Classic Open Air 2 in Ettal Abbey | Zarathustra – Batiashvili – Liebreich

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Kloster Ettal, Kaiser-Ludwig-Platz 1, 82488 Ettal, Deutschland
Sergej Prokofjew

Romeo and Juliet op. 64 (Excerpts)

Violin Concerto Nr. 2 g-minor op. 63

Richard Strauss

Also sprach Zarathustra op. 30

Alexander Liebreich
Conductor
Brno Philharmonic
Lisa Batiashvili
violin
Concert's gallery

This evening convinces with an exciting programme with works by Strauss and Prokofiev performed by the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Alexander Liebreich. The internationally celebrated violin virtuoso Lisa Batiashvili interprets Sergei Prokofiev's 2nd Violin Concerto. Prokofiev lived and worked in 1922 and 1923 in the municipality of Ettal and had a special relationship with this place. You can also hear excerpts from one of his most popular works, the ballet "Romeo and Juliet". To this composition the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra related in a special way: This orchestra performed the world premiere of this piece in December 1938 at the Mahen Theatre in Brno. In the second part of the evening, the tone poem "Also sprach Zarathustra", one of the most fascinating works by Richard Strauss, will be performed.

In case of bad weather open air concerts will be transferred from the inner courtyard of the Ettal Abbey to the Alpspitzhalle at the Olympic Ice Sports Centre, Am Eisstadion 1, 82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Hotline for weather information on the day of the event: +49.(0)8821.910 5 999

Bus transfer GAP - Ettal - GAP und München - Ettal - München can be booked additionally.

Alexander Liebreich

Alexander Liebreichbecame Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra in September 2018. He also took over as Artistic Director of the Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 2018 which led to him being elected head of the Richard-Strauss-Society, following Wolfgang Sawallisch and Brigitte Fassbaender in this position.

Alexander held the position of Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Munich Chamber Orchestra from 2006 – 2016. Their first collaborative CD, featuring works by Joseph Haydn and Isang Yun, was released to great critical acclaim in January 2008. The recent release “Requiem“ by Tigran Mansurian, with RIAS Kammerchor on the label ECM Classics received nominations for the Grammy Award 2018 and the ICMA Award 2018 in the category “Contemporary Music”.

As a guest conductor, Alexander has worked with many prestigious orchestras including the Concertgebouw Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra and Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich. Recent and future engagements include debuts with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de Valencia and Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

He regularly performs with distinguished soloists such as Lisa Batiashvili, Krystian Zimerman, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Alban Gerhardt, Leila Josefowicz, and Isabelle Faust.

Filharmonie Brno © Filharmonie Brno, 2018
Filharmonie Brno © Filharmonie Brno, 2018

Brno PhilharmonicThe roots of the Brno Philharmonic go back to the 1870s, when the young Leoš Janáček endeavoured to establish a Czech symphony orchestra in Brno. The works of the famous twentieth-century composer constitute the core of the orchestra’s repertory, and to this day the Brno Philharmonic continues to be considered the authentic performer of his oeuvre. The present orchestra was created in 1956 by merging the Brnobased Radio and Regional orchestras, and since then has been among the leading Czech orchestras in terms of both size and importance. On its tours abroad, it has performed about a thousand concerts throughout Europe, the United States of America, Latin America, and both the Middle and Far East. The Philharmonic is a regular guest at festivals in the Czech Republic and abroad, frequently joining forces for these appearances with the excellent Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno. The orchestra regularly records for the Czech Radio, Czech Television and a number of music labels (Supraphon, Sony Music, IMG Records, BMG, Channel 4), and is also receiving a growing number of commissions from global clientele through the agency Czech Orchestra Recordings.

