On 7 April, a recital by Christian Gerhaher, one of the finest contemporary interpreters of Lied, will begin the 23rd Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw. He will replace the previously announced baritone Matthias Goerne, who cancelled his appearance at the festival for health reasons. Christian Gerhaher, who has an exclusive partnership with Sony Music, has recorded selected cycles of Schubert, Schumann and Mahler’s songs for this label. Together with pianist Gerold Huber, he is launching a project to record the complete Schumann songs. His interpretations of the German Romantic lyric are widely regarded as exemplary. Christian Gerhaher was the first singer ever to serve as artist-in-residence with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. During the recital in Warsaw he will perform one of the most important cycles in the history of Romantic song – Schubert’s Winterreise. The artist, considered a worthy successor to the great Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, will give his first performance in Poland.
The central theme of this year’s edition, “Beethoven and the Songs of Romanticism” gives audiences a unique opportunity to hear many works that are rarely heard on the concert stage, and to meet outstanding vocalists such as Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Aga Mikolaj, Ekaterina Scherbachenko, Benjamin Bruns, Dietrich Henschel, Raymond Ayers, Steve Davislim, Michael Kupfer-Radecky.
During the event held until 19 April, 12 symphonic concerts, 4 chamber concerts, 2 song recitals and a concert for children will take place in Warsaw. Elżbieta Penderecka, the General Director of the Festival, has invited outstanding Polish and foreign philharmonic orchestras and an array of internationally acclaimed soloists, among them pianists Rudolf Buchbinder, Beatrice Rana, Mackenzie Melemed, and violinists Pekka Kuusisto and Francesco Manara.
The most eagerly awaited concerts include those by the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under Paavo Järvi, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under Susanna Mälkki, the orchestra’s Chief Conductor, the Dresdner Philharmonie led by Michael Sanderling, and the Korean KBS Symphony Orchestra with its Artistic Director Yoël Levi. The renowned Shanghai Quartet will give the first three chamber concerts in its series of Beethoven: Complete String Quartets, which will be continued next year to mark the 250th birth anniversary of the master from Bonn in 2020.
The regular concerts are accompanied by cyclic accompanying events: the Exhibition of Musical Manuscripts at the Jagiellonian Library in Kraków (open from 1 April) and the International Symposium that addresses the central theme of the Festival, as well as Urszula Kryger’s vocal master class. The Festival is announced by Kinga Nowak’s poster.
The 23rd Ludwig van Beethoven Festival is held under the Honorary Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland. The project is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as well as by the City of Warsaw. LOTTO is the Main Partner of the Festival and PKN Orlen SA is the Patron of the Festival.
