On 13 October and 14 October, Munich will host Valery Gergiev’s MPHIL 360 Degrees festival for the fourth time. The festival’s participants include the Munich Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Opera soloists and the Mariinsky Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Choir, the Orfeón Donostiarra from Spain, as well as vocalists from Germany, the United States, Israel, and Switzerland.
This year’s festival will help mark 125-year anniversary of the Munich Philharmonic, which was founded by Franz Kaim, son of a piano manufacturer, as the Kaim Orchestra. The orchestra gave its first ever concert on 13 October 1893. Both the timing and the programme of the fourth edition of MPHIL 360 Degrees festival is reminiscent of the Munich Philharmonic’s concerts in its first years of existence.
On 13 October, the festival will open with a Family Concert (15.00) at the Philharmonie of the Gasteig. The Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev will perform excerpts from Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. The selection of music from the ballet will be accompanied by an engaging narration by Juri Tetzlaff, German TV presenter.
The soirée concert on 13 October (19.00) is dedicated to a milestone event in the history of the Munich Philharmonic, namely the premiere of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, which was held on 12 September 1910 under the baton of Gustav Mahler himself. In addition to the Symphony of a Thousand, the programme features Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms. The list of performers includes the Munich Philharmonic Choir, the Orfeón Donostiarra, as well as such famed singers as Simone Schneider (soprano), Jacquelyn Wagner (soprano), Regula Mühlemann (soprano), Wiebke Lehmkuhl (contralto), Gerhild Romberger (mezzo-soprano), Stephen Gould (tenor), Boaz Daniel (baritone), and Yevgeny Nikitin (bass-baritone). Just before the concert, on 12 October (18.00), the same programme will be performed during an open rehearsal of Valery Gergiev and the Munich Philharmonic at the Philharmonie of the Gasteig.
The concerts on Sunday, 14 October, are dedicated to the Munich Philharmonic itself. The matinée programme (11.00) includes the works which played a major role in the German ensemble’s history, such as Bedřich Smetana’s overture to Prodaná nevěsta, Anton Bruckner’s Symphonisches Präludium, Paul Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber, excerpt of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, and Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Prelude to Act I).
The orchestra celebrates itself: opening the very first concert of the Kaim Orchestra was Smetana’s overture to Prodaná nevěsta; Symphonisches Präludium was premiered by none other than the Munich Philharmonic; prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg was performed during the first concert of the ensemble under the baton of Gustav Mahler; Valery Gergiev chose Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 for his inaugural concert with the German orchestra in September 2015.
The first daytime concert on 14 October (14.30) is dedicated to 65 years of the Musikbund von Ober- und Niederbayern e. V. (MON), with which the Munich Philharmonic has partnered for one of its education programmes.
The participating musicians of the MON will be specially selected for this concert with the Munich Philharmonic musicians, who will also appear as soloists. Albert Osterhammer, bass clarinetist with the Munich Philharmonic, will conduct the combined orchestra. The programme features works by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Johann Strauss, Carl Maria von Weber, Franz von Suppé and other German composers of the 20th century.
At 15.00, the foyer of the Carl-Orff-Saal of the Philharmonie of the Gasteig will host a Salon Concert, which is a tribute to the tradition of chamber evening concerts of the Kaim Orchestra. Such concerts were quite sought-after at the end of 19th century. The Munich Philharmonic String Quartet and Philharmonisches Hornquartett will take turns to perform variations on the themes of Jacques Offenbach and Astor Piazzolla.
The festival will conclude on 14 October (19.00) with a Friendship Concert, which will feature the Mariinsky Opera soloists and the Mariinsky Orchestra, as well as the Munich Philharmonic Choir and guest artistes. The musicians will perform Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta under the baton of Valery Gergiev. Lead roles will be sung by Viktoria Yastrebova (Iolanta), Stanislav Trofimov (King René of Provence), Alexei Markov (Robert), Najmiddin Mavlyanov (Count of Vaudémont), and Roman Burdenko (Ibn-Hakia). The programme also includes Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht.
Valery Gergiev has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Munich Philharmonic since the 2015/2016 season. Valery Gergiev’s annual 360 Degrees festival was created at the Philharmonie of the Gasteig in 2015 as part of this creative collaboration.
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