Andrew Manze, Lukas Sternath

»My career feels a bit like the history of conducting: from a standing violinist to concertmaster and eventually with just a baton in my hand.« Andrew Manze was a celebrated baroque violinist in the early music scene for a long time, then decided in favour of the conductor’s podium – and is now also passionately immersing himself in the great romantic scores. He fell in love with music and his current profession at an early age: as a child, he simply plucked a branch from his parents’ garden and swung it to symphonies from the radio. Today, our guest conductor is known as a creative free spirit and exudes a lot of British charm. We are pleased that he is once again conducting one of his favourite programmes with us: Grieg wrote his famous piano concerto in 1868 as a newlywed – a very vivacious piece with memorable melodies and typical Norwegian rhythms, for which we welcome the young artist Lukas Sternath as soloist. There is also the colourful and compelling work »Transit Underground« by Swedish composer Tobias Broström, born in 1978. We will conclude with Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5, which he began in the middle of the First World War. It nevertheless carries a largely optimistic tone in a sea full of superb soundscapes – including the »swan theme«, sounding like film music. It will be a thrilling musical experience with Andrew Manze, because his overflowing joy in the compositions is inspiring and his impulses spark new ways of playing – and when everything works together in harmony, he is happy: »For me, the act of making music is everything. I love the magic when musicians come together, think about music and then something fantastic emerges.«