Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Our music making a splash in Berlin

Long have I complained of the dearth of American music presented by our nation's orchestras especially when on tour to Europe.  My own (limited) experience is that audiences from Karlsbad to Pskov are thrilled about the music of our country primarily as it is so unknown to them and their "home" ensembles, dedicated primarily (I suppose) to dead white European males.

This good news comes from Musikfest Berlin 2012 of the Berliner Festspiele, August 31 to September 18.  The program is largely American and includes John Adams Nixon in China as well as Porgy and Bess.  This from the festival's news release:

Opening Musikfest Berlin 2012 on 31 August will be the premiere appearance in the Philharmonie of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Kent Nagano and with Thomas Hampson and Chen Reiss as soloists. This festival upbeat is dedicated to the grand old man of American music, Charles Ives. This year’s program penetrates deeply into the world of American music. Offered will be works by Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Morton Feldman, by Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Rachmaninov, as well as Stockhausen’s “Hymnen mit Orchester,” dedicated to the American people, and Hans Werner Henze’s “Cuban” 6th Symphony. The Ensemble Modern and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie will present “Apartment House 1776,” a pivotal work by John Cage in a production prepared exclusively for Musikfest Berlin.

Also appearing on the festival will be the St. Louis Symphony under the baton of its very talented conductor, David Robertson.

It looks like a late summer trip to Berlin is in order!  For more information, see here.

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