Staatskapelle Berlin with Kian Soltani & on Tour
On October 18 and 19, the Staatskapelle Berlin performed their second subscription concert of the season in the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and in the Philharmonie Berlin. General music director Daniel Barenboim took over the musical direction, and Kian Soltani appeared as the soloist in Robert Schumann's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 129. Schumann's symphony cycle was continued with his Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 97 ("Rheinische") and his Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120.
The concerts began with Schumann's sonically opulent "Rheinische" symphony. In it, the composer processes his impressions of the Rhineland, which he gained during his performance as municipal music director in Düsseldorf in 1850. With his Symphony No. 4, Schumann pursued the concept of a cyclical connection of all movements. Schumann originally composed it in the "symphony year" of 1841, which is why it would actually be the second, but it was later revised and first performed in this new form in 1853. In his cello concerto, which, like the "Rheinische", was also written in 1850 during the first time in Düsseldorf, Schumann combines the parts of solo instrument and orchestra in a symphonic manner.
Soloist Kian Soltani was born in Bregenz in 1992 as the son of a Persian family of musicians. He began playing the cello at the age of four and was accepted into Ivan Monighetti's class at the Basel Music Academy when he was twelve. In 2014, he received a scholarship from the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation and completed his studies at the Kronberg Academy in Germany and at the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein. Meanwhile, Kian Soltani has been invited by the world's leading orchestras, conductors, and concert organizers. Kian Soltani has received many awards, including the Leonard Bernstein Award, the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award and at the International Paulo Cello Competition. Since 2017 he has an exclusive contract with Deutschen Grammophon, which released his new solo album "Kian Soltani - Cello unlimited" on October 15th. He has worked closely with Daniel Barenboim for several years. Kian Soltani is first cellist of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and has also appeared as a soloist at various concerts by the orchestra. In addition, Barenboim and Soltani have already released several albums together.
The Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim are guests in Athens, Milan, Geneva, Madrid, Vienna, and Zurich.
The first stop took the orchestra and its general music director to Athens together for the first time, with four concerts in the Megaron Concert Hall (October 27 to 31), which opened in 1991 and celebrates its 30th birthday this year. This marked a return of the Staatskapelle Berlin to the Greek capital after almost four decades, most recently in 1983 in Athens. The program includes the cycles of the Schumann and Brahms symphonies.
The Athens Voice says: “I've never heard a sound like this, with such power and harmony. There were moments when it surprised you, caused a thrill, and you tried to stay focused on the moment… to concentrate so as not to miss anything, to return devotion with devotion. And then the pleasure was beyond compare. We heard pretty much the best that can be heard in the world today, live, it was a historic concert and we who were there were part of it."
The German Press Agency reported on the first concert: “At the start of their first concert tour since the beginning of the pandemic, the Staatskapelle Berlin and its conductor Daniel Barenboim were frenetically celebrated on Wednesday evening in Athens. The applause lasted seven minutes. 'We are finally living musically again,' said Marina, a 26-year-old music student from Athens, of the German press agency. At the end of the concert, spectators commented: 'We haven't seen the audience like this for a long time.'”
Nikos Pimblis, Chairman of the Board, Megaron - The Athens Concert Hall: “They marked the return of the audience in large numbers to live events in closed theaters and created lasting memories for years to come. Holding the beginning of the European tour of the Orchestra in Athens also symbolizes a restart in the cradle of culture and civilization, and we would like to thank Staatskapelle Berlin and Maestro Barenboim for this great honor. We hope to have the pleasure of seeing them again in the near future and are certain they will inspire all of Europe with their tour. On behalf of Megaron I would like to thank everyone involved.”
Tanea, one of Athens's biggest daily newspapers, writes:
“Those who were there for this musical feat, which was performed on four different evenings in the Megaron by Daniel Barenboim, one of the most brilliant musicians of our time, will never forget what they experienced.”
November 3 and 4 the orchestra performs the Brahms cycle at La Scala in Milan, where Daniel Barenboim held management positions from 2007 to 2014, most recently as music director. The Staatskapelle Berlin's last guest performance took place there 13 years ago.
After a concert in the Victoria Hall in Geneva (November 5) with Schubert's Symphony No. 8 ("Unfinished") and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica"), Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin are retrospectively celebrating the 50th anniversary of Ibermúsica with two concerts in the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid (November 8 and 9). Founded in 1970 by Alfonso Aijón, the concert agency Ibermúsica has been bringing world-renowned orchestras and artists to Spain for over 50 years. Since then, there has also been a long-term relationship with Daniel Barenboim, who has also made several guest appearances in Madrid together with the Staatskapelle Berlin in recent years. The concert program also includes Schubert's Symphony No. 8 ("Unfinished") and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica") as well as Schumann's Symphony No. 1, the so-called "Spring Symphony" and Brahms's 4th Symphony.
The fifth stop takes up the Brahms and Schumann cycle again and leads with four concerts (November 11 to 14) in the Wiener Musikverein, so to speak the “second home” of the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim: All the great symphonic cycles that the orchestra and its general music director worked on together (Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Bruckner), have already been performed there, and will now be continued with the four symphonies by Brahms and Schumann.
The tour concludes with the concert on Daniel Barenboim's birthday (November 15) in the Tonhalle Zurich, which was only reopened in late September 2021 after four years of extensive renovation work. There, too, the general music director and the orchestra appear together for the first time, after the last opera and concert guest appearance in 1986 (with Wagner's TANNHÄUSER) in Zurich. Works by Schubert and Beethoven will be heard.