FANG — VOGLER — NHK SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA — LUISI

The Festival’s opening concert stands witness to the close musical friendship Jan Vogler and Fabio Luisi have enjoyed for many years. When the conductor now finally brings his famous Japanese orchestra to the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, this promises a glorious evening, featuring a highlight of cello literature and one of the great symphonic masterworks. Performed by the Festival’s intendant Jan Vogler, Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in C-major was long believed lost, until a copy of the parts was discovered at the National Museum in Prague in 1961. The Fourth Symphony by Gustav Mahler, heard in the second part of the concert, includes in its final movement a setting of the poem »Das himmlische Leben« from the famous collection »Des Knaben Wunderhorn«, an image of a land of plenty in heaven. And yet, even this cerulean-seeming firmament has cracks and fragmentations, as the orchestra, known for its Mahler expertise, will demonstrate. The soloist is the soprano Ying Fang, originally from Ningbo, China. Having studied at the Shanghai Conservatory and New York’s Juilliard School, she is at home today on the world’s great opera stages.

YING FANG SOPRANO
JAN VOGLER CELLO
NHK SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
FABIO LUISI CONDUCTOR

Joseph Haydn Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in C-major Hob. VIIb:1
Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 4 in G-major