»A virtuosity and a musicianship unsurpassed by any clarinettist – perhaps any instrumentalist – in my memory,« raved a critic at »The New York Times« about Martin Fröst. As Artist in Residence with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Swedish clarinettist, renowned for transcending musical boundaries, is set to perform regularly in Hamburg throughout the 2025/26 season. The programme for his opening concert features Anders Hillborg’s unconventional and highly virtuosic »Peacock Tales« for clarinet and orchestra, alongside Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7 under the baton of principal conductor Alan Gilbert.
Resident Artist Martin Fröst :Season 2025/26
With clarinetist Martin Fröst, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra has chosen a resident artist who presents all facets of his instrument with ease – and more: in one work he even asks his instrument to dance!
Performers
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester
Martin Fröst clarinet
conductor Alan Gilbert
Programme
Anna Clyne
Restless Oceans
Anders Hillborg
Peacock Tales / Konzert für Klarinette und Orchester
– Interval –
Antonín Dvořák
Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70
About the programme
When Martin Fröst is invited to be Artist in Residence with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in the 2025/2026 season, there is one signature piece by this extravagant clarinettist that simply has to be included on the programme: »Peacock Tales«, by the Swedish composer Anders Hillborg in 1998, composed specifically for him. This humorous and extremely virtuosic clarinet concerto demands that the soloist not only master a kaleidoscope of musical styles but also perform as a dancer and mime, donning a mask as part of the drama.
Principal conductor Alan Gilbert opens the concert with a work by Hillborg‘s British colleague Anna Clyne that is only three minutes long but tremendously intense and similarly theatrical in concept. »Restless Oceans« was written in 2018 for an all-female orchestra and, according to the composer, aims to spotlight »the power of women« – not only with the musicians‘ instruments, but also with their voices and feet ...
Antonín Dvořák‘s tempestuous Seventh Symphony is also self-assured and combative. For many contemporary interpreters, the D minor symphony, completed in March 1885, is a musical testament to the Czech people‘s struggle for national freedom and self-determination. For Dvořák himself, however, the work also had to meet a completely different requirement. He was determined to live up to the praise that his esteemed colleague Brahms had bestowed on his earlier symphonies. »I am now busy with the new symphony,« Dvořák wrote about his Seventh. »And wherever I go, I think of nothing but my work, which must move the world.« He did indeed end up succeeding in this aim!
