Sinfonieorchester Basel
Lucas and Arthur Jussen, piano
Ivor Bolton, conductor

Johannes Brahms
Symphony No. 2 D-Dur, op. 73 (1877)

Unsuk Chin
Alaraph ‹Ritus des Herzschlags› for Orchestera (2022), world premiere and commission by the Sinfonieorchester Basel, the Concertgebouworkest, the National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan and the San Francisco Symphony

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Concerto for two Pianos and Orchestra in E major, MWV O 5 (1823)

6.45 pm: Concert introduction with Hans-Georg Hofmann in the Hans Huber-Saal

On her 18th birthday, Fanny Mendelssohn is gifted the E major Concerto for two pianos by her brother Felix, four years her junior, which they perform together for the first time at the Berliner Sonntagskonzerte. For the season's opening, the Dutch Jussen brothers will interpret the piece.

Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 2, composed in 1877 on Lake Wörthersee, delivers pure idyllic nature with a dash of melancholy.

Donnerstag, 31. August 19:30
Stadtcasino Basel

Sinfonieorchester Basel
Onutė Gražinytė, piano 
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, conductor

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis
Miške (Im Walde), VL 1 (1901)

Alexander Skrjabin
Konzert für Klavier und Orchester fis-Moll, op. 20 (1896)

Raminta Šerkšnytė
Midsummer Song (2009)

Maurice Ravel
Suite Nr. 2 aus Daphnis et Chloé, fragments symphoniques (1912)

Die Schwestern Onutė Gražinytė und Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla studierten beide an der Čiurlionis-Kunstschule in Vilnius. Der Litauer Čiurlionis war Synästhetiker und stand Skrjabin nahe. Nicht nur als Komponist, sondern auch als Maler erlangte er grosse Bekanntheit. Raminta Šerkšnytė ist eine lettische Komponistin, deren Werke zwischen Ekstatik und Spannung oszillieren und mit den süffigen Orchesterfarben aus Ravels Daphnis et Chloé bestens korrespondieren.

Donnerstag, 21. September 19:30
Stadtcasino Basel

Sinfonieorchester Basel
Katia und Marielle Labèque, piano
Krzysztof Urbański, conductor

Wojciech Kilar
Krzesany (1974)

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart
Concert for two Pianos and Orchestra in E flat major, KV 365 (1779)

Igor Strawinsky
Le sacre du printemps (1913)

6.45 pm: Concert introduction with Lea Vaterlaus in the Hans Huber-Saal

Stravinsky was continuously inspired by Mozart's music and described him as an "extraordinary rhythmist". The way Mozart 'grooves' is already audible in the introduction to the Concerto for two Pianos, but when the two sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque exchange the motifs of the final movement like imagined balls, the music takes off and you hear who the gods love.

Electrifying in a completely different, wild and archaic way are the "extraordinary rhythms" in Stravinsky's Sacre, which has evolved from a Parisian scandal piece to an 'evergreen'.

Donnerstag, 26. Oktober 19:30
Stadtcasino Basel

Sinfonieorchester Basel
David Moreau, violin
Edgar Moreau, violoncello 
Jérémie Moreau, piano 
Robert Trevino, conductor

Unsuk Chin
Subito con Forza (2020), Swiss premiere

Ludwig van Beethoven
Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin, Cello and Orchestra in C major, op. 56 (1804)

Richard Strauss
Sinfonia domestica, op. 53 (1903)

6.45 pm: Concert introduction with Benjamin François in the Hans Huber-Saal
The concert will be followed by a public critique session with Benjamin Herzog in the Hans Huber-Saal

The three French brothers David, Edgar and Jérémie Moreau have been making music together since childhood. Beethoven's Triple Concerto makes it possible for us to experience all three of them together as soloists.

Among composers, only Richard Strauss has managed to reveal family secrets musically - in his Sinfonia domestica. In doing so, he took his role model Goethe as his starting point, who believed that an artist should first and foremost draw "from the poetic content of his own life".

Donnerstag, 29. Februar 19:30
Stadtcasino Basel