Tetzlaff Plays Brahms Violin Concerto
Thu May 30 — Sat Jun 1, 2024
Orchestra Hall
A trio of German musical stars arrives at Orchestra Hall when violinist Christian Tetzlaff returns to play the music of Johannes Brahms under the baton of conductor David Afkham. Brahms’ fiendishly difficult Violin Concerto sways between moments of peaceful serenity and dark, stormy scenes, standing boldly as the opening to this kaleidoscopic concert, which also features colorful works by Dutilleux and Bartók.
A Few Things to Know
- In addition to giving more than 100 solo performances annually, Christian Tetzlaff founded a string quartet along with his sister, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, which takes a performance tour every year.
- David Afkham, who studied violin and piano from the age of six, also comes from a musical family. His brother Micha Afkham is currently a violist in the Berlin Philharmonic.
- Métaboles is the musical result of Henri Dutilleux’s exploration of metamorphosis, playing with the idea of dramatic transformation caused by slow and gradual changes.
Program
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BRAHMS
Violin Concerto
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DUTILLEUX
Cinq Métaboles
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BARTÓK
Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin
Artists
The Grammy Award-winning Minnesota Orchestra, led by Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård—who is serving as music director designate during the 2022-23 season—is recognized for distinguished performances around the world, award-winning recordings and broadcasts, educational engagement programs, and commitment to building the orchestral repertoire of the future. Founded in 1903, the Orchestra has an extensive history of touring throughout Minnesota, nationally and abroad, including high-profile visits in recent years to Cuba, Europe and South Africa. Recording projects undertaken in the past two decades include complete cycles of symphonies by Beethoven, Sibelius and Mahler, all recorded under Osmo Vänskä, who is now the Orchestra’s conductor laureate.
David Afkham has just been announced as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Orquestra y Coro Nacional de España from September 2019. This position will build on the success of his tenure as Principal Conductor of the orchestra since 2014, which has featured critically acclaimed performances of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, Bruckner Symphony No. 9, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Brahms’ Requiem, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, as well as several world premieres and semi-staged projects with Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer, Strauss’ Elektra, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle. Born in Freiburg, Germany, in 1983, David Afkham is in high demand as a guest conductor with some of the world’s finest orchestras and opera houses, and has established a reputation as one of the most sought-after conductors to emerge from Germany in recent years.
Future highlights as a guest conductor include returns with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Münchner Philharmoniker, HR Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Swedish Radio Symphony, Orchestra of Accademia Santa Cecilia and NHK Symphony Orchestra, as well as debuts with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra and Dresden Philharmonic.
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Additional services are available upon request.
SPONSORED BY
The 2023-2024 Classical Season is presented by Ameriprise Financial.