Symphony Concert N° 3
Return of the Firebird
gespielte Werke
Karol Szymanowski
- Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 61
Igor Strawinsky
- “L’Oiseau de feu” (“The Firebird”)
Mitwirkende
- Robin Ticciati Conductor
- Leonidas Kavakos Violin
Two works that represent the Modernist era: iridescent, kaleidoscopic and coursing with vitality. Karol Szymanowski’s Second Violin Concerto from 1933 was written in close collaboration with the violinist Paweł Kochański. The work combines technical virtuosity with a loose formal structure that seems almost improvisatory. The soloist, Leonidas Kavakos, is an acclaimed interpreter of this repertoire. Commissioned in 1910 for the Ballets Russes, Igor Stravinsky’s »The Firebird« made his name practically overnight. With its fairy-tale narrative and luminous orchestral palette, the work blends Russian folklore, rhythmic vitality and tonal refinement to spellbinding effect, and has lost none of its potency.
Igor Strawinsky:
»Der Feuervogel«»Strawinskys Musik wirkt wie kaum eine andere aus sich selbst heraus und bedarf somit keiner Interpretation. Dennoch treibt uns Musiker der Wunsch an, die ganze Bandbreite des musikalischen Ausdrucks hineinzulegen – sie kann gar nicht dramatisch, tänzerisch oder einfach schön genug gespielt werden! Die Berceuse (Wiegenlied) aus dem ›Feuervogel‹ ist eines meiner absoluten Lieblingssoli!«
Erik Reike
stellv. Solo-Fagottist
- Saturday7.11.2619:00 UhrSemperoperTicket price:
27 – 78 € - Sunday8.11.2611:00 UhrSemperoperTicket price:
23 – 82 € - Monday9.11.2619:00 UhrSemperoperTicket price:
12 – 58 €
A concert introduction will be offered 45 minutes before the beginning of each performance in the opera cellar of the Semperoper.
Robin Ticciati
Robin Ticciati OBE is Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Honorary Member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He was Music Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin from 2017 - 24 and Principal Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra from 2009 – 18.
He is a regular guest conductor with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Other recent highlights have included appearances with the Berliner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Dresden Staatskapelle. In the US, he has appeared with The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
This season, Robin returns to the Wiener Philharmoniker, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and at the BBC Proms with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He makes debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and with the Montreal and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras.
A renowned opera conductor, he has led productions at Teatro alla Scala Milan, Staatsoper Berlin and the Metropolitain Opera, New York. This season, he debuts at the Wiener Staatsoper (Carmelites), future plans include his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper.
Leonidas Kavakos
Leonidas Kavakos is recognised across the world as a violinist and artist of rare quality. Acclaimed for his captivating artistry, superb musicianship, matchless technique and the integrity of his playing, Kavakos performs with the world’s leading orchestras as both soloist and conductor, and in recital at the world’s premier venues.
In 2022 Kavakos founded the ApollΩn Ensemble, a chamber group of elite Greek musicians who are in increasing demand internationally, and in 2025 he takes over as the Artistic Director of the “Classic Revolution” Festival at Lotte Concert Hall, Seoul.
Highlights of Kavakos’s 25/26 season include performances with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, NHK Symphony, NDR Symphony, Santa Cecilia, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and conducting engagements with Czech Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Barcelona Symphony and Minnesota
orchestras. He appears in recital in London, Milan, Oslo, Budapest, Zagreb and elsewhere; with the ApollΩn Ensemble he performs at the Edinburgh International, Verbier, Santander festivals, London’s Wigmore Hall and Vienna’s Musikverein.
Kavakos's extensive and award-winning discography includes the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Riccardo Chailly (Decca), and the Beethoven Violin Concerto which he also conducted with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Sony Classical). He was named ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year for his recording of the complete Beethoven Sonatas with Enrico Pace. With Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma, Kavakos has released a series of trio recordings to the highest critical acclaim. With the ApollΩn Ensemble, he has recorded Bach’s Violin Concertos.
Kavakos curates an annual violin and chamber music masterclass in Athens, where he was born and brought up in a musical family. In 2022, He was elected by the Academy of Athens as a member of the Chair of Music in the Second Class of Letters and Fine Arts for his services to music. In 2024, he was appointed professor of violin at the Basel Academy of Music.
Kavakos plays the ‘Willemotte’ Stradivari violin of 1734.
