Drama and melancholy / Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen

Wed 24.09.
7.30 p.m.
Bremen
·Die Glocke

Please note that concerts will now start at 7:30 p.m.

Drama and melancholy

6th First Night subscription concert

Works by von Weber, Beethoven and Brahms

Specializing in historical performance practice, soloist and chamber musician Riccardo Minasi has built a celebrated career as a conductor for both the concert hall and the opera. He is making his first appearance with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, alongside multiple prizewinner and sought-after soloist Beatrice Rana, also from Italy. She makes her debut with a milestone in concerto repertoire, Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto – the only one in a minor key and the first of a distinctly symphonic nature. The concert opens with the Overture to the most popular German Romantic opera, Carl Maria von Weber’s ›Der Freischütz‹, in which the most important motifs of the opera, from the dark, ghostly forest to the jubilant love theme, can already be discerned. With Johannes Brahms’ Fourth and final symphony, the orchestra performs another masterpiece, which reaches its climax in the last movement – a series of 30 variations that develop over a baroque passacaglia theme.

Programme

- Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826)
- Overture to ›Der Freischütz‹ J. 277
- Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
- Piano concerto No. 3 in C minor op. 37
- Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
- Symphony No. 4 in E minor op. 98

Conductor

Riccardo Minasi

Italian conductor and violinist Riccardo Minasi is celebrated as one of the most exhilarating talents in the European classical music scene. Since 2022, he has been the Principal Guest Conductor of Ensemble Resonanz at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and Artistic Director of Orchestra La Scintilla at the Zurich Opera House. From 2012 to 2015, he co-founded and conducted the ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro, from 2017 to 2022, he was Chief Conductor of the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, and from 2022 to 2024, he was Music Director of the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

In recent seasons, Minasi has also conducted many renowned orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Staatskapelle Dresden to name but a few. His upcoming engagements include guest conducting engagements with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Luxembourg Philharmonic and the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra. Riccardo Minasi also has an extensive discography and has received numerous awards, including the Diapason d’Or, the Echo Klassik and the BBC Music Magazine Award. He was also nominated for a Grammy Award. He will be making his debut with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen this year.

Piano

Beatrice Rana

With her »mysterious seductive power« and »transcendent lightness of touch« (The Times), Italian-born Beatrice Rana has shaken up the international world of classical music and at the same time has evoked great admiration. From Berlin to New York, this pianist performs in the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals, working with renowned conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Antonio Pappano, Klaus Mäkelä, Lahav Shani, Manfred Honeck, Paavo Järvi and orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmonie, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and many more.

Beatrice Rana has won numerous international piano competitions and has also received many awards for her recordings, including the prestigious Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice and BBC Music Magazine’s Newcomer of the Year Award. The year 2017 will remain a milestone in her career with the release of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. In the same year, Beatrice Rana also founded her own chamber music festival ›Classiche Forme‹ in her hometown of Lecce in Apulia, which has become one of the most important summer events in Italy. Her performance with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen this year is an eagerly awaited debut.

Conductor