FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MUNICH (Oct. 20, 2017) — Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017, nine members of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra (DPO) will join the Bayerische Philharmonie (Bavarian Philharmonic) for a full-length concert in Herkulessaal (Hercules Hall) at Munich’s Royal Residenz.
“We are so excited to present this concert in partnership with the Bavarian Philharmonic,” said Sarah Hogan, vice president of the DPO board from Munich. “Our orchestras share the same passion for innovative experiences at classical music concerts.”
Hogan continued, “Tomorrow’s performance is extra special to us because we are hosting a group of 100 business and community leaders from Denver in partnership with the German American Chamber of Commerce and the Denver Metro Leadership Foundation. We hope all in attendance are inspired by our story of collaboration and the music we make together.”
The concert, co-programmed by Bayerische Philharmonie Music Director Mark Mast and DPO Music Director Lawrence Golan, marks the fourth collaboration between the orchestras and the DPO’s first performance in Germany.
Billed under the title “Mozart Requiem,” Saturday’s concert features music by German and American composers.
“Maestro Mast asked me to select and conduct a companion piece to the Mozart Requiem that involves both orchestra and chorus,” says Maestro Golan. “I chose Franz Schubert’s Magnificat because it offers a nice contrast. While Requiem, by nature, has a more somber, remorseful and melancholy character, the Schubert Magnificat is uplifting, celebratory and jubilant.”
Prior to the partnership, Mast and Golan toured Europe in 1988 with the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival orchestra under the great conductors Leonard Bernstein and Sergiu Celibidache.
In addition to conducting Magnificat, Golan will perform the violin duet Prayers Without Words by American composer Laurence Traiger with DPO Principal Second Violin Yiran Li. Traiger is a resident of Munich, and while the piece was commissioned by Mast in 2003, Saturday’s performance will be its premiere in the city.
DPO musicians, including Golan and Li, began daily rehearsals on Monday. Other principal musicians participating in the overseas exchange are Anna Katherine Barnett-Hart, associate concertmaster; Kimberly Brody, oboe; Katie Burns, cello; William Combs, trombone; Colton Kelly, bass; and Ryan Spencer, trumpet and Katherine Thayer, concertmaster.
The transatlantic partnership debuted September 30, 2016, when Mast guest conducted Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg at “The Grand Opening of the Antonia Brico Stage.”
Mast returned to the Mile High City in the spring to conduct “Prost!,” a full concert featuring an all-German repertoire. In celebration of the partnership, Governor John W. Hickenlooper proclaimed, forever after, April 7, 2017, as “Denver and Bavarian Philharmonic Day.”
The DPO’s 70th Season premiered September 29, 2017 with “Oktoberfest;” the opening concert featured the first musician exchange of the partnership. Bayerische Philharmonie Oboist Hideki Machida performed Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe with DPO’s Thayer. “Oktoberfest” also featured Schubert’s Magnificat as a co-programming element of the partnership.
Photos from Top to Bottom: DPO Board President Jon Olafson, Colorado Governor John W. Hickenlooper and Bayerische Philharmonie Music Director Mark Mast at a reception hosted by the Denver Metro Leadership Foundation; a poster in Munich for Mozart Requiem; DPO Music Director Lawrence Golan; Former German American Chamber of Commerce staff member William Reed and Bayerische Philharmonie COO Claudia Schnauffer with Gov. Hickenlooper’s proclamation of “Denver and Bavarian Philharmonic Day.”
About the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra
The Denver Philharmonic Orchestra (DPO) is a nonprofit symphony orchestra founded in 1948 by Dr. Antonia Brico, the first woman to conduct the New York Philharmonic orchestra. DPO concerts are accompanied by “More Than Music” events designed to fulfill the orchestra’s mission to continually redefine the way our community engages with and experiences classical music. Metro Denver citizens support DPO through the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), a unique funding source serving hundreds of metro Denver arts, culture and scientific organizations. More information is available by calling 303-653-2407 or online at www.denverphilharmonic.org.
###