symphony Orchestra – two sonic worlds united for Gershwin, but also for a world premiere by the Frenchman Thierry Escaich . George Gershwin himself brought along horns from Parisian taxis when he returned to the USA after his studies in 1920s Paris – and the unfinished score of a work in which these very horns, along with a few other effect instruments, acoustically illustrate life in the French capital. Gershwin's music was always in tune with the times, which were turbulent – ​​and which he brought to life with unparalleled coolness. Perhaps most famously, this is evident in his "Rhapsody in Blue," in which jazz finds its way into the format of a piano concerto. And what could be cooler than the chief conductor himself casually sitting down at the keys, as if it were nothing at all?

Gershwin

The good kids become violinists in the orchestra, the cool kids play saxophone and join the big band – wasn't that how it was in school, and still is? Of course, it's a cliché. But big band and symphony orchestra are two very different worlds nonetheless. Here, however – for Gershwin's timeless classics – the two come together, along with Alain Altinoglu and the piano. Gershwin was the man who provided American music with both: the sophistication of the classical orchestral format and the slightly shrill sound of the jazzy, fresh wind section. And on top of that, he also gave us truly immortal hits like "Rhapsody in Blue," in which chief conductor Alain Altinoglu can show that he also cuts a dazzling figure at the keyboard. If, however, something blares out during the orchestral piece "An American in Paris," it's not the fault of any of the hr Big Band. No, Gershwin himself wrote car horns into his score. The good ones play the violin, everyone else wants to play the horn in the hr Symphony Orchestra.

Rhapsody in Blue

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) regularly performs its chamber music concerts in Alsfeld. This time, musicians from the orchestra will present the two string sextets by Johannes Brahms. The String Sextet in B-flat major, Op. 18, and the String Sextet in G major, Op. 36, are among the masterpieces of string chamber music. Alongside the "German Requiem," they were ultimately what brought the young Brahms his musical breakthrough. Even though he himself later dismissed them as "long, sentimental pieces," they continue to captivate audiences today with their irresistible sonic appeal and melodic beauty.

Brahms in the Sextet

Albert-Schweitzer-Schule Alsfeld

That a classical conductor is simultaneously declared one of the best artists at a long-established jazz festival is unusual and offers unique opportunities – for example, inviting him with an American program: from Gershwin and Bernstein to the symphonic jazz of Duke Ellington. But it's not only his awards as a jazz pianist at festivals in Chicago and Wisconsin, or his performances as a chansonnier with songs by the musical satirist Georg Kreisler, that make Patrick Hahn stand out from the broad field of up-and-coming conductors. The Austrian, General Music Director in Wuppertal since 2021, also possesses qualities in the classical field that are rarely found in such a pronounced form at such a young age. What Patrick Hahn recognized early on is the psychological aspect of conducting: if a conductor understands how to inspire musicians to peak performance and if he is an inspiration to them, then they simply play better. A simple equation that works perfectly for Patrick Hahn. The soloist in Gershwin's "Concerto in F" is Frank Dupree, a pianist who also has a strong affinity for jazz, which is why he has invited two other jazz musicians to join him for his interpretation of the concerto. Hahn and Dupree: when it comes to the "American style," these two are on the same page.

American Style

In a new format for school groups, the young solo bassoonist of the hr Symphony Orchestra, Theo Plath, presents great orchestral music – in this first edition, Stravinsky's famous ballet music about the hapless hero of all fairs: Petrushka. A captivating score full of dynamism and intense timbres that transports us to a fair in 19th-century St. Petersburg. At the heart of the story are three puppets belonging to a traveling entertainer, which come to life, thus setting in motion the drama of jealousy between the melancholic Petrushka and his luxury-loving rival for the vain ballerina. With its sharp contrasts and unbridled energy, Stravinsky's music was something entirely new on the ballet stage and shocked audiences at the beginning of the 20th century. And in this concert, designed exclusively for school groups in grades 5 to 10, it is sure to have a powerful impact.

Stravinsky's Fair

Dance meets tuba. Featuring hr soloist Ole Heiland and an impressive concerto for his low wind instrument by film music tycoon John Williams. Written for the 100th anniversary of the Boston Pops Orchestra, it is light and melodious and, as the great film composer modestly put it, hopefully contains enough events to be fun. As a lively and grotesque counterpart, Igor Stravinsky's famous dance burlesque about the eternally unlucky hero Petrushka will be performed – a feast of sounds and rhythms. The dynamic power of the music was something completely new on the ballet stage at the time and had a provocative effect on audiences. For the spirited conductor Tianyi Lu, this is just the right opportunity to showcase her own musical talent.

