Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts

Series produced by DW - Deutsche Welle

Caption: DWFC host Cristina Burack, Credit: (c) Ayse Tasci/DW
Image by: (c) Ayse Tasci/DW 
DWFC host Cristina Burack 

Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts

DW: SERIES with live recordings of world-class performances from Germany.

The new season, which starts in October, presents concerts from renowned German classical music festivals.

Broadcast rights allow PRX subscriber stations to use any or all of the programs in the series that have been already been published, or subscribe to the series to receive the files automatically each week.

In October 2022, DW Radio and PRX released a new season of Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts – classical music made in Germany. Our host, Cristina Burack, takes you to the country's best classical music festivals for exciting, moving and diverse performances, with music ranging from the Baroque to the 21st century. The season's 13 episodes will visit such major musical events as the Bach Festival, Beethoven Festival and Mozart Festival, and will also bring you selected highlights from exceptional concerts elsewhere. In addition, you'll hear directly from musicians, conductors and festival directors as they share exclusive behind-the-scenes insight into the pieces and performances.

The episodes will be released from October 2022 to December 2022. Each one lasts one hour and 58 minutes. The series offers ideal flexibility, as you can broadcast the entire season, creating a regular listening experience, or use episodes individually as needed.

Orchestras and musicians benefited from flourishing cultural activities and musical events as the coronavirus pandemic moved into a new, less restrictive stage. While overseas touring remained difficult, festivals took place under more normal conditions, with enthusiastic audiences packing venues. The energy and excitement were palpable in the performances. We let you experience these unique concerts in the new episodes of Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts (DWFC).

The 2022 Würzburg Mozart Festival was dedicated to Mozart as a "Freigeist," or free spirit. We present the festival's opening concert, which featured a German orchestra steeped in tradition: The Bamberg Symphony. The orchestra performed Mozart's Piano Concerto in A Major, along with works by Joseph Haydn, Igor Stravinsky and Isabel Mundry's "Traces des Moments."

In Leipzig, the world-renowned Bach Festival focused not only on Johann Sebastian Bach but also on his extended – and very musically talented – family. One concert illuminated the similarities and differences between his music and that of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, who was widely popular in his time, even more so than his father! The new organist of the famous St. Thomas Church, Johannes Lang, presented a delightfully varied selection of preludes, fugues and partitas by Johann Sebastian Bach and numerous other relatives. And under the baton of the new music director of St. Thomas, Andreas Reize, the St. Thomas boys' choir joined the Gewandhaus Orchestra to perform one of Bach's most beloved works of all time: The St. Matthew Passion.

2022 also brought new leadership to the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, where German-American Steven Walter took over the artistic direction, bringing new ideas, fresh sounds and unusual collaborations to the multiweek classical event. Still, just as in prior years, the festival was replete with big-name orchestras and soloists, such as the Budapest Festival Orchestra, which performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, the "Eroica," under the direction of Iván Fischer. German-American violinist Augustin Hadelich gave an expressive and emotional performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, while soprano Anna Prohaska delighted audiences with arias from Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro." Other Beethoven gems in the festival included his "Kreutzer Sonata," featuring violinist Jonian-Ilias Kadesha, and his "Triple Concerto," performed by the superstar trio of cellist Julia Hagen, violinist Renaud Capuçon and pianist Kit Armstrong. Hector Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" was another dramatic highlight of the festival.

Stations may subscribe to the full series via PRX SubAuto or download individual episodes.

The full list of all 13 episodes is available. See "Attached Files" Hide full description

In October 2022, DW Radio and PRX released a new season of Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts – classical music made in Germany. Our host, Cristina Burack, takes you to the country's best classical music festivals for exciting, moving and diverse performances, with music ranging from the Baroque to the 21st century. The season's 13 episodes will visit such major musical events as the Bach Festival, Beethoven Festival and Mozart Festival, and will also bring you selected highlights from exceptional concerts elsewhere. In addition, you'll hear directly from musicians, conductors and festival directors as they share exclusive behind-the-scenes insight into the pieces and performances.The episodes will be released from October 2022 to December 2022. Each one lasts one hour and 58 minutes. The... Show full description


Additional Files

42 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: St. Thomas Church Leipzig
It's one of Bach's finest, most inspiring compositions: the St. John Passion. He premiered it during his first year as music director of Leipzig's ...

