Hamburg International Music Festival Comes to an End
Around 75,000 people attended 57 events on »War and Peace«
Press Information
Hamburg, 17 June 2024: The Hamburg International Music Festival ended this Sunday with a performance of Benjamin Britten’s »War Requiem« conducted by Teodor Currentzis, with the SWR Symphonieorchester, three choirs and top-class soloists. The theme of this year’s festival was »War and Peace«. Around 75,000 people attended 57 events, with an overall attendance rate of 95%.
Since 26 April, top international stars of the classical music scene such as Sir Antonio Pappano, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Sir Simon Rattle, Janine Jansen, Sir András Schiff, Daniil Trifonov, Lang Lang and the Kronos Quartet have been guests in Hamburg. Alan Gilbert conducted the impressive opening concerts of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra with works by Samuel Barber, Arnold Schönberg and Kurt Weill and Symphony No. 4 by Charles Ives. Kent Nagano was responsible for a historically informed performance of Richard Wagner’s »Die Walküre« and the acclaimed new staged production of Olivier Messiaen’s opera »Saint François d'Assise« at the Elbphilharmonie.
Other highlights included a rousing Mozart evening with Sir Simon Rattle and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and a contemporary music marathon with the Arditti Quartet. Teodor Currentzis received long ovations for his interpretation of Anton Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony with his project orchestra Utopia. Jordi Savall moved the audience with a musical panorama stretching from the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War in 1618 to the Peace of Utrecht in 1713. The festival motto was also honoured in numerous smaller-format concerts, at which ensembles from Armenia, South Korea and the Ukraine enjoyed an enthusiastic reception.
Christoph Lieben-Seutter, General and Artistic Director of the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle, is »still full of the intense concert experiences. I imagine it was partly owing to the festival theme that many concerts with the most unusual programmes were very well attended and took place in an impactful and concentrated atmosphere. I am grateful to my team and everyone involved for realising such an artistically convincing festival.«
Supported by the Förderkreis Internationales Musikfest Hamburg and the Stiftung Elbphilharmonie.
The next edition of the music festival will start in May 2025 and be dedicated to the theme of »Future«. The programme will be announced on 19 November.