Tuba dances

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andris Poga, will perform its Prokofiev-Mahler-Tchaikovsky program, part of the "Great Series," at the Aschaffenburg Town Hall. The program includes Sergei Prokofiev's "Overture on Hebrew Themes," six songs from Gustav Mahler's "Des Knaben Wunderhorn," and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 ("Pathétique"). The soloist will again be baritone Samuel Hasselhorn. Unfortunately, the originally scheduled conductor, Nathalie Stutzmann, and baritone Matthias Goerne had to cancel their participation in the concerts at short notice.

Aschaffenburg Orchestra Concerts

Stadthalle am Schloss

Music that touches the soul. Hardly any other Romantic symphony leaves the listener as deeply moved as Tchaikovsky's Sixth. The hr-Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Andris Poga, who, together with baritone Samuel Hasselhorn, has stepped in at short notice to perform the concerts. Conductor Nathalie Stutzmann and baritone Matthias Goerne unfortunately had to cancel their participation. The program remains unchanged. The concerts will open with Sergei Prokofiev's "Overture on Hebrew Themes," followed by a selection of songs from Gustav Mahler's collection "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's famous Sixth Symphony ("Pathétique"). Concert

Pathétique

Following the Forum N program, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) will make its second appearance this season at Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie. Under the direction of Matthias Hermann, as part of the "Elbphilharmonie Visions 2025" series, it will present Helmut Lachenmann's music for eight horns, "My Melodies," which doesn't seek new sounds but rather new ways of listening, as well as the composition "Sympathetic Resonance" by the British composer Christian Mason, which conceives of the orchestra as a gigantic instrument of resonance.

Elbphilharmonie Visions 2025

Helmut Lachenmann's music for eight horns doesn't seek new sounds, but rather a new way of listening. Also featured is a composition by the British composer Christian Mason, which conceives of the orchestra as a vast instrument of resonance. And interspersed among these is Lachenmann's first major piano work – another listening experience at Forum N. "I always have to do what I can't do," Lachenmann confesses in his notes on "My Melodies" – music that transcends the concept of soloists in the classical sense and even the concept of any melody whatsoever. Lachenmann understands listening to music as a particular capacity for perception. For him, to engage with familiar instruments and tonal material in a new way, to play and resonate with them anew, means to set perception in motion anew and to make it a personal experience. “‘My Melodies’ are not ‘my melodies’ – there aren’t any – but rather, they evoke Frank Sinatra: they convey ‘my way’ of melodies in the creative use of sonic means.” The hr Symphony Orchestra, long familiar with Lachenmann’s musical language, will be joined by two further Lachenmann experts on this evening, unprecedented in many dimensions.

My Melodies

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) returns to the Wettenberg Winter Concerts with its chamber music program. This time, they present two masterful string quintets. Beethoven's quintet grew out of a trio in his later years, while Bruch's was a late work and long thought lost – both quintets possess a special maturity, a musical essence spanning many years. They immediately captivate the listener, as does the masterful Haydn Quartet.

Quintessence

Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Wißmar

When Riccardo Minasi conducts Mozart, the symphonist transforms into a true dramatist, and the concert hall becomes an unleashed opera stage. But that's not all: two Americans also ensure that the classical balance is vigorously and exhilaratingly shaken up. It's unmistakable: Aaron Copland wrote his Clarinet Concerto for the jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman; it swings and breathes, it pulsates and dances—especially when interpreted by an expressive musician like Martin Fröst. But the grand master of American symphonic music is William Grant Still: he was the first African American whose works were performed by a leading orchestra like the New York Philharmonic. This happened in 1935 with the "Afro-American Symphony," in which spirituals and blues find their orchestral expression. Conductor Minasi contrasts these primal musical forces from 20th-century America with those of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. And these performances will be no less vibrant and furious under his baton, as the Italian conductor, with his roots in historically informed performance practice, is considered the man of the moment when it comes to radically revitalizing Mozart.

Mozart in America

This time, the KiezPalast embarks on a journey to the world's metropolises, traversing the bustling streets of New York, the sophisticated city of Paris, and the dance halls of Buenos Aires. Our city guide is Katja Riemann, an actress, singer, and author who is already adept at exploring diverse genres and styles. She leads us through a musical, literary, and semi-theatrical program with the hr Symphony Orchestra, exploring both the allure and the darker aspects of urban life. It delves into the intoxicating, immersive experiences, and boundless possibilities, as well as the yearning for balance in nature. And ultimately: What should a livable city of the future actually look like? The KiezPalast playfully explores the many facets of this question, moving musically and literarily from classical music to chanson, and from the past to the present.