  • Added: Mar 23, 2023
  • Length: 01:57:58
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When it comes to creative and impressive performances, the London-based Aurora Orchestra really stands out. In this concert from the 2022 Beethoven...

  • Added: Dec 15, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:58
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He's the wunderkind of the conducting world: Klaus Mäkelä. Though just in his mid-twenties, the Finnish conductor is slated to become chief conduct...

  • Added: Dec 14, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:59
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From floating melodies to earth-shaking chords, the panoply of sound that an organ can produce is truly impressive. You can hear the whole sonic sp...

  • Added: Dec 08, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:59
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Despite the Russian invasion, the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine is still making music, even if the young musicians are forced to do so outsid...

  • Added: Nov 30, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:58
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Classical music listeners often forget that long-familiar and frequently heard pieces were once totally novel – but that was precisely what was hig...

  • Added: Nov 23, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:59
Caption: Anna Prohaska
What unites the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Alban Berg? Plenty of love drama. Soprano Anna Prohaska, one of the most exciting young singer...

  • Added: Nov 16, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:59
Caption: Augustin Hadelich
Too different, too innovative: That's what Beethoven's contemporaries thought of his now famous violin concerto! Violinist Augustin Hadelich gives ...

  • Added: Nov 09, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:58
Caption: Alexander Melnikov
Are you melancholic, sanguine, phlegmatic or choleric? No matter your temperament, there's something for you in this 2022 Beethoven Festival concer...

  • Added: Nov 02, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:58
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It's an absolute thrill for any Bach fan to hear his St. Matthew Passion in the place he premiered it: the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. And this i...

  • Added: Oct 27, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:59
Caption: Collegium Marianum
Who isn't awed by the crashing of waves, or calmed by the babbling of a brook? Composers have been inspired by the sound of water for centuries, tr...

  • Added: Oct 19, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:57
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Nature, love, fantasy worlds – people longed for these things during the Romantic era. Composers were no exception, and two of them were the focus ...

  • Added: Oct 13, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:58
Caption: Conductor Ivan Fischer
All people are heroes of their own stories, and music can tell their tales. This idea inspired the 2022 Beethoven Festival's opening concert. The B...

  • Added: Oct 05, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:58
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Like father, like son – or so the saying goes. But how true does this hold for Johann Sebastian Bach and his son Carl Philipp Emanuel? The opening ...

  • Added: Sep 28, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:58
Caption: Daniel Barenboim conducting
In times of war, music can provide a much-needed glimmer of hope – and this special DWFC episode dedicated to Ukraine does just that. It features p...

  • Added: Jun 23, 2022
  • Length: 01:57:59
Caption: The Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 is a force to reckon with. Known as the "Resurrection" symphony, it features both tender moments and apocalyptic one...

  • Added: Dec 22, 2021
  • Length: 01:57:58
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Have you ever wished for a time machine so you could travel back in time? Maybe catch the premiere of a Beethoven Symphony? Then this concert from ...

  • Added: Dec 15, 2021
  • Length: 01:57:59
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Take a walk in the country – with Beethoven! His Symphony No. 6, known as the "Pastoral" Symphony, was his attempt to express not nature itself but...

  • Added: Dec 08, 2021
  • Length: 01:57:58
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Is it possible to tell what's arguably the most told story in the world – the life and works of Jesus Christ – in a fresh, new way? The 2021 Bach F...

  • Added: Dec 02, 2021
  • Length: 01:57:57
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An evening of intimate chamber music in a hydroelectric power plant? You bet! Known as the "Bayreuth of Chamber Music", the Heimbach music festival...

  • Added: Nov 24, 2021
  • Length: 01:57:58