Dennis Russell Davies is regarded as the leading conductor of American music. In this concert, he joins forces with the MDR Symphony Orchestra and a total of almost 200 performers to present three very personal works by composers who shaped American music in the 20th century. Decoration Day is the day on which the fallen are remembered and their graves decorated in the USA. In the orchestral piece of the same name, Charles Ives processes his memories of his father's marching band marching to the cemetery and back to the city.
In his work The Wound-Dresser, John Adams sets a famous poem by Walt Witman to music, in which he describes the painful reality of the American Civil War in a military hospital and opposes the heroization of the war. Thomas Hampson is passionately committed to this work and its message. He also takes on the role of narrator in Leonard Bernstein's symphony "Kaddish". This large-scale, moving work is dedicated to John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated shortly before the premiere. It is Bernstein's personal Kaddish - a prayer for the dead in which he deals with both Jewish tradition and doubts about his faith.
Although death, suffering and loss are lamented in all three works, they retain a typically American, optimistic tone. Last but not least, they evoke the healing power of music and community - and the community that can also come about through a successful concert.
The concert will also take place at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
Wed 11 JAN 2023, 8 pm