KiezPalast: City Life

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) returns to the Forum Kultur Heppenheim this season with its chamber music concerts. In the historic Kursaal, they present a program of musical lesser-knowns and surprises. For a long time, female composers faced significant challenges, being neglected by both their contemporaries and posterity. This concert showcases several of them, highlighting their rich music and creative output. Clara Schumann is one of them and still widely known, while Isabella Leonarda, a 17th-century Italian nun who was among the most prolific composers of her era, and Marie Jaëll, a 19th-century French pianist and composer, are less familiar. Enriched by the addition of music from two renowned male composers, this concert afternoon in Heppenheim promises to be a truly engaging experience.

With heart and soul

Each season, the hr-Symphony Orchestra's chamber concerts make a stop at the Hohhaus Concerts in Lauterbach – this time with a musical program that ignites the imagination. Robert Schumann's famous "Fairy Tale Narratives" are, of course, a must. But the "Phantasy Quartet" by the British composer Benjamin Britten, the early piano quartet movement by the late Romantic composer Gustav Mahler, and chamber music miniatures by August Klughardt and Paul Juon also contribute to the magical atmosphere.

Fairy tales

Hohhaus Museum Lauterbach e.V.

In 1802, Beethoven decided he wanted to "embark on a new path." And that path led to what is perhaps his most personal symphony: the "Eroica." It is a landmark, a milestone—and thus a perfect fit for Pierre Boulez, the musical revolutionary born 100 years ago. His twelve miniatures for piano, which he compiled in 1945 as "Notations," are immensely inventive, poetic, not at all defiant, indeed surprisingly relaxed. They became milestones of a new aesthetic in music and still speak directly to audiences today. The pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, a Boulez expert through and through, will perform them—and those "Notations," for which Boulez himself developed orchestral arrangements, will form the large-scale counterpoint. Ravel is also woven into the program; his "Miroirs" provide an echo for all those who cannot get enough of new paths, poetic ideas, and fascinatingly revolutionary sounds.

Eroica

With a winter-themed program, the hr-Symphony Orchestra performs in Fulda this season – presented under the direction of the German-Japanese conductor Erina Yashima, together with the young cellist Bryan Cheng. Erina Yashima is First Kapellmeister at the Komische Oper Berlin and is at home in the symphonic tradition of Eastern European and Russian late Romanticism. In Fulda, she will present Tchaikovsky's "Winter Dreams" Symphony, rich in dark sound, and also a work by the Syrian-American composer Kareem Roustom. The soloist will be Bryan Cheng, born in Canada and now living in Berlin, performing Saint-Saëns' Cello Concerto No. 1.

A sustainable support project for Hessian school orchestras. Following an extensive coaching phase led by members of the hr Symphony Orchestra, the participating school ensembles will perform their well-deserved final concert in the hr Broadcasting Hall. The Coach'N'Concert project, realized in cooperation with the Lions Club Frankfurt-Paulskirche, is offered to Hessian school orchestras every two years. All participating orchestras benefit from a musical coaching process conducted by musicians from the hr Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt over a period of approximately seven months at the schools. This ensures that all participating orchestras receive maximum individual benefit. On Saturday, January 18, 2025, the participating school orchestras will perform their well-deserved final concert in the hr Broadcasting Hall.

Coach'N'Concert: Closing Concert

Traditionally, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra welcomes the new year with an entertaining yet sophisticated program in the festive atmosphere of the Wiesbaden Kurhaus – this time under the direction of the young Lithuanian conductor Izabelė Jankauskaitė . The hr Symphony Orchestra's Assistant Conductor this season, who first gained international attention in 2022 by winning the Neeme Järvi Prize from the renowned Gstaad Conducting Academy, will present a captivating musical program centered around the Viennese Waltz with Brazilian violinist Guido Sant'Anna as part of the Wiesbaden Master Concerts.

New Year's Concert

Christmas music in a delightful atmosphere. Enjoy familiar music from many countries: enchantingly dreamy and performed with virtuosity. Featuring a fairy garden, The Magic Flute, and of course The Nutcracker – and a Rondo for Horn and Orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Musically conducted by Adam Hickox, "Christmas All Over the World" will once again be hosted by hr3 morning show presenter Tobi Kämmerer. The hr Symphony Orchestra's international Christmas concert for the whole family, culminating in a sing-along.

