Dates and tickets
Unfortunately, no further dates are planned for this production.
Overview
General Music Director Stephan Zilias takes a look at Hanover’s tradition: with the most famous overture by his composing predecessor Heinrich Marschner (whose opera Der Vampyr will also be rediscovered for the opera stage in March 2022), a violin concerto that Johannes Brahms wrote for the long-standing Hanoverian concert master Joseph Joachim, and the large-scale tone poem Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss, who is probably the most frequently performed composer of the past 100 years.
Tobias Feldmann, award winner of the Hanover International Violin Competition, will return to the Opera House as the soloist of the Brahms-concerto – he also has close links to the city and the orchestra.
Living Tradition
The State Orchestra of Lower Saxony Hanover has a long tradition – it was founded in 1636 as a royal court orchestra. Every history of the orchestra traces the line of famous composers and conductors they have worked with; the orchestra corridor in the basement of the Opera House is decorated with a long row of ancestral portraits from more than 300 years. What do all these people (most of them white, German men) have to do with the orchestra of 2021, which includes musicians from 14 countries and nearly as many women as men? Why do we feel that our history is our living present?
Classical music makes notes that were written in former times resound in the Here and Now. It allows the past come to life – no matter how old the music is. And so the tradition of an orchestra is part of the identity of today’s musicians. They are standing – whether it is with pride or criticism, consciously or unknowingly – on the shoulders of previous orchestra members who lived in the same city, sat in the same orchestra pit, played in the same opera house.
Marschner, Brahms, Strauss
Heinrich Marschner, whose monument stands on Hanover’s Opernplatz, was the Opera’s musical director for 28 years during the 19th century. Under his leadership, the violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim was appointed the orchestra’s concert master – and not only the International Violin Competition was named after him, but also the bar located in the Opera House’s first circle!
During his first year in Hanover, Joachim met the young composer Johannes Brahms. Joachim and Brahms became life-long friends; the violinist was a congenial adviser and widely connected supporter. As concert director of the Opera House, Joachim regularly included works of the Hamburg-born composer in the programme and Brahms, on his part, wrote his only violin concerto for Joachim.
Richard Strauss, too, has inscribed himself into the orchestra’s DNA. He frequently conducted here in the early 20th century, and over the past 100 years, his works have been part of Hanover’s steady, often performed and highly appreciated concert repertoire.
Tobias Feldmann, award winner of the Hanover International Violin Competition, will return to the Opera House as the soloist of the Brahms-concerto – he also has close links to the city and the orchestra.
Living Tradition
The State Orchestra of Lower Saxony Hanover has a long tradition – it was founded in 1636 as a royal court orchestra. Every history of the orchestra traces the line of famous composers and conductors they have worked with; the orchestra corridor in the basement of the Opera House is decorated with a long row of ancestral portraits from more than 300 years. What do all these people (most of them white, German men) have to do with the orchestra of 2021, which includes musicians from 14 countries and nearly as many women as men? Why do we feel that our history is our living present?
Classical music makes notes that were written in former times resound in the Here and Now. It allows the past come to life – no matter how old the music is. And so the tradition of an orchestra is part of the identity of today’s musicians. They are standing – whether it is with pride or criticism, consciously or unknowingly – on the shoulders of previous orchestra members who lived in the same city, sat in the same orchestra pit, played in the same opera house.
Marschner, Brahms, Strauss
Heinrich Marschner, whose monument stands on Hanover’s Opernplatz, was the Opera’s musical director for 28 years during the 19th century. Under his leadership, the violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim was appointed the orchestra’s concert master – and not only the International Violin Competition was named after him, but also the bar located in the Opera House’s first circle!
During his first year in Hanover, Joachim met the young composer Johannes Brahms. Joachim and Brahms became life-long friends; the violinist was a congenial adviser and widely connected supporter. As concert director of the Opera House, Joachim regularly included works of the Hamburg-born composer in the programme and Brahms, on his part, wrote his only violin concerto for Joachim.
Richard Strauss, too, has inscribed himself into the orchestra’s DNA. He frequently conducted here in the early 20th century, and over the past 100 years, his works have been part of Hanover’s steady, often performed and highly appreciated concert repertoire.