'An oratorio for cheerful people'
Program
Robert Schumann
‘Das Paradies und die Peri’, after a poem from Thomas Moore’s ‘Lalla Rookh’, for solo voices, chorus and orchestra, op. 50 (1843)
Artists
Sarah Wegener soprano
Katja Stuber soprano
Valentina Stadler mezzo soprano
Werner Güra tenor
Krešimir Stražanac bass baritone
Audi Jugendchorakademie
Sascha Emanuel Kramer tenor
Le Cercle de l‘Harmonie
Jérémie Rhorer Conductor
Martin Steidler preparation
Thus Robert Schumann's own description of his oriental fairy-tale Das Paradies und die Peri for solo voices, chorus and orchestra. Premièred in Leipzig in 1848, he intended it to launch 'a new genre for the concert hall', and indeed it combines features from oratorio, opera and the lied, hovering between worlds just like its protagonists. The Peri, an angelic being in human form, was banished from Paradise. Now she criss-crosses India and Egypt in order to find, in Syria, the sacred gift that will reopen the doors of Paradise. Scenes of riveting drama alternate with others of lyric poetry. This extraordinary work will be played by an orchestra that has instantaneously made a name for itself in the 'period performance' landscape. Together with its founder and conductor, Jérémy Rhorer, the musicians will guide us through what Schumann often called his 'very best work'.
World Conference Center Bonn, Saal »New York«