Christmas all over the world

Artists in Residence Lucas & Arthur Jussen will be performing chamber music, presenting captivating works for two pianos or pianists. The program ranges from the vibrant and moving Schubert movements to the rhythmic fire of Béla Bartók and the Romanticism of Robert Schumann. Bartók impressively showcased the secret affinity between the sound of two pianos and percussion in his famous sonata. For piano four-hands, however, the early Romantic Schubert left behind more than any other great composer: among other things, the most monumental sonata movement for piano four-hands we know: a stormily beginning, almost grim Allegro, which later inspired the publisher to title it "Life's Storms." Yet here, too, the heavens open – with one of those harmonic turns with which the late Schubert repeatedly transports his listeners to another world. The same is true of his single Adagio Trio movement, in which time seems to stand still.

Life's storms

The hr-Symphony Orchestra's chamber concert series returns to Bad Nauheim, this time with a truly exceptional quintet. When trumpet, trombone, horn, and tuba come together, you can expect a rich, magnificent sound and a varied and captivating program. The first half of the evening will surprise with vibrant and lively pieces that evoke memories of faraway places, bygone eras, and sunny days. The second half will then focus entirely on the Christmas season. Frankfurt Radio Brass was founded in 2023 by five members of the orchestra with the desire to present the audience not only with orchestral repertoire but also with the broad and brilliant spectrum of brass music at the highest level. From Baroque and Romantic to contemporary, there's something for everyone, as the musicians of Frankfurt Radio Brass are committed to presenting every genre of music with the same passion, musicality, and technical perfection that listeners have come to expect from the hr-Symphony Orchestra. The joy of making music together is always paramount and is visible and palpable to everyone. The five solo wind players are among the leading musicians of their generation and have won numerous prizes at national and international competitions.

Brass Connection

Konzertmuschel der Trinkkuranlage

John Adams doesn't just like to think big, he sometimes dreams big too. For example, of a supertanker rising from the sea like a gigantic rocket. Dream images like this inspired his large-scale orchestral work "Harmonielehre" (Theory of Harmony) as well as the whimsical scenery of his "Chairman Dances." The composer from Massachusetts is—somewhat against his will—considered part of the broader field of Minimal Music. His breathtakingly expansive "Harmonielehre," with its impressive percussion section, is both late-Romantic and expressive, as well as richly sensuous in its sound. But of course, it is also rhythmically captivating, even hypnotic—a typical Adams. It premiered exactly 40 years ago and has since been considered a touchstone for every orchestra, and the American conductor David Robertson, making his debut with the hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra), is regarded as a specialist in its interpretation. The percussion section also takes center stage in Bartók's work, acting as the third soloist in the Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion, and Orchestra. Timpani and xylophone become melodic instruments, while the Jussen brothers are given free rein to unleash their percussive fury at the pianos. Indeed, the world is turned somewhat upside down in this program – and particularly grotesquely so in the exuberant revue number "The Chairman Dances" by John Adams: Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party of China, dances a foxtrot, accompanied by a US president on a bar piano – this is the bizarrely ironic setting of this effective orchestral piece.

Harmony theory

In the festive atmosphere of Wiesbaden's Kurhaus, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) traditionally welcomes the new year with an entertaining and artistically first-class program – this time under the direction of the young Belarusian conductor Vitali Alekseenok. Alongside the well-known overture "The Bartered Bride" by Bedřich Smetana, the "Wiesbaden Master Concerts" will also feature the unconventional Cello Concerto by Friedrich Gulda, performed by the internationally acclaimed young cellist Anastasia Kobekina, as well as Zoltán Kodály's "Dances of Galánta" and Maurice Ravel's "La valse."

New Year's Concert Wiesbaden

His last, great symphony in C major "has resonated among us like none since Beethoven's," wrote Schumann, who so deeply revered Schubert's symphonic legacy. With Kent Nagano, it finds a conductor here who, like few others, can open ears anew to this singular masterpiece. Kent Nagano, however, always brings contemporary music to the forefront. He is particularly fond of the music of Henri Dutilleux, who died in 2013 at the age of 97: Dutilleux was considered the last French classic of modernism and a composer who valued lyricism, poetry, and iridescent timbre. And, as is especially true of the cello concerto "Tout un monde lointain…", the virtuosity—the cello, under the hands of Jan Vogler, is required to perform truly acrobatic feats. Yet Dutilleux never lost touch with his listeners. He, who can be considered the heir of Maurice Ravel in particular, once said that for every young composer there is "the moment when he has to, so to speak, kill his father. Perhaps I haven't done that thoroughly enough. But perhaps that's precisely why my music is more accessible to the public. Although it was never my intention to be understood. I'm simply searching for my absolute truth."

