PANORAMA OF MODERNITY

Dennis Russell Davies was born in Ohio in 1944 and studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard School in New York. He began his career in 1972 as chief conductor of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Since the 1980s, he has been primarily active in German-speaking countries and worked as GMD in Stuttgart and Bonn. He was chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra for many years. From 2002 to 2017, he was chief conductor of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and from 2009 to 2016 of the Basel Symphony Orchestra. He has been Chief Conductor of the Filharmonie Brno since the beginning of the 2018/19 season; in September 2020, Davies took over as Chief Conductor of the MDR Symphony Orchestra for four years.

Over the course of his career, he has conducted the most renowned orchestras in North America and Europe, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala Milano. After his debut at the Bayreuth Festival (1978 to 1980), he performed a diverse opera repertoire at the Salzburg Festival, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Opéra National de Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Vienna State Opera, among others.

In a career spanning more than 50 years, Dennis Russell Davies has had a lasting influence on "his" orchestras, among other things by opening them up to modernism and new audiences, but also by constantly working on the core symphonic repertoire. He became involved early on with composers such as Philip Glass, Aaron Copland, Luciano Berio, John Cage, Hans Werner Henze, Leonard Bernstein, Gija Kantscheli, Arvo Pärt, Manfred Trojahn, Thomas Larcher, Chen Yi and Laurie Anderson. In 1977, he co-founded the American Composers Orchestra, which he conducted for 25 years. He has helped write the music history of the 20th and 21st centuries through the numerous commissions he has initiated. He has also devoted himself to the great symphonic repertoire: Shostakovich, Beethoven, Mahler as well as Anton Bruckner, whose symphonies he has recorded in all versions. His discography also includes complete recordings of the symphonies of Joseph Haydn, Philip Glass and Arthur Honegger, as well as the great ballet music of Igor Stravinsky - both in the versions for orchestra and for piano four hands.

In addition to conducting, Davies devotes himself to chamber music and is active as a pianist. He has been playing in a duo with his wife Maki Namekawa since 2003. Both have produced numerous CDs and perform with great success at home and abroad.

The American baritone Thomas Hampson enjoys a unique international career as an opera, concert and lieder singer. He has long been regarded as one of the most innovative and multifaceted musicians of our time, his operatic repertoire includes more than 80 roles and his discography contains over 170 albums, many of which have won prestigious awards such as the Grammy Award, the Edison Award and the Grand Prix du Disque.

One of the highlights of the 2021/2022 season is Hampson's return to the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as Don Alfonso in Mozart's Così fan tutte. At the Zurich Opera House, he will perform the role of Jan Vermeer in the world premiere of Stefan Wirth's Girl with a Pearl Earring. He also sings the title role in Rufus Wainwright's Hadrian at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

On the concert stage, Hampson can be heard with the Oslo Philharmonic and cellist Sol Gabetta under the baton of Klaus Mäkelä, as well as in performances with the Vienna Academy Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Klangforum Wien, the Orchestre national de Lyon and the Prague Symphony Orchestra, among many others.

Together with Luca Pisaroni, Hampson presents the "No Tenors Allowed" -programme in Moscow and next summer his programme "Song of America" can be heard at the Turku Music Festival. Hampson gives recitals with Martin Haselböck at the Dresden Philharmonie, as well as with Christian Schmitt at the Tonhalle Zurich and with Wolfram Rieger at the Alte Kirche and Künstlerhaus Boswil. He sings songs by Gustav Mahler with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under the direction of Karina Canellakis and performs at the International Brucknerfest Linz 2021.

Together with Dr. Louise Toppin, Hampson curated the programme "Song of America: A Celebration of Black Music", which was presented at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg as part of the Hamburg International Music Festival. At the Verbier Festival, Hampson performed with Daniel Hope and Wolfram Rieger and gave masterclasses for participants of the Verbier Festival Academy. He returned to the Pierre Boulez Saal as Artistic Curator of the "Schubert Week" of the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin and directs the International Opera Workshop Waiblingen with Dan Ettinger and Melanie Diener.

Hampson is an honorary professor at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg and an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. In addition to several honorary doctorates, he holds the title of Kammersänger of the Vienna State Opera and was appointed Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France. In 2017, Thomas Hampson and Wolfram Rieger were jointly awarded the Hugo Wolf Medal by the International Hugo Wolf Academy. Hampson is co-founder and artistic director of the Lied Akademie Heidelberg and with the Hampsong Foundation, founded in 2003, he is committed to intercultural dialog and understanding through the medium of song. His master classes are broadcast online by Medici.tv, the Manhattan School of Music and the Hampsong Foundation.

The MDR Symphony Orchestra is the oldest radio orchestra in Germany and, two years before its centenary in 2024, it continues to uphold the principles of its origins: it brings cultural education and musical entertainment to the people, live or via the "airwaves"; it reflects the creative spirit of Central Germany, which is represented by composers such as Bach, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Schumann, Liszt and Weill. It cultivates musical traditions and contemporary music; the latest music and cross-genre concert formats are just as much a part of the repertoire as lively performances of the traditional repertoire.

As the region's radio orchestra, the MDR Symphony Orchestra also maintains its presence outside the musical centers of Central Germany. The production of exceptional repertoire for radio programs and digital formats, especially in the education sector, is increasingly part of the orchestra's remit, as is the recording of film music. Soundtrack productions include the music for the series "Sense8" by Lilly and Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer's films "Cloud Atlas", "Hologram for a King" and his series "Babylon Berlin". In addition, the MDR Symphony Orchestra (with the MDR Children's Choir) recorded the music for the Kika series "Beutolomäus", as well as the music for the silent films "Prinz Achmed", "Silvester" and "Mr. Radio" for ARTE.

The very different personalities who have been at the helm of the MDR Symphony Orchestra as chief conductors - including Kristjan Järvi, Jun Märkl, Fabio Luisi, Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, Herbert Kegel and Hermann Abendroth - have shaped the orchestra's versatility. Dennis Russell Davies has been Chief Conductor since summer 2020 and, as an experienced orchestral educator and accomplished program planner, shapes the orchestra's unusual repertoire culture.

The many guest conductors who have recently conducted the MDR Symphony Orchestra include Krzysztof Urbański, Stefan Asbury, Alain Altinoglu, Roberto Abbado, Bertrand de Billy, James Gaffigan, Neeme Järvi, Michail Jurowski, Kristiina Poska, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Markus Stenz, Frank Strobel, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Robert Trevino, Jan Willem de Vriend, Kazuki Yamada, Simone Young, Lothar Zagrosek, but also conductors of the younger generation such as Ariane Matiakh, Anja Bihlmaier, Duncan Ward, Nicholas Carter and Klaus Mäkelä. Guest artists such as Julia Fischer, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Alexander Toradze, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Pekka Kuusisto, Gabriela Montero, Nils Mönkemeyer, Antoine Tamestit and Nicolas Altstaedt have left their mark on the programs. Wolfgang Muthspiel, Francesco Tristano, Stefano Bollani, Bryce Dessner, Hauschka, Max Richter and Anoushka Shankar added an important color with their concerts.

As the region's radio orchestra, the MDR Symphony Orchestra also maintains its presence outside the musical centers of Central Germany and gives concerts in places from Altenburg to Zeulenroda. Guest performances in the 2022/23 season will also take it to the Philharmonie Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Ludwigsburg and Leipzig's twin city Brno.