Speaking Drums
Two solo concerts in the symphony concert with the university orchestra in the Weimarhalle
This time there will be no overture, but instead two solo concerts: the orchestra of the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar invites you to a musical presentation of its intensive semester rehearsals. The symphony concert will take place on Thursday, December 7 at 7:30 pm in the Weimarhalle.
The varied program includes the percussion concerto "Speaking Drums" by Péter Eötvös, the second cello concerto by Dmitri Shostakovich and the sixth symphony by Peter I. Tchaikovsky.
The soloist in the percussion concerto is Barnabás Fekete from Prof. Markus Leoson's percussion class. The Hungarian found his way to classical percussion via jazz and playing in various bands. He currently has a temporary contract as a solo percussionist with the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra.
The soloist in the cello concerto by Dmitri Shostakovich is Ildikó Szabó from the class of Prof. Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. The cellist also comes from Hungary, has already performed in major concert halls from the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles - and currently teaches chamber music at "her" Weimar University of Music. The university orchestra will perform under the direction of its chief conductor Prof. Nicolás Pasquet.
Tickets cost 20 euros, concessions 15 euros, and are available from the Weimar Tourist Information Office and at the box office. University members can obtain 5-euro tickets in advance on presentation of their "thoska" at the Tourist Information Office.
The percussion concert "Speaking Drums" by the renowned contemporary composer Péter Eötvös - also a Hungarian - is inspired by Indian music and jazz, among other things. In addition to the large percussion apparatus, sound poems by the Hungarian poet Sándor Weöres and the ancient Indian Jayadeva also play a central role. The soloist recites short words and lets the drums "repeat" them. The result is an emotional dialog with a question-and-answer game between the soloist, his instruments and the orchestra. Later, the music escalates into a goblin-like ecstasy complete with a timpani cadenza.
Dmitri Shostakovich's Cello Concerto is followed by Peter I. Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B minor op. 74 "Pathétique" as the main symphonic work of the evening. At the time of its composition, Tchaikovsky was at the height of his success, celebrated internationally for his works. Inevitability establishes itself as the motto of the first movement. The lively, at times heroic third movement often achieves the effect of a finale. However, for the first time in music history, a symphony ends with a consistently slow movement and dies away into nothingness.
[16 November 2023]