DW Radio and PRX present a season of Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts featuring the freshest, most exciting live classical music performances from Germany. Starting in October 2021, our new host, Cristina Burack, takes you to the country's best classical music festivals over 13 episodes, as well as bring you selected highlights from exceptional concerts. You'll also hear directly from the musicians, conductors and festival directors, as they share exclusive behind-the-scenes insight into the pieces and performances.
The new concerts date from October 2021 to December 2021, and each episode is one hour and 58 minutes long. The series offers ideal flexibility, as you can broadcast the entire season, creating a regular listening experience, or use episodes individually as needed.
As in so many other parts of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted cultural life in Germany. Many festivals could take place only digitally or with very few audience members present. Yet despite these challenges, Germany had a successful and very special festival season – one that was imbued with enthusiasm from the audiences and emotional performances by the musicians. Everyone was energized and moved by sharing live music again. We are bringing you these unique concert experiences in the new episodes of Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts (DWFC).
An exceptional musical reunion took place around Eastertime 2021. As part of a pilot project to safely reopen concert halls, the Berlin Philharmonic presented Tchaikovsky's fantasy overture from "Romeo and Juliet" and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 in E minor under the direction of chief conductor Kirill Petrenko.
It was also a year of important anniversaries, with the Mozart Festival in Würzburg celebrating its 100th anniversary this past summer. For the celebration, violinist Renaud Capuçon and violist Gérard Caussé performed on instruments that had belonged to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart himself. It was a once-in-a-lifetime event as the instruments almost never leave the Austrian private collection of the foundation that owns them. The soloists performed alongside the Camerata Salzburg and under the direction of German composer, conductor and clarinetist Jörg Widmann. The program also included Mozart's Fantasia for a Mechanical Organ and his famous "Jupiter" Symphony.
The world-renowned Bach Festival in Leipzig chose "Salvation" as its 2021 theme. Exceptional Bach choirs like the Thomaner Choir performed various cantatas and oratorios, including excerpts from the composer's festive Christmas Oratorio.
Tempest-tossed voyages over blowing seas, sparse winter landscapes shimmering with snow: Such dramatic scenes will take shape before your eyes when listening to the evocative opening concert of the Rheingau Music Festival. The program featured early and late Romantic works by Felix Mendelssohn and Jean Sibelius.
The Beethoven Festival in Bonn continues to be a special focus of the Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts series. This year was a busy one for the festival, as it made up for last year's pandemic-related cancelations, which had coincided with celebrations for Beethoven's 250th birthday anniversary. The 2021 festival motto, "Rise again, yes, rise again…" perfectly expressed the revival of its musical activity.
Starting August 20, leading European orchestras, such as the period instrument ensemble Le Concert des Nations under Jordi Savall, made appearances in Bonn, the composer's birthplace. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performed under the 94-year-old legend Herbert Blomstedt, while the Chamber Orchestra of Basel, with star violinist Caroline Widmann and conductor Sylvain Cambreling, was also part of the celebration program. Rare gems by Franz Liszt and Alexander Skrjabin and a critically acclaimed contemporary work by organist Cameron Carpenter met in a concert whose theme was the Greek hero Prometheus. And the young French conductor Maxime Pascal directed the renowned Mahler Chamber Orchestra in a thrilling performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 2, the "Resurrection" Symphony.
These exciting new episodes are available, as are some from the winter of 2021.
Stations may subscribe to the full series via PRX SubAuto or download individual episodes, including those from the past season where the rights window is still open.
(Our next season will start in October 2022)
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DW Radio and PRX present a season of Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts featuring the freshest, most exciting live classical music performances from Germany. Starting in October 2021, our new host, Cristina Burack, takes you to the country's best classical music festivals over 13 episodes, as well as bring you selected highlights from exceptional concerts. You'll also hear directly from the musicians, conductors and festival directors, as they share exclusive behind-the-scenes insight into the pieces and performances. The new concerts date from October 2021 to December 2021, and each episode is one hour and 58 minutes long. The series offers ideal flexibility, as you can broadcast the entire season, creating a regular listening experience, or use episodes individually as needed. As in... Show full description
