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The Week in Germany: Culture August 24, 2007 Classical Music Roundup: Beethovenfest in Bonn, Osnabrück Orchestra
in Iran, James Levine in Cincinnati Music for all the Senses at Beethovenfest Bonn
Some 2,000 of the world's best musicians are now performing in Bonn over the several weeks at this year's Beethovenfest, which opened on Friday, August 24 under the motto "Joy!" Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is a native son of Bonn, and the planners behind the city's annual Beethovenfest strive to present the legendary classical composer as fresh, modern and still relevant today.
"Fortunately there's a whole collection of Beethoven works that not only make it possible to reconsider how we deal with his music in the 21st century, but also to ask what possibilities we have today to find points of medial interface - interdisciplinary, aesthetically effective new forms that inspire us to keep going," said festival director Ilona Schmiel, as reported by Deutsche Welle, the German national broadcaster and news agency which is sponsoring this year's festival. Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic, the Beaux Arts Trio, Paavo Järvi, and Alfred Brendel are among the many stars who will be making appearances at the festival, which runs through Sept. 23. Visitors can learn more about Beethoven's life, times and music any time of the year at the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, located in the heart of the charming former German capital and university town nestled in the lush Rhineland valley. With its cozy squares, historic structures, charming riverside pathways and al fresco venues, international flavor and close proximity to bustling Cologne with its world-famous cathedral, Bonn is well worth a visit on any tour of western Germany. (TWIG/Deutsche Welle) Links: The full Deutsche Welle article Got Beethoven? Don't Leave Bonn Without Him (Deutsche Welle) Beethovenfest in Bonn Celebrates Russian and South African Talent (TWIG, August 25, 2006) German National Tourist Board - more about Bonn German National Orchestra to Perform in Iran
This week, the Osnabrück Symphony was the first western classical ensemble to perform in Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979. German organizers hoped the event would contribute to inter-cultural understanding. As reported by Deutsche Welle, the 60-member Osnabrück Symphony performed on Wednesday and Thursday (August 29-30) in the Iranian capital. Conductor Hermann Bäumer led the musicians in playing works by Beethoven, Brahms and Elgar.
The performances were a rare occasion, as no other western orchestra of this size has played in Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979. Last year, Osnabrück hosted the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, which performed to a packed audience in the western German city - the first time the Iranian ensemble had performed in Germany in 30 years. The exchange is part of the August 19-Sept. 2 Osnabrück Orient Festival. Links: The full Deutsche Welle article Osnabrück Orient Festival (in German) Quantara.de - Dialogue with the Islamic World New Organization to Represent Muslims in Germany (TWIG, April 13, 2007) German National Tourist Board - Cities of Lower Saxony James Levine to Conduct Wagner Opera at Cincinnati in 2010
As recently reported by the Associated Press, James Levine will conduct a new production of Richard Wagner's "Die Meistersinger" in June 2010 to commemorate the Cincinnati Opera's 90th season. Levine, a Cincinnati native, is music director for New York's Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. "To conduct Wagner's 'Die Meistersinger', on of my very favorite works, with the Cincinnati Symphony in the pit and so many great singers on stage is a much anticipated joy," Levine told the Cincinnati Enquirer in July. According to AP, the new production will be set in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, where many German immigrants lived in the 19th century. The opera is traditionally set in Germany. Levine performs regularly in European capitals. In Germany, he works
each season with the Berlin Philharmonic and is a regular guest with the
Dresden Staatskapelle. In 1999 he became Chief Conductor of the Munich
Philharmonic, having made his debut there in 1997. At the Bayreuth Festival
he conducted Wagner's Parsifal annually between his 1982 debut
there (conducting the Centennial Production of the work) and 1993, and
from 1994 until 1998 he directed Der Ring des Nibelungen. Links: |
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