Orchestral Concerts

Until today, Richard Strauss remains one of the most prominent composers. His musical oeuvre is multi-layered, stretching from the Late Romantic, slightly autobiographic tone poem A Hero’s Life to the Dance Suite from Keyboard Pieces by François Couperin, which clearly must be classified as belonging to the European Neoclassicism of the 1920s. The Israeli composer Ayal Adler also likes to play with baroque music. In his world premiere of In Motion, the audience can see Omar Meir Wellber not only as a conductor. He is also performing on the harpsichord and the accordion.

Conductor | Harpsichord | Accordion Omer Meir Wellber

Richard Strauss Dance Suite from Keyboard Pieces  by François Couperin (excerpts)
Ayal Adler In Motion. Concert for Continuo and large orchestra (world premiere)
Richard Strauss A Hero’s Life. Tone poem for large orchestra E-Flat major, op. 40

DURATION approx. 2 hours (with intermission)

 “I have two handicaps – those of sex and race”. It was never easy for Florence Price, but when she won a composing competition, her life took a sudden turn: In 1933, her first symphony was premiered by a major US orchestra – a milestone in the history of Afro-American female composers. Charles Ives also suffered the fate of being ignored for a long time. Central Park in the Dark (1909), a classic example of his experimental composing style, only premiered in 1946. Richard Strauss, on the other hand, did not have this problem. His works have always been played – among them his posthumously premiered Four Last Songs. Soprano Marlis Petersen re-joins Bregenz Festival for this concert after being celebrated for her song recital last season.

Conductor Dirk Kaftan
Soprano Marlis Petersen

Charles Ives Central Park in the Dark
Richard Strauss Four Last Songs
Florence Price Symphony No. 1 E minor 

DURATION approx. 2 hours (with intermission)

In 1900, Jean Sibelius completed his first symphony which made him the most noted symphonic composer of Finland. In the words of the German music critic Ferdinand Pfohl it is a powerful, passionate and unexpectedly bold piece. Meanwhile, Maurice Ravel draws upon the past with his Valses nobles et sentimentales and brings back Vienna’s boppy Waltzes. Grażyna Bacewicz, who was a figurehead of the advance of Polish music, mixes traditional and modern music in her third violin concert. The audience can look forward to the Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid, a regular with the Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg.

Conductor Marie Jacquot
Violin Benjamin Schmid

Maurice Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales
Grażyna Bacewicz Concerto for Violin and orchestra No. 3
Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 1 E minor op. 39

DURATION approx. 2 hours (with intermission)
 

Ever since Walt Disney’s animation movie Fantasia, the whole world knows Paul Dukas’ dazzling scherzo The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. It is, without a doubt, a brilliant piece of music full of drama with strong musical themes and orchestral splendour. Dmitri Shostakovich’s second cello concerto was also immediately highly acclaimed when it premiered in 1966. People particularly loved the scherzo, for which the Russian composer adopted a remarkably grotesque humour and used the tunes of the Odessa-based street song Bread rolls, come buy my bread rolls. Compared to that, the dynamic themes and Bohemian melodies of Antonín Dvořák’s eighth symphony radiate unbroken optimism. 

Conductor Leo McFall
Violoncello Kian Soltani

Paul Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Scherzo based on Goethe’s ballad
Dmitri Shostakovich Concerto for violoncello and orchestra No. 2 G minor, op. 126
Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 8 G major, op. 88

DURATION approx. 2 hours (with intermission)