The Barcelona Symphony Orchestra offers its second concert as part of the Beethoven250 ‎Festival. Highlights of the concert include the world premiere of Wanderwelle by ‎composer Hèctor Parra, and Beethoven’s Fifth, both conducted by Kazushi Ono. ‎Completing the programme are the scene and aria Ah! perfido (Ah! Deceiver), ‎which will be performed by soprano Michaela Kaune, and the Coriolan Overture, ‎both works also by Beethoven. ‎

With Wanderwelle, Hèctor Parra returns to L’Auditori to offer audiences the first ‎performance of a work that can also be heard in Cologne, in October, performed by the WDR ‎Symphony Orchestra Cologne. Wanderwelle is a monodrama for baritone and ‎orchestra that the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra and L’Auditori have commissioned Hèctor ‎Parra to perform as part of the Year of Beethoven. An agreement between the two ‎institutions means we’ll be able to enjoy the entire premiere in Barcelona, in its orchestral ‎version.‎

Beethoven appears as protagonist in a libretto by Händl Klaus, based on the conversation ‎notebooks of the composer from Bonn. It is divided into three parts and focuses on ‎Beethoven’s everyday life in the last few months before he died, his relationship with his ‎nephew Karl, and death. The music, which will feature baritone Ekkehard Abele, pays tribute ‎to the Diabelli Variations (1823), one of the high points of the composer’s ‎instrumental production, and is divided equally into theme and 33 variations.‎

Beethoven’s Fifth is a symphony par excellence. An essential work in which we ‎discover new twists, new nuances and new sensations each time we hear it. This symphony, ‎not previously offered to us by Kazushi, uses the opportunity of the Beethoven250 Festival ‎to perform it with the OBC. It begins with the four most famous notes in the history of music ‎and, for half an hour, takes the audience along musical avenues that only a genius like ‎Beethoven knew how to open.‎

The programme concludes with the highly complicated scene and aria Ah! ‎perfido, performed by renowned German soprano Michaela Kaune, and the heroic ‎‎Coriolan Overture, inspired by the story of the Roman general.‎


‎* Download the concert programme.‎

‎* Download a fragment of the essay of Wanderwelle by ‎Hèctor Parra.‎