Where do you draw personal energy from? What makes life worth living? Harmony with nature? Freedom and individuality? Cultural solidarity? This concert presents three very personal musical concepts.
"The beauty and chaos of the rain in Wellington inspired me to respond to it musically. Rainphase picks up on characteristics of water as rain: its form and formlessness, transparency and density, energy and calm," says 30-year-old New Zealand composer Salina Fisher about her orchestral work composed in 2015, for which she was awarded the New Zealand SOUNZ Contemporary Award a year later, the youngest winner to date.
New York-born composer Aaron Copland spent his life searching for a typical American sound in classical music. His Clarinet Concerto, commissioned by Benny Goodman, therefore combines a classical instrumentation of solo clarinet, strings, harp and piano with jazz sounds. But there are also wistful sounds in this concerto, possibly coming to terms with Copland's frequent experiences of exclusion as a result of his Jewish ancestry, communist sympathies and homosexuality. Clarinetist Sebastian Manz, who comes from Hanover and has been the soloist with the SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart since 2010, will bring out the complexity of the concerto. Ludwig van Beethoven was probably inspired to compose his 7th Symphony by creative energy motivated by the desire to free himself from heteronomy. This symphony with its stormy final movement was also understood by contemporaries as an appeal for the liberation of nations, especially as it was premiered immediately after the Battle of the Nations in 1813 as part of a benefit concert for those fighting against Napoleon.
Not least with this sparkling symphony, conductor Gemma New, who is making her debut with the Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover and also hails from New Zealand, ensures an energetic conclusion to this concert season.
June 22 and 23, 2024
