MDR Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk
Leipzig (ots)
At the start of the new year, the MDR Symphony Orchestra offers a touch of the wicked glamor of the “Golden 20s” with “Tonight or Never”. The mix of hits from film, revue and operetta promises the best entertainment – on January 3, 7 p.m., live at Felsenkeller in Leipzig and on January 7, 4:20 p.m., on MDR television. Prior to this, Beethoven’s 9th symphony – including with the MDR radio choir – can be experienced live on December 31, 5 p.m., from the Leipzig Gewandhaus on MDR television and on MDR radio (DAB+ and online at MDR KLASSIK).
The hits of the “Roaring Twenties” are evidence of a seething era between shimmy and foxtrot, in which Marlene Dietrich caused ecstasy with “I’m set on love from head to toe”. This classic was written by Friedrich Hollaender, who – like most composers of this genre – was forced into exile after 1933. Hollaender, who was previously one of the best-known entertainers along with Willy Rosen, Hugo Hirsch and Paul Abraham, worked with writers such as Tucholsky and Ringelnatz and with musicians such as Spoliansky and Wachsmann (later Waxman). The latter succeeded as celebrated film composers in London and Hollywood a second career after their emigration.
Soprano Tanja Kuhn, baritone Carl Rumstadt and tenor Mirko Roschkowski can be seen on January 3rd in the Felsenkeller in Leipzig and on January 7th at 4:20 p.m. on MDR television with the MDR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Florian Ludwig.
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor op. 125 live from the Gewandhaus in Leipzig
The idea of performing Beethoven’s 9th symphony at the turn of the year was born in Leipzig immediately after the inferno of the First World War. At that time, the Arbeiter-Bildungs-Institut engaged none other than the Gewandhauskapellmeister Arthur Nikisch with his Gewandhausorchester for its year-end celebration. The concert began on New Year’s Eve 1918 at around 11 p.m. so that the New Year could be greeted on time with the final chorus. Schiller’s ode “To Joy” with the call “All men will be brothers” was more relevant than ever at the turn of the year. Nikisch’s successors, the Gewandhaus Kapellmeister Wilhelm Furtwängler and Bruno Walter, took over this tradition. Even in radio, which was still young at the time, the work could already be heard on New Year’s Eve at the end of the 1920s. This background is also highlighted in the podcast “World History on the Doorstep” in the feature episode “Beethoven’s Ninth Becomes a New Year’s Eve Tradition”. It can be heard on December 30th at 12:10 p.m. on MDR KULTUR and now in the ARD Audiothek.
The festive performance at the end of the year in the Leipzig Gewandhaus will be broadcast live on television and radio on MDR – on Saturday, December 31, 2022, from 5 p.m. The concert can then be seen in the ARD media library for 30 days – it can also be heard in the ARD audio library.
“The Ring of the Nibelung” in concert with the Dresden Philharmonic from December 27th to 30th. at MDR KLASSIK and MDR KULTUR
MDR KLASSIK and MDR KULTUR are coming up with another highlight at the turn of the year: performing Wagner’s “Ring des Nibelungen” opera tetralogy in concert was originally a project with which the Dresden Philharmonic wanted to celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2020. Due to the pandemic, it was postponed by two years and could finally be realized this autumn. For the Dresden Philharmonic it was the first “Ring” in its history. With chief conductor Marek Janowski, a proven Wagner expert stood at the podium. Richard Wagner’s tetralogy with the operas Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung was performed on four evenings in September and October in Dresden’s Kulturpalast. An ensemble of vocal soloists and the MDR Radio Choir came to the Dresden Philharmonic.
MDR KLASSIK, as a cooperation partner, accompanied the extraordinary production and, together with MDR KULTUR, will broadcast the “Ring” tetralogy from December 27th to 30th from 7:05 p.m.!
Press contact:
MDR, Press and Information, Tel.: (0341) 3 00 64 55,
Email: [email protected], Twitter: @MDRpresse
Original content from: MDR Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, transmitted by news aktuell
