Masterful piano enchantment / Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen

Wed 14.01.
7.30 p.m.
Bremen
·Die Glocke

Masterful piano enchantment

1st First Night subscription concert

Works by Brahms and Mendelssohn

When the legendary Elisabeth Leonskaja turns 80, one concert simply isn’t enough – the entire 2025/26 season will be one big worldwide birthday celebration! The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen is proud to be part of the festivities, especially after sharing a 20-year artistic friendship with this exceptional pianist. To mark the occasion, Brahms’s dramatic Piano Concerto No. 1 is a fitting choice, a piece that gave the composer more than a few headaches before he was finally “more than” satisfied. Balancing the evening’s melancholy first half, the second part will feature the bright and joyful ‘Italian’ Symphony – the orchestra’s first Mendelssohn adventure with Principal Guest Conductor Tarmo Peltokoski. Inspired by his two-year tour of the south, the young composer created a vibrant, melodic work filled with memories of moonlit nights and lively tarantella rhythms.

Programme

- Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
- Piano concerto No. 1 in D minor op. 15
- Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847)
- Symphony No. 4 in A major op. 90 ›Italienische‹

Conductor

Tarmo Peltokoski

Described by the Tagesspiegel newspaper as a »once-in-a-century talent«, Tarmo Peltokoski was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in January 2022, thereby becoming the first conductor in the orchestra’s history to hold this position. In May 2022, he was appointed Music and Artistic Director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and was later appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Since the 2025/26 season, this Finnish conductor has been Music Director of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. From the 2026/27 season, Peltokoski will become Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, having served as Designated Music Director in 2025/26. In addition, Peltokoski will begin his three-year residency as ›Exclusive Artist‹ at the Konzerthaus Dortmund in the 2025/26 season.

Peltokoski has already conducted numerous orchestras of note worldwide, including the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and The Los Angeles Philharmonic. He conducted his first complete ›Ring Cycle‹ at the age of 22 at the Eurajoki Bel Canto Festival. His upcoming Wagner opera productions include ›Tristan und Isolde‹ (Dutch National Opera), his debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with ›Parsifal‹, and ›Lohengrin‹ with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra.

In 2023, he received the OPUS Klassik award for his recording with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. In October of the same year, he signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon; his debut album was released in May 2024.

Piano

Elisabeth Leonskaja

For decades, Elisabeth Leonskaja has been one of the most celebrated pianists of our time. Born in Tbilissi, she left the Soviet Union for Austria in 1978 and celebrated the start of her great career with an acclaimed concert at the Salzburg Festival. Since then, she has performed worldwide as a soloist with leading orchestras and conductors and has given solo recitals in all of Europe’s major concert halls. She has enjoyed a close artistic relationship with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen for many years.

Leonskaja’s early musical development was particularly influenced by her collaboration with her mentor Sviatoslav Richter, with whom she remained friends until his death in 1997. She also enjoyed a long-standing musical friendship with the Alban Berg Quartet. Their joint recordings are considered iconic. In addition to the numerous awards she has received for her extensive discography, this pianist was honoured with the International Classical Music Award (ICMA) for her life’s work in 2020. More recently, she received the Wigmore Hall Medal in London in 2024. Her latest solo album is dedicated to the Second Viennese School. In 2025, she released Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto, ›Emperor‹.

Conductor