Concert information
Info
Music meets literature: Richard Strauss’ tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra – freely inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s work of the same name – depicts the triumph of light over darkness. Maurice Ravel’s ballet Daphnis et Chloé employs shimmering impressionistic colours to evoke an ancient love story, while Henri Dutilleux’s dreamlike Cello Concerto Tout un monde lointain … draws inspiration from Baudelaire’s poetry collection Les Fleurs du mal. Both Thomas Guggeis, General Music Director of Oper Frankfurt, and cellist Maximilian Hornung make their debuts with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Artists
Berliner Philharmoniker
Thomas Guggeis conductor
Maximilian Hornung cello
Programme
Richard Strauss
Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus spoke Zarathustra), op. 30
Interval
Henri Dutilleux
Tout un monde lointain... for cello and orchestra
Maximilian Hornung cello
Maurice Ravel
Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2
Additional information
Duration ca. 2 hours (incl. 20 minutes interval)
Main Auditorium
27 to 86 €
Introduction
19:15
Series B: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
27 to 86 €
Introduction
19:15
Series C: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
27 to 86 €
Introduction
18:15
Series D: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
From Bavaria to the global stage
A portrait of Thomas Guggeis
What does it take to make your conducting debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker? Thomas Guggeis, who has been general music director of the Frankfurt Opera for the last two years, has a fair idea of the requirements: a detailed knowledge of the score, a firm grasp of the tools of the trade, and “respect, not only for the incredible individuals who work in an orchestra like this one, but also for the orchestra’s traditional sound qualities”.
Biographies
Thomas Guggeis
Daniel Barenboim describes Thomas Guggeis as “a great young conductor whom I have long supported and admired.” Born in Bavaria, Guggeis first studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan before joining Berlins Staatsoper Unter den Linden as Barenboim’s assistant. Barenboim, Guggeis recalls, showed him “every aspect of the conductor’s life.”
“He sometimes throws you in at the deep end,” says Guggeis, “and entrusts you with a lot of responsibility early on. But that also makes you learn an incredible amount.”
At the Staatsoper, Guggeis conducted premieres of Richard Strauss’s Salome and Daphne. In 2020, at the age of 27, he was appointed “Staatskapellmeister” – an honorary title bestowed by the orchestra for the very first time. That same year, he made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in a special Digital Concert Hall performance featuring the Philharmonic brass and percussion. After serving as First Kapellmeister at Stuttgart State Opera, Guggeis took up the position of General Music Director of the Frankfurt Opera as well as Artistic Director of the Frankfurt Museum Concerts at the start of the 2023/24 season. Beyond Frankfurt, he is a frequent guest with leading orchestras and opera houses around the world, appearing in recent seasons at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, and the Vienna State Opera. With these concerts, Thomas Guggeis now makes his first appearance with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Maximilian Hornung
Born into a family of musicians in Augsburg, Maximilian Hornung decided at the age of eight – after hearing a concert by his father’s string quartet – that he wanted to play the cello. From there he launched an international career in remarkably little time, winning wide acclaim for both his technical proficiency and his versatile sound. He describes himself as a perfectionist: “Every concert is a dress rehearsal for the next one, which has to be better than the last.” Hornung studied with Eldar Issakadze, Thomas Grossenbacher, and David Geringas. In 2005 he won the German Music Competition, and in 2007 he and the Tecchler Trio, of which he was a member until 2011, took First Prize at the ARD International Music Competition. Supported by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, Hornung went on to become principal cellist of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra at the age of 23.
Four years later, he gave up the position to focus on his solo career. Today, he performs both core repertoire and lesser-known works of the cello literature with leading international orchestras. His chamber music partners include Vilde Frang, Julia Fischer, Daniil Trifonov, Christian Tetzlaff, and Lisa Batiashvili, with whom he has appeared at the Salzburg, Lucerne, Verbier, and Ravinia festivals. In these concerts, Hornung makes his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Since spring 2022 he has also served as artistic director of the Traunstein Summer Concerts and teaches at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich.
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