2014 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great German composer Richard Strauss and Manchester’s three orchestras are joining forces to mark the anniversary.
The Hallé, the BBC Philharmonic and Manchester Camerata will be meeting at Bridgewater Hall to perform his orchestral songs and many of his great orchestral works.
It all begins with Alexander Vinogradov performing two of Stauss’ rare songs for bass on the 9th January in a festival that runs to the 8th March.
Amongst the delights to be served over the next couple of months there is Steven Isserlis taking the title role in his comic adventure Don Quixote, the Alpine Symphony with one hundred and twenty five players from the Hallé and BBC Philharmonic coming together under Juanjo Mena and Anne Schwanewilms performing his haunting Four Last Songs.
There will be a whole-day celebration on 8th February, with performances of new works by RNCM composers, a beginners’ guide to the art of conducting by American blogger Kenneth Woods, including a film of Richard Strauss as conductor, and a short play about Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannstal before the evening concert.
Twenty three of the Manchester Camerata’s string players will be performing Metamorphosen on the 22nd February and the festival culminates with the colossal Ein Heldenleben on Saturday 8th March.
To find out more information on Manchester’s celebration of Strauss visit www.straussvoice.com.
