Concert of the symphony orchestra

University orchestra plays Beethoven's 5th Symphony and Elgar's Cello Concerto

• Edward Elgar (1857-1934): Cello Concerto in E minor op. 85.

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 5 in C minor op. 67.

The University of Kassel Symphony Orchestra is holding two concerts at the end of the semester on February 9 and 10. This year's program includes two works from the early and late Romantic period. The long-time conductor Malte Steinsiek will be conducting the orchestra.

Hardly any sequence of notes is as famous worldwide as the opening of Beethoven's 5th Symphony: Ta-ta-ta-taaa! "Thus fate knocks at the gate", he himself is said to have said about the opening motif. The pull that the first few bars have on the listener is all the more astonishing when you realize that Beethoven was already hard of hearing when he composed the work, which premiered in 1808.

The concert evening will open with Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor. The soloist will be Manfred Schumann, cellist in the Kassel State Orchestra.

Elgar was also going through a difficult time when he wrote the piece in 1917. His wife was seriously ill, he himself was in poor health and the First World War was raging, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Only by retreating to his country house in Sussex did the composer find the strength to work at all. The melancholy tone of the deeply emotional, even tender music, which stands in stark contrast to the pompous and exuberant orchestral music of his first creative period, is therefore not surprising. Wistfulness and farewell resonate in this solo concerto, as if Elgar had suspected that it would be his last major work.

Admission: 12 euros, 6 euros reduced.
Advance ticket sales: Bauer & Hieber (Ständeplatz 13, Kassel) or by telephone on 0561 499 79 77.

About the soloist: Manfred Schumann, born in 1968, has been a member of the Kassel State Orchestra for almost 25 years and is involved in a variety of chamber music activities alongside his work there - including the Amethyst Piano Trio and the early music ensemble Consortium Casselanum. He has performed as a soloist with the Orchestra of the University of Kassel on several occasions, most recently in 2016 in Antonin Dvorak's cello concerto.

About the conductor: Malte Steinsiek, born in Gütersloh in 1966, has conducted the symphony orchestra of the University of Kassel since 1997. He has also been the artistic director of the Westfälische Kammerphilharmonie Gütersloh for many years. In his concert programs, Steinsiek also likes to devote himself to lesser-known composers or compositions. His musical openness and versatility can also be expressed in numbers: to date, he has conducted over 300 orchestral works by almost 150 composers from the Baroque to the present day.

About the orchestra: The symphony orchestra of the University of Kassel celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2017. It is mainly made up of students, alumni and teachers from the various departments. In weekly rehearsals and two additional rehearsal weekends per semester, the musicians work on challenging programs, which they perform at the end of the semester.

More information: https://www.uni-kassel.de/fb01/institute/musik/ensembles-veranstaltungsreihen/uniorchester/orchester.html