Throughout its history, the orchestra has had a number of Czech and international conductors, including Břetislav Bakala, František Jílek, Petr Altrichter, Jiří Bělohlávek, Jakub Hrůša, Tomáš Netopil, Charles Munch, Kurt Masur, Sir Charles Mackerras, Yehudi Menuhin and Aleksandar Marković. The orchestra offers about hundred concerts a year in 12 subscription series, collaborating with specialised ensembles for its non-orchestral series. The face of each season is the resident artist (previously Olga Kern, Vadim Gluzman, Radek Baborák, Fazil Say, Benjamin Yusupov and Alina Pogostkina), with British cellist Matthew Barley serving the role in the 61st season. Since 2000 the Philharmonic has been organising the open-air summer festival at the Špilberk castle in Brno, and in 2012 has become the organiser of the renowned traditional festivals Moravian Autumn, Easter Festival of Sacred Music and Exposition of New Music. The orchestra sponsors the internationally lauded children’s choir Kantiléna, has been involved since 2010 in the popular educational project Mozart’s Children, and in 2014 founded the Brno Philharmonic Academy.
Today Brno Philharmonic is not only a strong player in the field of symphonic music at home and abroad, but also the primary organiser of the musical season in the second largest Czech city, an active instigator of festivals and a creative leader in orchestral programming. Its home is the beautiful building of Besední dům, the Brno counterpart to Vienna’s Musikverein, built in 1873 according to a design by Theophil Hansen, though the orchestra is now looking forward to its new modern concert hall.

LisaBatiashvili © Sammy Hart
LisaBatiashvili © Sammy Hart

Lisa BatiashviliLisa Batiashvili, Musical America’s 2015 Instrumentalist of the Year, is this season’s Artist-in-Residence with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome). Praised by audiences and fellow musicians for her virtuosity and “profound sensitivity” (Financial Times), the Georgian-born violinist, who has lived in Germany for over 25 years, has developed long-standing relationships with some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Berliner Philharmoniker, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and London Symphony Orchestra.
In the 2017/18 season Lisa will perform the UK premiere of Anders Hillborg’s Violin Concerto No.2 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Sarkari Oramo); the concerto was written for and premiered by Lisa in 2016/17 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Órchestra and Sakari Oramo. As part of her residency with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, she will perform concertos by Tchaikovsky (Antonio Pappano), and Prokofiev (Manfred Honeck), as well as Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe (Francois Leleux). Later in the season, Lisa will debut with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, and tour Europe with the Gustav Mahler Jugend Orchester (Vladimir Jurowski and Lorenzo Viotti), the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Antonio Pappano), and Dresden Staatskapelle (Alan Gilbert). Other performance highlights include the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla), Munich Philharmonic (Alan Gilbert), and Sydney Symphony (Dima Slobodeniouk).

Last season Lisa was Artist-in-Residence with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as well as Portrait Artist of the Bamberger Symphoniker. She had first-time collaborations with Gustavo Dudamel and Michael Tilson Thomas, as well performances with Christian Thielemann, Andrés Orozco-Estrada and Sir Simon Rattle all of whom she collaborates with regularly.
Recording exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon, Lisa’s latest album, a recording of the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius violin concertos with Daniel Barenboim and Staatskapelle Berlin, received international critical acclaim. Earlier recordings include the Brahms Violin Concerto with Staatskapelle Dresden (Christian Thielemann), and Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1 with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Esa-Pekka Salonen). She has also recorded the Beethoven, Sibelius and Lindberg concertos for Sony. In 2016, EuroArts released a DVD of Lisa’s live Waldbühner performance of Bartok Violin Concerto 1 with Berliner Philharmoniker (Yannick Nezet-Seguin).
A student of Ana Chumachenco and Mark Lubotsky, Lisa gained international recognition at age 16 as the youngest-ever competitor in the Sibelius Competition. She has been awarded two ECHO Klassik awards, the MIDEM Classical Award, the Choc de l’année, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana International Prize, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival’s Leonard Bernstein Award and the Beethoven-Ring.
Lisa lives in Munich and plays a Joseph Guarneri “del Gesu” from 1739, generously loaned by a private collector.