Free arrival in Salzburg.

Night at your hotel.

At 3:30pm, at the Stiftung Mozarteum, Großer Saal :

KAMMERKONZERT I – TRADITION UND ÖFFNUNG

Members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Cornelia Gartemann : Violin

Christoph Von Der Nahmer : Violin

Julia Gartemann : Viola

Martin Von Der Nahmer : Viola

Stephan Koncz : Cello

Knut Weber : Cello

Programme :

– N. Rimski-Korsakov : String Sextet in A major.

– P. Tchaïkovski : String Sextet in D minor, Op. 70, “Souvenir de Florence”.

Under the beautiful title “Farewell to a beautiful world”, the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic offer two masterpieces from the Russian repertoire. While Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sextet is a relatively rare work, Tchaikovsky’s Souvenirs de Florence is one of the most beloved pieces of chamber music. Written in 1892 during the composer’s final period, this Sextet evokes the Russian composer’s beloved city with an irresistibly contagious joy and zest for life. We can count on the beauty and richness of sound from the members of the legendary Berlin orchestra.

At 7pm, at the Großes Festspielhaus:

CHORKONZERT I – HAYDN

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Bavarian Radio Choir

Daniel Harding : Conductor

Hanna-Elisabeth Müller : Soprano

Andrez Staples : Tenor

Konstantin Krimmel : Baritone

Programme :

– J. Haydn : « The Creation » (Hob XXI.2), an oratorio.

This Easter Festival is definitely rich in monumental works! While we await Mahler’s aptly named Symphony of a Thousand, Haydn’s The Creation represents a high point of the classical era. In 1791, the Austrian composer attended a performance of Handel’s Messiah in London. Eight years later, Haydn offered his own response with this splendid oratorio narrating the creation of the world in three parts (the elements, the animals, and Man). Haydn said of the work: “I devoted a lot of time to it because I knew it would last a long time. ” This radiant masterpiece is performed here by a stellar cast under the baton of the great British conductor Daniel Harding.

At 3:30pm, at the Solitär :

KAMMERKONZERT II – ABSCHIED VON DER SCHÖNEN WELT

Members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Roxana Wisniewska : Violin

Harry Ward : Violin

Joaquín Riquelme García: Viola

Solène Kermarrec : Cello

Andraz Golob : Clarinet

Programme :

– A. Glasunow : Oriental Reverie for clarinet and string quartet.

– J. Brahms : Quintet for clarinet in B minor, Op. 115.

The members of the Berlin Philharmonic present Brahms’ magnificent Sextet, one of the German composer’s first major chamber music works. But the program also features a fascinating interpretation of a piece by Alexander Glazunov. Born in 1865 and died in 1936, the Russian musician built a fascinating bridge between the tsarist world of Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky and the Soviet world of the early years of the Revolution. In 1905, Glazunov was appointed to the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he served as director until 1928. However, weary of the new regime, he seized the pretext of Schubert’s centenary in Vienna to leave the USSR and settle in France, where he died in 1936.

At 7pm, at the Großes Festspielhaus :

ORCHESTERKONZERT – BRAHMS / BERLIOZ

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Tugan Sokhiev : Conductor

Noah Bendix-Balgley : Violin

Bruno Delepelaire : Cello

Programme :

– J. Brahms : Double Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 102.

– H. Berlioz : Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14; Episode from the Life of an Artist, a fantastic symphony in five parts.

A miracle of freshness and melodic generosity, Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello brings together chamber music and symphonic power. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra invites two of its super soloists, violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley and cellist Bruno Delepelaire, for a concert full of complicity. The highlight of this flamboyant evening will be the great conductor Tugan Sokhiev (longtime conductor of the Capitole de Toulouse) conducting the Symphonie Fantastique, in which Hector Berlioz transports us into the dreams and passions of a 26-year-old artist, enamored with a Shakespearean actress. Almost 200 years later, this dazzling music has lost none of its amorous fervor.

At 3:30pm, at the Stiftung Mozarteum, Großer Saal :

KAMMERKONZERT III – MOZART & SALIERI

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

To be coming : Conductor

Johanna Pichlmair : Violin

Eva Rabchevska : Violin

Tobias Reifland : Viola

Kyoungmin Park : Viola

Moritz Huemer : Cello

László Gál : Horn

Programme :

– W. A. Mozart : Wind Quintet in E-flat major, K. 407;

– A. Salieri : Fugue for string quartet;

– W. A. Mozart : String Quintet No. 5 in D major, K. 593.

So much has been said about the relationship between Mozart and Salieri! Pushkin was the first to imagine a fierce rivalry between the two composers, soon echoed in an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov. But it was Milos Forman’s 1984 film Amadeus that really sparked the controversy, creating two serious historical errors. The first is that Mozart and Salieri were in fact friends and admired each other’s music. The second is perhaps even more important: far from being a minor artist, Salieri was a great composer of the 18th century. It is this terrible injustice that the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic are rectifying with this beautiful double program.

