Concert calendar

The season opens with a focus on natural phenomena: their effects on our world and its inhabitants are as fascinating as they are unpredictable. Three electrifying works bring the interplay of these forces to life. One of them is James Dillon's "Lightning Strike" from the 1990s, a concerto for flute and orchestra. Following "Crossing" and "Bright Night," it is the concluding work of his "German Triptych"—in which the Scottish composer set to music the idea of ​​enlightenment emerging from darkness. 

The work by Slovenian composer Nina Šenk unfolds less abruptly. "Changing" begins with a single note, to which new material is slowly and steadily "attached." Created after the COVID pandemic, the composition explores instability and change. The underlying, monotonous idea remains recognizable throughout, yet never identical. Moving quietly forward, the piece rises and falls like breaths—thus transforming the orchestra, with its diverse percussive elements, into a kind of organic breathing tract. 

The destructive, tragic power of nature is expressed in Tan Dun's percussion concerto "The Tears of Nature," which addresses three real natural disasters. The first movement, "Threat of Nature," is dedicated to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and the many people affected. 

The composer says that the brutality of nature is followed by regret—the tears of nature. The devastating tsunami in Japan inspired the second movement, "Tears of Nature," which is permeated with musical depictions of water. The third movement, "Dance of Nature," references Hurricane Sandy in New York and underscores the resilience of its inhabitants. For despite the tragedy, the entire work never loses sight of a crucial message: the strength of the human spirit, which "strives for life, fights, and dances with nature."

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