Symphoniker Hamburg / Diyang Mei / Katharina Konradi / Long Yu

The concert opens with Richard Wagner’s »Siegfried Idyll«, a deeply personal work in which chamber music transparency and lyrical intimacy combine to create a warm, floating soundscape. Wagner does not create a dramatic stage here, but rather a musical refuge that immediately transports the listener into an atmosphere of quiet enchantment.

The first part of the concert centers on Joe Hisaishi’s »Viola Saga«, which will be performed in Germany for the first time. In his work, the renowned film composer combines Western classical music and Japanese musical tradition to create unique soundscapes. He rediscovers what is probably the most underrated instrument in the (Western) orchestra and combines lyrical intensity with cinematic breadth to create a work that oscillates between meditative calm and dramatic departure. Diyang Mei, violist with the Berlin Philharmonic and internationally acclaimed soloist, lends this work a haunting presence with his warm, singing tone, placing the viola at the center as a poetic narrator.

The symphonic highlight is Gustav Mahler’s Fourth, a work of light-filled clarity and apparent simplicity, behind which lies existential depth. Mahler concludes the symphony with the visionary song “Himmlisches Leben” (Heavenly Life), sung by Katharina Konradi, whose subtle soprano voice harmonizes perfectly with the childlike, naive, yet touchingly serious perspective of this finale.

At the podium is Long Yu, one of the most distinguished conductors of our time, who, with stylistic mastery and a keen sense of color, repeatedly succeeds in congenially connecting musical worlds.