Tuesday, September 9th 2008. 20:00
Philharmonie Berlin

Programme

Messiaen, Oliver:
L'Ascension

:
Oiseaux exotiques for piano and orchestra

:
with Roger Muraro

Bruckner, Anton:
Symphony No. 7 in E major

Celestial Journeys

The SWR Symphony Orchestra has always maintained a committed balance between traditional and contemporary music. French repertoire is more prominent than in other top German orchestras. Sylvain Cambreling, its chief conductor since 1999, fortifies the orchestra's Francophile tradition "with refined interpretations, from Rameau to Grisey". He conducts a programme about celestial journeys: Messiaen's orchestral works, which refer in their titles to these journeys - including the concert of the creatures who sing down from heaven, translated for human ears; and the Bruckner symphony, which in its initial motif sets the direction of thought for the whole work: upwards, towards life.

The Berliner Festspiele bring together a seemingly endless variety of arts and culture under one roof each year in Berlin. It was founded in West Berlin in 1951. Throughout the year, festivals, program series, and individual events enrich the cultural scene of the city. The festivals include performances of music, theater, dance, and literature.

Artists

SWR Radiosinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Orchestra

Cambreling, Sylvain, Conductor
Sylvain Cambreling (born 1948 in Amiens, France) is a French conductor. Trained as a trombone player, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire. He joined l\'Orchestre Symphonique de Lyon (OSL) as a trombonist in 1971. In 1974, he took second prize in the Besançon conductor competition. His conducting debut was with the OSL in 1975, leading Robert Schumann\'s Scenes from Goethe\'s Faust. At the invitation of Pierre Boulez, he began to guest-conduct the Ensemble Intercontemporain regularly from 1976.

Cambreling was the music director of the Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels from 1981-1991. He served as artistic director and general music director of the Frankfurt Opera from 1993-1997. From 1997-2004, he served as principal guest conductor of Klangforum Wien. Since 1999, he has been the Chief Conductor of the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg.