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WFMT Orchestra Series

Saturdays at 7pm
EBU2024-klaus_makela_2_mathias_benuigui_pasco_and_co

Klaus Mäkelä photo by Mathias Benuigui/Pasco and Co

The WFMT Orchestra series continues this fall with broadcasts from the European Broadcasting Union. The season begins with Riccardo Muti leading the Vienna Philharmonic at the scenic Waldbühne, an iconic outdoor venue near Berlin.

Keep scrolling for the full season of exciting new concerts from Europe!

Schedule
  • November 16
    Bavarian Radio Symphony I: Muti Conducts

    In the first of three concerts with one of Europe’s leading radio orchestras, Riccardo Muti leads the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in music that highlights the ensembles’ combined forces. Haydn’s glorious Te Deum opens the program, with Richard Strauss’s Aus Italien concluding. The program’s centerpiece, Franz Schubert’s Second Mass, features vocalists Siobhan Stagg, Julian Prégardien, and Vito Priante.

    ORCHESTRA

    Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

    CONDUCTOR

    Riccardo Muti

    SOLOISTS

    Siobhan Stagg, soprano; Julian Prégardien, tenor; Vito Priante, bass-baritone

    Joseph Haydn

    Te Deum No. 2, Hob. XXIIIC:2

    Franz Schubert

    Mass No. 2, D. 167

    Richard Strauss

    Aus Italien, Op. 16

  • November 23
    Bavarian Radio Symphony II: Eastern European Flavor

    Sir Simon Rattle became Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in September 2023. In our second week with the BRSO, Sir Simon’s artistic leadership is on full display in a program of Eastern European music recorded just a few months later, in April 2024. Violist Timothy Ridout joins in for Bohuslav Martinů’s rousing Rhapsody-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, bookended by Antonín Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances Op. 72 and Janáček’s gleaming Sinfonietta.

    ORCHESTRA

    Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

    CONDUCTOR

    Simon Rattle

    SOLOIST

    Timothy Ridout, viola

    Antonín Dvořák

    Slavonic Dances, Op. 72

    Bohuslav Martinů

    Rhapsody-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, H. 337

    Leoš Janáček

    Sinfonietta, Op. 60

  • November 30
    Bavarian Radio Symphony III: Kissin Plays Rachmaninoff

    Our closing week with the Bavarian Radio Symphony brings international sensation Evgeny Kissin to the stage for Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto. Polish conductor Krzysztof Urbański also leads the orchestra in the gripping Symphony No. 10 by Dmitri Shostakovich.

    ORCHESTRA

    Bavarian Radio Symphony

    CONDUCTOR

    Krzysztof Urbański

    SOLOIST

    Evgeny Kissin, piano

    Sergei Rachmaninoff

    Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 30

    Dmitri Shostakovich

    Symphony No. 10, Op. 93

  • December 7
    Tchaikovsky in Berlin: Stravinsky, Bartók, and Tchaikovsky

    Maria Dueñas shines in Béla Bartók’s darkly beautiful Violin Concerto No. 2 with conductor Elim Chan. The Berlin Radio Symphony rounds out the program with works by Igor Stravinsky and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

    ORCHESTRA

    Berlin Radio Symphony

    CONDUCTOR

    Elim Chan

    SOLOIST

    Maria Dueñas, violin

    Igor Stravinsky

    Suite No. 2

    Béla Bartók

    Violin Concerto No. 2

    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Symphony No. 2, Op.17

  • December 14
    In Switzerland with Mäkelä and Andsnes

    A journey to Switzerland with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra begins with the lush Hebrides Overture by Felix Mendelssohn. Then Leif Ove Andsnes tackles Grieg’s famous Piano Concerto before the program concludes with Schumann’s Symphony No. 2. The fast-rising Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä conducts.

    ORCHESTRA

    Lucerne Festival Orchestra

    CONDUCTOR

    Klaus Mäkelä

    SOLOIST

    Leif Ove Andsnes, piano

    Felix Mendelssohn

    The Hebrides Overture, Fingal’s Cave

    Edvard Grieg

    Piano Concerto, Op. 16

    Robert Schumann

    Symphony No. 2, Op. 61

  • December 21
    A Legendary Love Story at the Royal Concertgebouw

    Love is in the air in this all-orchestral program from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor Elim Chan leads the ensemble in Hector Berlioz’s Le Corsaire Overture and Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4, with Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet concluding the program.

    ORCHESTRA

    Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

    CONDUCTOR

    Elim Chan

    Hector Berlioz

    Le Corsaire

    Felix Mendelssohn

    Symphony No. 4, Op. 90, Italian

    Sergei Prokofiev

    Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64

  • December 28
    Gilbert and Ax Play Mozart and Mahler

    It’s one of the most satisfying pairings in all classical music: Mozart and Mahler. Our series of concerts from Europe and Britain concludes in northern Germany with the NDR Radio Philharmonic, pianist Emanuel Ax, and conductor Alan Gilbert exploring music by both composers. First, Ax takes the stage for Mozart’s elegant Piano Concerto No. 25, followed by the epic Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler.

    ORCHESTRA

    NDR Radio Philharmonic

    CONDUCTOR

    Alan Gilbert

    SOLOIST

    Emanuel Ax, piano

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Concerto No. 25, K. 503

    Gustav Mahler

    Symphony No. 5