European American Music Distributors Company is a member of the Schott Music Group

Kurt Weill Fest 2014: "New Horizons: Weill & the Media"

Feb. 03, 2014

Kurt Weill Fest 2014: "New Horizons: Weill & the Media"

The Kurt Weill Fest Dessau, held annually in Weill’s birthplace, focuses this year on Weill as an early pioneer of radio with the theme, “New Horizons: Weill & the Media.” Highlights include performances of Der Lindberghflug and Das Berliner Requiem, the Violin Concerto, Filmszene aus Royal Palace, a new suite of Weill songs arranged for solo violin and orchestra featuring violinist Daniel Hope, and the current Staatsoperette Dresden stage production of The Firebrand of Florence. The festival runs from February 21 through March 9, with a variety of concerts, staged performances, exhibitions, lectures, films, and radio broadcasts. The 2014 Artist-in-Residence is Antony Hermus, principal conductor of the Anhaltische Philharmonic Orchestra Dessau. Read on for a list of this year’s highlights:

Der Lindberghflug
Weill’s 35-minute cantata for tenor, baritone, and bass soloists, SATB chorus and orchestra, with a text by Bertolt Brecht, premiered in 1929 and explores the story of the Charles Lindbergh’s famous trans-Atlantic flight. Paired with works by Hindemith and Edmund Meisel, The Lindbergh Flight is performed in the opening night concert by soloists, chorus, and philharmonic orchestra of the Anhaltishes Theater Dessau, led by Antony Hermus.
February 21.

Das Berliner Requiem
Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, op 12 
Kleine Dreigroschenmusik
Performed by the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin and conducted by John Kalitze, this evening highlights three Weill works for wind orchestra. Tenor Hans Schöpflin, baritone Bernhard Hansky, and bass Bogdan Talos perform Weill’s 1929 radio cantata, The Berlin Requiem, set to poems by Brecht; Gabriel Adorjan is the featured violinist in the Violin Concerto; and the wind ensemble is the star in Weill’s popular suite from The Threepenny Opera. Also on the program are two works by Franz Schreker.
February 23.

Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, op 12 
Filmszene aus Royal Palace
Two previous festival Artists-in-Residence, Ensemble Modern and conductor James Holmes, offer an evening of Weill, Gershwin, and more, featuring Weill’s Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra and a chamber version of his Film Scene from Royal Palace. Royal Palace, a one-act modernist opera written with lyric poet Iwan Goll, was Weill’s first composition to incorporate popular dance forms, tango rhythms and jazz elements.
February 28.

Filmszene aus Royal Palace
Kurt Weill: Fantasy for Violin
Renowned violinist Daniel Hope joins conductor Yutaka Sado and the MDR Symphony Orchestra for a concert of Weill, Debussy, Prokofiev, and Ravel. In addition to Weill’s Film Scene from Royal Palace, Hope premieres a new suite of Weill songs arranged for solo violin and orchestra.
March 7.

The Firebrand of Florence 
Staatsoper Dresden brings its delightful stage production of Weill’s 1945 Broadway operetta The Firebrand of Florence (lyrics by Ira Gershwin) to Dessau for the grand finale to the festival. Directed by Holger Hauer and conducted by Andreas Schüller, Firebrand continues to run in repertory in Dresden through May 11.
March 8-9.

For more information on the Kurt Weill Fest Dessau, please visit www.kurt-weill.de.

Further information on Kurt Weill can be found at www.kwf.org.

News