Schubert Symphony in C major

With a captivating program, the hr-Symphony Orchestra's chamber concert enriches this season's Lauterbach Hohhaus Concerts. Franz Schubert's "Arpeggione" Sonata is among the Viennese Romantic composer's most famous chamber works. Its sonorous soundscape makes it a truly virtuosic piece, which can be experienced alongside two brilliantly compelling chamber music works from the early years of the great operatic dramatist Richard Strauss. The 19-year-old Strauss's Piano Quartet in C minor is considered the pinnacle of his engagement with Brahms. His only violin sonata, composed at the age of 23, was also a stroke of genius.

Arpeggione

Is it a concert? Or is it a game? Does the conductor set the tone, or do you, sitting in the Alte Oper, an active participant in this music adventure game? Equally an auditory experience and an experiment, the outcome is open – but that's also part of the game's rules: the music will be magnificent, next-level, no easy mode. The soundtrack to "Game of Thrones," the powerful sounds of "Mars, Bringer of War," the "Danse Macabre," impactful classics by Elgar and Strauss – these and much more are the cornerstones of this interactive adventure game, in which concertgoers guide a story and are thus drawn ever deeper into an auditory adventure. The works of Saint-Saëns to Gustav Holst, from Sibelius to Rachmaninoff form the backdrop, sometimes epically mysterious, sometimes explosive like a final battle. The hr Symphony Orchestra is preparing to take a step into the unknown. Those who dare and embrace it will be rewarded with an experience that no streaming algorithm can offer with such intensity.

Music Adventure Game

Steve Reich's monumental work for choir and orchestra is more than just a piece of minimal music—it's an acoustic metaphor for what science calls "swarm behavior." Countless rhythmic and melodic phrases are interwoven to form a collective structure that is more than the sum of its parts. Reich employs the repetitive patterns typical of his music, which constantly shift in minute ways, causing the soundscape to move as if in slow motion. Not unlike a flock of birds, each individual acts independently, yet together they form a harmonious and structural whole. The Lithuanian composer Justė Janulytė is known for her minimalist, monochromatic soundscapes, which she pours into slow, ethereal processes with a keen sense of perfect dramaturgy. She plays with the merging of individual voices into a collective mass, making the transition almost invisible. Commissioned by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Justė Janulytė has been inspired to create a new work for large orchestra, which will have its world premiere at Forum N.

Desert Music

A program that begins in silence, almost in white noise. And that ends in the ecstasy of sound. In Scriabin's mystery music, everything dissolves in a visionary orchestral explosion of color – it was "like an ice bath, cocaine, and rainbows." It was the writer Henry Miller who once raved about "Le poème de l'extase" with this comparison. Premiered in New York in 1908, the music world had never experienced anything like it, and even today this music catapults the audience into a parallel universe. In his concert with the hr-Sinfonieorchester, conductor Oscar Jockel builds the effect layer by layer: After his own meticulously composed nothingness, the simplicity of Schubert's four-hand Fantasy in F minor seems like an intimate secret, the contrasts intensifying with Britten's "Scottish Ballad." Then Debussy's "Jeux" sheds new light – as the conductor says – on the ecstasy of the love dance, with its lively melodies and dissonant harmonies soaring upwards in triple meter. Finally, the "absolute sublimation" is achieved with Scriabin, who, as a trained philosopher, explored not only musical realms of the barely comprehensible.

Poem of Ecstasy

Precocious, prodigy, highly gifted – how can one describe Felix Mendelssohn's musical achievements at an age when today's teenagers are busy striving for high scores in video games? After all, he was already 17 when he wrote an overture that, as a masterpiece, absolutely belongs in the top 10 of classical music. Felix Mendelssohn – he wasn't called the "Mozart of the 19th century" for nothing: no other composer's music sounds so effortless, so ethereal, as if conjured from thin air. The best example of this is his incidental music to Shakespeare's comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream," this literary classic from the realm of fairies, whose plot is so intricate yet whose wit is so exuberant. Everything takes place in just a few hours of a single night, but when everyone involved is as hyperactive as they are here, and when magic potions come into play, anything can happen. Mendelssohn's music is correspondingly magical: weightless like elves, surprising like the mischievous imp Puck, shimmering like something from distant fantasies. After this pure Mendelssohn evening with the hr-Sinfonieorchester and its chief conductor Alain Altinoglu, a place on cloud nine is guaranteed.

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

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Life's storms

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Brass Connection

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Harmony theory

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New Year's Concert Wiesbaden

27 - 28 Nov, 2025

Shostakovich 11

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Concerts at Fulda Castle Theatre

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra