Whitsun Festival
STEADFAST
Baden-Badeners have always been Wagnerians. In the nineteenth century, the local city council moved mountains in order to provide the composer with a festival hall for his works. The money of the Bavarian king was ultimately the decisive factor and, as is well known, the story turned out differently. But since that time at the latest, the festival idea in Baden-Baden has remained a leitmotif that, like in a Wagnerian music drama, alternately exerted its influence beneath the surface and emerged out in the open, the last time twenty-five years ago when the Festspielhaus was inaugurated. Such strands of tradition are important to the SWR Symphonieorchester, which will perform Wagner at this year's Whitsun Festival under its principal conductor Teodor Currentzis. In addition, we will get to enjoy chamber music concerts featuring members of the orchestra. The theme will be the influence of Wagner and the reaction of those who deliberately set themselves apart from him. Without the German composer, for example, there would be no Italian verismo, to which Sonya Yoncheva will be dedicating herself in a festive gala.
The Program
SA 27.5.23/SU 28.5.23
TEODOR CURRENTZIS
Teodor Currentzis conducts the SWR Symphonieorchester with a program featuring symphonic opera paraphrases by Richard Wagner: these few facts alone are enough to highlight the exceptional nature of this concert. Once again, Currentzis incorporates historical references – enriching the main works of the evening with a musical meditation on Wagner by Ukrainian-Russian composer Alexei Retinski.
THU 1.6.22
JAZZ ZUR NACHT
For this Late Night, Sebastian Manz, principal clarinetist of the SWR Symphonieorchester, has put together a program featuring many surprising and unforeseen twists, resembling a musical wild goose chase. With music from Walt Disney's Jungle Book, Astor Piazzolla, and klezmer along with sacred and oriental music, it covers a wide spectrum.
SU 4.6.22
LISZT & WAGNER
Alexandre Kantorow & Andreas SchagerA great evening where the superhuman meets the all-too-human: virtuosic and erotic in Liszt, sacred and sinful in Wagner. The solo part in Liszt is played by the French pianist Alexandre Kantorow. He joins the SWR Symphonieorchester and Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado, who leads both early music ensembles and symphony orchestras with great success and whose artistic range is highlighted by the program of today's concert.
Participation
21.5.23
MOVE & GROOVE
Participants in this workshop will not only discover the world of percussion, but also perform in a joint concert. It doesn’t matter whether you have any previous musical knowledge, we'll get you ready for the stage! You can look forward to a fantastic weekend as you explore the world of sounds and rhythm with others – and enjoy the final applause at the Sunday afternoon concert.
22.-25.5.23
CLASSIC MOBIL
Radio is so much more than the cloud of good feelings on which we float driving home from work. A radio symphony orchestra has always had a social responsibility: to bring music, including from the contemporary era, to women and men in areas far away from the concert hall and opera stage. With Classic Mobil, during the Whitsun Festival musicians from the SWR Symphonieorchester will come to people for whom live music is otherwise inaccessible: in psychiatric clinics, retirement homes, and hospices. On request, fast, simple, and straightforward.
24.5.23
OFFENES ORCHESTER
Our organism, clockwork, a machine: we are fascinated by perfect coordination and synergy, including when we are listeners at a concert. But what’s it like to be in the very middle of it? What does the timpanist do in the breaks, what does the viola hear when the brass are playing at full blast, how would I interpret the conductor? The SWR Symphonieorchester invites schoolchildren from the region to a voyage of discovery into this exciting body of living art.