Dear audience
An eventful season lies behind us. It was a season full of experiments: we experienced concerts with explanations of the works, dance, video art and light installations, and we got to know orchestras that give their programmes a fixed choreography instead of simply stringing pieces together. We will continue along this path in the coming season. Not to make headlines, but to keep interest in classical music alive.
And that is only possible with like-minded artistic partners. Take the brilliant Aurora Orchestra under its conductor Nicholas Collon, for example, whom we have invited back. This time with a musician who truly deserves the label ‘phenomenon’: Hayato Sumino. The Japanese pianist is stylistically at home in all genres and has gained more than a million fans with his YouTube videos. You will be thrilled!
Another exceptional talent is Swedish clarinettist Martin Fröst, who has long made it his mission to question conventional concert rituals. His project ‘Beethoven Mirrors’ embeds the 7th Symphony in its historical context, in both directions. Beethoven's music is not only mirrored in earlier works by Handel, Rameau and Mozart, but also in electronic dance music in the style of Kraftwerk or Daft Punk.
Always good for surprises, musical multi-talents Aleksey Igudesman and Hyung-ki Joo invite us on an adventure through Dvořák's ‘New World’ with Igudesman's newly founded Limitless Orchestra – in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of the United States. The Iceland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eva Ollikainen, takes us to northern Europe: in addition to Elgar's Cello Concerto and Sibelius' Second Symphony, the programme includes Icelandic folklore and an encounter with composer Anna Thorvaldsdóttir. Teodor Currentzis and the Utopia Orchestra, together with Vilde Frang, combine Berg and Mahler, the supernatural and the earthly.
We are also looking forward to a host of top-class singers who will span the musical spectrum from the Baroque to the 20th century, from operetta to oratorio: Handel's ‘Solomon’ with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and an Offenbach gala with Marc Minkowski's Musiciens du Louvre. The Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra will also be back, performing Orff's ‘Carmina Burana’ on the KKL stage together with amateur and professional choirs.
Have we piqued your interest? I would be delighted if so.
Mischa Damev
Director Migros Culture Percentage Classics
Here you can find an overview of all concerts