8th Philharmonic Concert

MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY / DUBUGNON

TIME PLAY EIGHT: FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY / RICHARD DUBUGNON: Violin Concerto in E minor op. 64 I. Allegro molto appassionato / II. 'Ghost movement' op. 98 (transcription by Richard Dubugnon, premiere) / III. Allegro molto vivace

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major “Titan”

Violine und Dirigent: Julian Rachlin
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

Julian Rachlin

Rachlin is a much sought-after symphonic guest conductor worldwide. Highlights of recent seasons include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.As a violinist, he has shared the stage with the world's most prestigious orchestras and conductors. Recent highlights include appearances with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Klaus Mäkelä, Philharmonia Orchestra with Santtu-Matias Rouvali, National Symphony Orchestra and Gianandrea Noseda, Munich Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra with Zubin Metha, St.Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra with Yuri Termirkanov, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, RAI National Symphony Orchestra with Andres Orozco-Estrada, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orcheste Symphonique de Montréal and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra with Manfred Honeck.A strong proponent of expanding the relevance of classical music within today’s cultural framework, Mr. Rachlin’s projects with living composers and cross-media collaborations have brought together artists from a variety of disciplines, backgrounds and genres. He has worked closely with, and premiered works of, Krzysztof Penderecki, Giya Kancheli, Vangelis and Lera Auerbach. In 2000, he joined Mstislav Rostropovich in the premiere of Penderecki’s Sextet and Penderecki later wrote and dedicated the Concerto Doppio for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra as well as the Ciaccona for Violin and Viola to Mr. Rachlin. He had appeared in films, collaborated with digital instillation artists, and has worked with noted personalities, such as John Malkovich, Sir Roger Moore, and Gerard Depardieu.Rachlin’s renowned music festivals reflect his joie de vivre and passion for bringing great artists and international audiences together in a celebration of music and art. He frequently collaborates with longtime musical partners, Martha Argerich, Evgeny Kissin, Denis Matsuev, Janine Jansen and Mischa Maisky. His untiring work and dedication for his "Julian Rachlin & Friends" festival in Dubrovnik, Croatia that ran for over a decade, has been recognized worldwide.Julian Rachlin has also been Artistic Director of the HERBSTGOLD-Festival at the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria, since 2021.Dedicated to educating and supporting young talent, Mr. Rachlin founded the Julian Rachlin and Friends Foundation ("The Julian Rachlin & Friends Circle") to help nurture the careers of extraordinary young musicians. Since 1999, Mr. Rachlin has served as a faculty member and professor at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien (MUK).Mr. Rachlin is the recipient of numerous awards recognizing his work in the field of classical music, including as an Accademia Musicale Chigiana Siena Prize laureate and a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund. In 2013, Mr. Rachlin performed alongside Zubin Mehta and the Bavarian State Orchestra at the historic "Peace for Kashmir” concert at the Mugal-era Shalimar Gardens in Srinagar, Kashmir, the first ever performance by a Western orchestra in that region.Born in Lithuania, Rachlin emigrated to Vienna with his family at the age of three, where he studied violin under the renowned Boris Kuschnir at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien and received private lessons from Pinchas Zukerman in New York City. Mr. Rachlin also completed conducting studies with Maestro Mariss Jansons, Sophie Rachlin and was mentored by Maestro Daniele Gatti.

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

Orchestra

The Philharmonic State Orchestra is Hamburg’s largest and oldest orchestra, looking back on many years of musical history. When the “Philharmonic Orchestra” and the “Orchestra of the Hamburg Municipal Theatre” merged in 1934, two tradition-steeped orchestras combined. Philharmonic concerts have been performed in Hamburg since 1828, artists such as Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms being regular guests of the Philharmonic Society. The history of the opera company goes back even further: Hamburg has been home to musical theatre since 1678, even if a regular opera or theatre orchestra was only formed later. To this day, the Philharmonic State Orchestra has embodied the sound of the Hansa City, a concert and opera orchestra in one.

During its long history, the orchestra encountered great artist personalities. Apart from composers of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, such as Telemann, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Mahler, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, since the 20th century chief conductors such as Karl Muck, Joseph Keilberth, Eugen Jochum, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Aldo Ceccato, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gerd Albrecht, Ingo Metzmacher and Simone Young have shaped the orchestra’s sound. Renowned conductors of the pre-war era such as Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Karl Böhm and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt gave brilliant performances, as did outstanding conductors of our times: suffice it to mention Christian Thielemann, Semyon Bychkov, Kirill Petrenko, Adam Fischer and Sir Roger Norrington.

Starting with the 2015/2016 season, Kent Nagano has taken on the position of Hamburg’s General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra and the Hamburg State Opera and since June 2023 also its honorary conductor. In his first season Kent Nagano initiated a new project, the Philharmonic Academy, focusing on experimentation and chamber music. In 2016, Nagano and the Philharmonic toured South America, followed by concert tours to Spain and Japan in 2019, and in the spring of 2023, the Philharmonic State Orchestra made its debut at New York's Carnegie Hall under his direction, which was acclaimed by audiences and the press. Since 2017 Kent Nagano and the Philharmonic State Orchestra have continued the traditional Philharmonic Concerts at the new Elbphilharmonie, for which they commissioned Jörg Widmann to compose the oratorio ARCHE, which was given its world premiere during the hall’s opening festivities. The concert recording has been released by ECM, for which Widmann received the OPUS KLASSIK as Composer of the Year 2019, and ARCHE was performed again in 2023 to great acclaim.

The Philharmonic State Orchestra offers approximately 35 concerts per season and performs more than 240 performances per year at the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier, making it Hamburg’s busiest orchestra. The stylistic bandwidth covered by the 140 musicians, ranging from historically informed performance practice to contemporary works and including concert, opera and ballet repertoire, is unique throughout Germany. Chamber Music has a long tradition at the Philharmonic State Orchestra: what began in 1929 with a concert series for chamber orchestra has been continued since 1968 by a series of chamber music only.

In 2008 Simone Young and the Philharmonic State Orchestra won the Brahms Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society. The orchestra has recorded the complete Ring by Wagner as well as the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner – the latter in the rarely-performed original versions – as well as works by Mahler, Hindemith and Berg, and has released DVDs of opera and ballet productions by Hosokawa, Offenbach, Reimann, Auerbach, J.S. Bach, Puccini, Poulenc and Weber.

The members of the Philharmonic State Orchestra feel equally beholden to Hamburg’s musical tradition and responsible for the city’s artistic future. Since 1978 the musicians have been participating in education programmes in Hamburg’s schools. Today, the orchestra maintains a broad education programme, including school and kindergarten visits, patronage for music projects, introductory events for children and family concerts. The orchestra’s own academy prepares young musicians for their professional careers. The Philharmonic’s musicians thereby make an equally enjoyable and valuable contribution to tomorrow’s music education in the music metropolis of Hamburg.

The Hamburg State Orchestra's philharmonic concerts become ZeitSpielen and transcend the boundaries of the ordinary: In this concert, Richard Dubugnon's compositional interpretation of Mendelssohn's essence will be heard - for the second movement of his violin concerto will be replaced by a new composition from his pen, inspired by the original. We encounter Mendelssohn Bartholdy today as a mirror of the past and at the same time, through Dubugnon, as part of the here and now! This musical game without fear of contact opens up new perspectives on our musical culture, our way of thinking and being, on our way of receiving music.

“I will try to capture the essence of Mendelssohn's violin concerto and imagine how it might sound in the future, as if Mendelssohn's spirit were dictating the new version to me through a medium.” RICHARD DUBUGNON