Of smphonice dances and masked balls
Masquerade!
A double debut! This is the first time that celebrated Polish conductor Marzena Diakun is conducting the Komische Oper Berlin, and with this program of Eastern European works, also the first time that the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin marks its return to the Konzerthaus on Gendarmenmarkt.
We begin with the refined late-Romantic orchestral colours of Diakun’s compatriot, composer Mieczysław Karłowicz, who transports us to a festive and poetic masquerade ball. The orchestral celebration continues with the worldwide premiere of Hans Winterberg’s Symphonic Dances. The Prague-born composer, who survived the Theresienstadt Ghetto and later created the majority of his oeuvre in West Germany, rejected the idea of nationality, which is contrasted against the diversity found in his compositions, with their polyrhythmic and often surreal music. Building a bridge to his Prague colleague is Sergei Rachmaninoff with his Symphonic Dances, closing the concert with romantic melodies of tender and tempestuous beauty. Altogether the perfect soundtrack for a symphony concert of the unprecedented!
Mieczysław Karłowicz [1876–1909]
Episode at a Masquerade, symphonic poem, Op. 14
Hans Winterberg [1901–1991]
Symphonic Dances (premiere)
Sergei V. Rachmaninoff [1873–1943]
Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
Episode at a Masquerade, symphonic poem, Op. 14
Hans Winterberg [1901–1991]
Symphonic Dances (premiere)
Sergei V. Rachmaninoff [1873–1943]
Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
Musikalische Leitung