Dear audience,
In the summer of 2023, I announced changes to our concert programmes. I spoke of the desire, perhaps even the obligation, to try out new formats, to question routines – in a word: to face up to the present. What sounded vague and non-committal back then is now becoming concrete. We present CLASSICS 180°. This is meant programmatically: classical music with a new twist – or even upside down. I can promise you: This season will be different from all previous ones.
What does that mean? Of course, classical works and musicians will still be at the centre of our concerts. But there are also new things: introductions, talks, personal perspectives and, last but not least, artistic expansions in images, dance and pantomime. Sometimes we concentrate on a single work, sometimes great masters of an era or a country face each other. Let us surprise you!
Introductions to works have long been part of many concert evenings. We incorporate them into the performances: when Nicholas Collon and Tom Service explain Stravinsky's ‘Firebird’ together with the musicians of the Aurora Orchestra and then play it, when the conductor Ustina Dubitsky and the illustrator Grégoire Pont explore the works of Saint-Saëns and Ravel in words and pictures, when the Staatskapelle Dresden approaches the phenomenon of Schumann or when Alexander Melnikov and the B'Rock Orchestra trace the secret of Beethoven's 1st Piano Concerto. These are musicians who not only know what they are talking about, but who can also pull a suitable musical example out of their sleeves at any time.
We imagine dance formats in the concert hall to be just as exciting. Jordi Savall's Concert des Nations brings Gluck's ‘Don Juan’ to the stage, the first ballet in history to tell a complex story with the means of dance. The Geneva Camerata goes one step further when it choreographs not only Lully's ‘Bourgeois Gentilhomme’, but also Mozart's great G minor Symphony – here even the orchestra members are involved in the dance.
Let me emphasise once again in conclusion: When we try something new this season, it's not just for the sake of change. But rather to break up rigid rituals, to attract new audiences, to pave the way for as many people as possible to enjoy the classical music that we all love so much. ‘Orchestral music for everyone’, says the website of the English Aurora Orchestra. We are also committed to this.
See you soon in the concert hall – in Bern, Geneva, Lugano, Lucerne or Zurich!
Mischa Damev
Director Migros Culture Percentage Classics
Here you can find an overview of all concerts