Migros-Culture-Percentage-Classics 180°

A young ensemble and many young members - that's the Geneva Camerata, founded in 2013. Based in Geneva, the orchestra has set itself the goal of opening up classical music to a wider audience. To this end, it works across genres with performers from pop and jazz, dance, theatre and other arts, from Brad Mehldau and Isabelle Adjani to rapper Abd al Malik. The Camerata has also performed with classical greats such as Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Thomas Hampson and Daniel Hope. This diversity is reflected in the three concert series on offer in Geneva: traditional formats, experimental programmes and family concerts. The current project "Dance of the sun", in which the musicians themselves become dancers, was described by the New York Times as "one of the best performances of the year".

Pianist, conductor, conceptual artist: David Greilsammer's field of activity can at least be roughly summarised with these keywords. After studying at the Juilliard School in New York, Jerusalem-born Greilsammer initially made headlines with unusual solo programmes: He played all of Mozart's piano sonatas in Paris and Verbier, and on his CDs he combines Beethoven and Crumb, Lully and Janaček. At the same time, he has increasingly distinguished himself as a conductor; he has now conducted the major symphony orchestras in London, Tokyo, San Francisco and Paris. In 2013, Greilsammer founded the Geneva Camerata, which enables him to explore new artistic avenues. He also took over the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director in 2022.

Juan Kruz Díaz De Garaio Esnaola, born in Legazpi, Basque Country, is actually a singer; he trained as a countertenor in San Sebastián and Amsterdam. Through his collaboration with the choreographer Marcelo Evelin, he learnt to use his own body as a means of expression and from then on turned more and more to dance. After working at various European theatres, he became a member of the legendary Berlin ensemble "Sasha Waltz & Guests" in 1995, where he remained until 2022. In addition, he has repeatedly championed collaborations between dance and music, for example in his Bach project "III", together with Midori Seiler and Martí Corbera. Díaz De Garaio Esnaola gives workshops and masterclasses all over the world and is a visiting professor at the renowned Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen.

Born in Barcelona in 1997, dancer Martí Corbera was recognised as having exceptional talent at an early age. He initially focussed on flamenco and was part of ensembles such as the Swiss company "Flamencos en Route" and the Spanish "Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía". Here he danced under Patricia Guerrero, Sara Jiménez and Karen Lugo, who epitomised an opening up and expansion of classical flamenco. On this basis, Corbera himself began to experiment with modern dance forms and other artistic disciplines; he found important comrades-in-arms in the dancer Juan Kruz Díaz De Garaio Esnaola and the Geneva Camerata. He is currently developing his own dance project together with theatre maker Eleán del Sol entitled "Amor vincit omnia".

The legendary collaboration between the poet Molière and the composer Jean-Baptiste Lully culminated in the performance of the ballet comedy "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" ("The Bourgeois as Nobleman"). At the centre of the play is the vain Monsieur Jourdain, who wants to buy fame and prestige with money. In addition to smaller vocal numbers, Lully mainly contributed instrumental pieces: an overture, dances and interlude music. The centrepiece of the suite is the "Cérémonie pour les Turcs", a musical dig at the Ottoman Empire, with which King Louis XIV was once again at loggerheads.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's last three symphonies remain a mystery to this day. Neither the occasion nor the première are known, and there is also a lack of reliable information about the composition process itself. We can therefore only speculate as to what motivated the 32-year-old composer to conceive three such different works at the same time, including one of his most abysmal, the Symphony in G minor. The fatalistic tone struck at the beginning is consistently maintained, with the mood only brightening briefly in the enchantingly beautiful slow movement. It is no wonder that the Romantic period particularly appreciated this symphony by Mozart.