new year's concert

New Year’s without Viennese waltzes? For many inconceivable. »Through whirling clouds, waltzing couples may be faintly distinguished. The clouds gradually scatter: one sees an immense hall peopled with a whirling crowd. The scene is gradually illuminated: the light of the chandeliers bursts forth.« Maurice Ravel’s symphonic poem »La Valse« evokes before the mind’s eye the image of a bygone era: apotheosis and apocalypse of the Viennese waltz at once. Until just a few decades ago, for many Italian children the new year only really began on Epiphany: presents were exchanged on 6 January! Neither Santa Claus nor the Three Wise Men brought them, but rather a folksy witch: the »befana«. She was welcomed – and in some places still is to the present day – with rumbustious musical revelry. Ottorino Respighi erected a monument to this Roman New Year’s custom – as well as other high points of the festival year – in his symphonic poem »Feste Romane«. The raucous orchestra festival concludes a flamboyant programme with which the young Italian maestro Daniele Rustioni together with the Gürzenich Orchestra will greet the new year 2017. As a special guest, soprano Anja Harteros, celebrated around the world, will return to the Gürzenich Orchestra with voluptuous excursions into the world of opera.