UPDATE: The cast of singers for the Broadway songs has been announced! 2012 Lenya Competition Prizewinner Justin Hopkins (bass) will be joined by Susanna Hurrell (soprano), Kathryn Martin (mezzo), and Paul Curievici (tenor) in the second half of the program!
Venue: Queen Elizabeth Hall (Southbank Centre)
Date: 12 April 2013
Soloists: Charles Mutter, violin; Ilona Domnich, soprano
Conductor: Keith Lockhart
Event page
London concertgoers have already had the chance this year to hear Die Dreigroschenoper and Die sieben Todsünden performed by the London Philharmonic and the BBC Concert Orchestra, respectively, as part of the ambitious “The Rest Is Noise” festival devoted to music composed after 1900. On 12 April, the festival will recognize Weill’s position as an emblematic twentieth-century composer by devoting an entire evening to his music. The program will serve as an overview of his career, consisting of Der neue Orpheus (1927), the Symphony no. 2 (1934), and a group of songs from his Broadway musicals. The concert will be led by Keith Lockhart (photo at right), Principal Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra and Conductor of the Boston Pops. (See below for audio clips of Maestro Lockhart commenting on the program.) From an acclaimed staging of Street Scene by the Opera Group and a concert presentation of Lost in the Stars in the last few years to this spring’s proliferation of concerts, Weill has certainly made his presence felt in London lately.
Features
Conductor Keith Lockhart graciously gave the Foundation a telephone interview on 27 February 2013. Here are a few highlights:
- Lockhart on Weill’s career as representative of twentieth-century upheaval and dislocation (mp3)
- Lockhart on the choice of an all-Weill program to tell the story of the effect of European exiles on U.S. culture (mp3)
- Lockhart on the uniqueness of Der neue Orpheus (mp3)
- Lockhart on the “theatrical” nature of Symphony no. 2 (mp3)
- Lockhart on selecting Broadway songs with Kim H. Kowalke (mp3)
Complete program of festival concerts given by the BBC Concert Orchestra
Commentary on the Orchestra’s participation in The Rest Is Noise
Learn more about Der neue Orpheus
Learn more about Symphony no. 2
