Events

Alan Gilbert, Conductor

Joshua Bell, Violin

Programme:

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major, Op. 35

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor

The NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra has probably the most exclusive and famous 'home' in the world – the futuristic building built on a giant grain silo on the port docks – also a new trademark of Hamburg – the Elbphilharmonie! But that orchestra, one of the most prestigious in its homeland of Germany, but also in the world, can also boast of an incredible musical heritage, top musicians-interpreters and conductors who have led that musical collective that has included the best of the best! Good connoisseurs of classical music know what giants of conducting interpretation we are talking about when we mention Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Günter Wand, Christoph Eschenbach or Thomas Hengelbrock, chief conductors of the Orchestra throughout its history! The latest one in that line, Alan Gilbert, a native New Yorker and long-time Chief Conductor of the New York Philharmonic (currently also Music Director of the Swedish Royal Opera), is a big name in the global music and opera scene today! However, legendary American violinist Joshua Bell will be primus inter pares in this magnificent concert! One of the most famous violin talents and a paradigm of child prodigy in the history of music, Bell already gave concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti at the age of fourteen, he was seventeen when he first performed at Carnegie Hall, and he won his first Grammy at the age of twenty-five. Despite the magnificent career of one of the world’s most famous violinists, it was only after an experiment that Bell became famous in the world of 'mere mortals’. He played incognito as an ordinary street musician in a Washington DC metro station and earned only $52.17! In addition to performing in critically acclaimed concerts all over the world, Joshua Bell also serves as Music Director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the orchestra he regularly appears with on all continents. Bell's violin – the Gibson ex-Huberman Stradivarius – is also famous and also one of the most expensive in the world – a miracle in itself!  It was stolen twice, then found and recovered, while it was owned by one of the greatest violinists in history, Bronisław Huberman! If we also mention that Joshua Bell will perform probably the world's most famous violin concerto – the one by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – and that we will hear Gustav Mahler's grand Symphony No. 5 - then all has been said!