Summer Concert of the University Orchestra Duisburg-Essen - Hall 12

Narrative Music: Landscape, Voice, Monument

With works by Sibelius, Weber and Borodin, the University Orchestra Duisburg-Essen, under the musical direction of Karajan Conducting Prize winner Oliver Leo Schmidt, embarks on a journey through three forms of musical storytelling at its traditional summer concert on Zollverein.

In "En Saga", Jean Sibelius opens a world of Nordic legend that offers more atmosphere than narrative and conjures a Finnish landscape that tells its own story. "It is the expression of a certain state of mind," said the then-young composer. En Saga ranks among Sibelius' most frequently performed works.

In Carl Maria von Weber's brief "Concertino" featuring young soloist Moritz Siegel (17) from the renowned talent school "folkwang junior", the clarinet becomes the protagonist of theatrical narrative like in a romantic fairy tale: operatic-dramatic, singing yet floating, and finally youthfully bold and brilliant.

After the intermission, the perspective expands into the monumental: Alexander Borodin's second symphony unfolds like an epic panorama, where the full orchestra now tells the story: powerful, archaic, suffering and full of movement with angular-heroic and singing themes. These are scenes from a grand historical novel that concludes with celebration and uninhibited dance.

Programme
Jean Sibelius | "En Saga" Symphonic Poem op. 9
Carl Maria von Weber | "Concertino" for Clarinet and Orchestra in E-flat Major op. 26
Alexander P. Borodin | Symphony No. 2 in B Minor

University Orchestra Duisburg-Essen
Founded sixty years ago as a small ensemble of the Medical Faculty, the University Orchestra Duisburg-Essen today ranks among the top orchestras of German universities. With approximately 90 members, the ensemble continually surprises its audience with extraordinary programmes that combine well-known and lesser-known works from the concert repertoire.