Musical splendour – Klosters in summer: “The place to be”
The numerous advance ticket reservations are raising high expectations. Advance sales have now started for the sixth edition of Klosters Music (27 July – 4 August 2024). This summer, the classical music festival will once again bring together important symphonic music with first-class performers. Baritone Thomas Hampson, pianist Jan Lisiecki, conductor Maxim Emelyanychev and violinist Alina Ibragimova are taking part in the nine-day music festival for the first time. The festival programme also includes chamber music, film music and a family concert.
“The festival is a significant cultural attraction for tourists and locals alike in summer. It radiates far beyond the region, but also has strong roots in the municipality of Klosters”, says Heinz Brand, President Foundation Art & Music, Klosters. “The 6th edition of Klosters Music presents ten contrasting concerts with exceptional artists in programmes of masterpieces inspired by a sense of time and place that capture the spirit of the age”, explains David Whelton, Artistic Director.
Romanticism and Viennese classical music
The motto “Begegnungen. People and Places” also characterises the essence of the festival, because Klosters Music creates encounters – between nature and culture, between exceptional artists and audiences of music enthusiasts. This year major romantic works such as Antonín Dvořák‘s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” at the opening concert on 27 July and Edvard Grieg‘s Piano Concerto (28 July), performed by Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki, will take centre stage. The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen with conductor Maxim Emelyanychev has been invited to perform on the opening weekend. “I’m really looking forward to it and I’m excited. It’s not only my debut with Klosters Music, but I’ll also be working with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen for the first time,” says Emelyanychev. Russian-British violinist Alina Ibragimova will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major at the opening concert. And the festival will showcase another distinguished piece from the Romantic period, Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C major, which will be performed by the Munich Chamber Orchestra under Christoph Koncz (3 August). This programme also includes a work of Viennese classical music, the Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major (soloist: Ben Goldscheider) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Jazz ballads and two piano recitals
Thomas Hampson is known as a celebrated opera singer and keen interpreter of art songs. On Swiss National Day, the charismatic American baritone can be heard from a completely different angle as he performs well-known songs and jazz ballads from the “Great American Songbook“, accompanied by the Janoska Ensemble. Spanish soprano Nuria Rial will join recorder virtuoso Maurice Steger and the La Cetra Barockorchester Basel to perform Spanish and Italian music from the 17th and 18th centuries (“Con Passione!” on 29 July). Sir András Schiff, who has been at the festival from the very beginning, will give two piano recitals one after the other with different programmes in the Church St. Jacob (2 August).
“The star of the evening is the orchestra”
The family concert will feature Maurice Steger (recorder and conductor), Nikolaus Schmid (narrator) and an instrumental ensemble of La Cetra Basel, who will take young and old alike on Tino Flautino and the tomcat Leo’s musical journey (30 July). In the Atelier Bolt, Gioconda Leykauf-Segantini will showcase the work of her famous grandfather, the painter Giovanni Segantini (31 July). Songs by Gustav Mahler (James Atkinson/baritone, Hamish Brown/piano) will frame this evening, which is already nearly sold out. The exhibition with selected art prints by Giovanni Segantini for sale and sculptures by the host Christian Bolt is open to the public and is on display until 23 August.
To close the concert week on 4 August the City Light Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kevin Griffiths will present music from Oscar-winning films, as “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter”. And David Whelton promises: “The star of the evening is the orchestra!”.