Program

Richard Strauss Movements from the ballet Schlagobers

Anna Thorvaldsdóttir Before We Fall (Cello concerto) – Icelandic premiere

Richard Strauss Suite from Elektra (arr. Manfred Honeck and Thomas Ille)

Conductor

Eva Ollikainen

Soloist

Johannes Moser

The premiere of a new cello concerto by Anna Thorvaldsdottir is considered a major event in the world of contemporary music. Anna is one of the most sought-after composers today, and her works are regularly performed by the world's leading orchestras. Cellist Johannes Moser premieres the piece with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and subsequently comes to Iceland. Moser has won numerous awards for his art and has appeared as a soloist with all the major symphony orchestras in the East and West.

Richard Strauss's writings for orchestra are particularly colourful and ambitious. There are few composers who are better at utilising the possibilities that exist in the soundscape of a symphony orchestra. Elektra is one of Strauss's best-known operas, and this orchestral suite from the work clearly demonstrates the primal power and dramatic tension that can be experienced in the opera itself. Furthermore, the concert begins with music from Richard Strauss's ballet, which has the unusual title Schlagobers, or Whipped Cream in English. The subject is a visit by several children to a gourmet bakery in Vienna where pastries and cakes come to life – and this can be discerned in the lush music.