At 7pm, at the Haus für Mozart :

PLANET [WANDERER] – BALLET

Damien Jalet : Choreography

Kohei Nawa : Set design

Tim Hecker : Music

Yukiko Yoshimoti : Lighting

Planet [wanderer] marks the meeting of two great masters. On one side, visual artist Kohei Nawa is famous for his monumental sculptures. On the other, choreographer Damien Jalet has just triumphed at the cinema with Jacques Audiard’s film Emilia Pérez. On a stage covered with sparkling black sand, a silhouette emerges, as if from the bowels of the Earth. It undulates slowly before being joined by other creatures. With their feet anchored to the ground, their encumbered bodies bend and unbend, seeking to break free. Their shadows float in chiaroscuro, to the rhythm of Tim Hecker‘s futuristic music.  Between choreography and visual experimentation, Planet [wanderer] confronts the dancers’ bodies with various materials to describe the visceral and dreamlike connection between humans and their planet. A visual and artistic shock.

At 10pm, at the Szene Salzburg :

LATE NIGHT CONCERT

Brass section of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

To be coming : Conductor

Programme :

– W. Byrd : “The March of the Earl of Oxford” (arr. Elgar Howarth);

– R. Wagner : « Rienzi » Ouverture ;

– J. Dowland : «Book of Song”s »(arr. Olaf Ott), «Praise blindness, eyes», «Come. Ye heavy states of night», «A shepherd in a shade»,«Fine knacks for ladies »;

– W. A. Mozart : « The Queen of the Night » (arr. Olaf Ott) ;

– Aieta/Piazzolla/Villoldo : « American Tango Suite» (arr. Mogens Andresen) ;

– D. Schostakowitsch : «Suite for variety orchestra » (arr. Mogens Andresen).

What a wonderful festive program! Praised worldwide for their technique and pure intonation, the brass section of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra presents a concert spanning more than five centuries of music. From Elizabethan composers such as Byrd and Dowland to the wonders of Mozart and Shostakovich, via Piazzolla’s tango, this late-night concert will be an opportunity to appreciate the incredible richness of the repertoire for magnificent trumpets, trombones, and splendid tubas in all its glory.

At 7pm, at the Großes Festspielhaus :

CHORKONZERT II – MAHLER

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Berlin Radio Choir

Salzburg Bach Choir

Kirill Petrenko : Conductor

Jacquelyn Wagner : Magna Peccatrix

Golda Schultz : Una poenitentium

Liv Redpatch : Mater Gloriosa

Beth Taylor : Mulier Samaritana

Fleur Barron : Maria Aegyptiaca

Benjamin Bruns : Doctor Marianus

Gihoon Kim : Pater Ecstaticus

Le Bu : Pater Profundus

It is September 12, 1910, in the huge concert hall of the International Exhibition in Munich. Among the prestigious audience members are writers Stefan Zweig and Thomas Mann and composers Richard Strauss and Camille Saint-Saëns. It must be said that Gustav Mahler’s new symphony is nothing short of spectacular: nearly an hour and a half of music and, above all, a huge ensemble. On stage, there were no fewer than 171 orchestra musicians, 858 singers, including eight soloists and 350 singers, making a total of nearly 1,029 artists, justifying the subtitle quickly given to the work: Symphony No. 8, known as “The Thousand”. It is this monumental masterpiece that Kirill Petrenko is preparing to bring back to life on the legendary stage of the Festspielhaus at the Salzburg Festival. The performers gathered here are all among the best Mahlerians: the Berlin Philharmonic, the prestigious Rundfunkchor Berlin, the Bachchor Salzburg, and a host of soloists such as soprano Golda Schultz and tenor Benjamin Bruns. Of this dazzlingly mystical work, Mahler himself said: “Imagine the universe singing and roaring. These are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving”. An apotheosis!

At 6pm, at the Felsenreitschule :

DAS RHEINGOLD, by R. Wagner

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Kirill Petrenko : Conductor

Kirill Serebrennikov : Staging

Christian Gerhaher : Wotan

Gihoon Kim : Donner

Thomas Atkins : Froh

Brenton Ryan : Loge

Leigh Melrose : Alberich

Thomas Cilluffo : Mime

Le Bu : Fasolt

When Herbert von Karajan created the Easter Festival in 1967 with “his” Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, he chose to perform an episode from Wagner’s Ring, for which he was both musical director and stage director. For the Berlin ensemble’s grand return to Salzburg after a ten-year absence, conductor Kirill Petrenko is initiating a new Ring Cycle, beginning, of course, with its prologue, Das Rheingold. Composed in 1854, the opera is a magical prelude, featuring sublime scenes such as the prelude in E-flat major symbolizing the Rhine, the scene in the forge, and the entrance of the gods to Valhalla. An exceptional event calls for an exceptional director: Russia’s Kirill Serebrennikov has demonstrated his rich imagination in theater, cinema, and opera. To champion this work of “total art,” Salzburg also welcomes Christian Gerhaher in the role of Wotan, as well as the cream of the new generation of Wagnerian singers, such as Leigh Melrose, Catriona Morison, and Jasmin White. In the pit, Kirill Petrenko conducts the musical flow with incomparable mastery.