One of Germany’s premier orchestras, Bamberg Symphony, and virtuoso pianist Hélène Grimaud join forces to perform a program inspired by The New Yorker music critic and Pulitzer Prize finalist Alex Ross’s book Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music on April 27. The program explores music by Wagner, along with that of his German contemporaries Schumann and Brahms, to create an evening of unforgettable classical music.
Published in 2020, Ross’s Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music acknowledges and analyzes the complicated history of Wagner and his musical impact on the world. The New York Times Book Review notes, “A work of enormous intellectual range and subtle artistic judgment that pokes and probes the nerve endings of Western cultural and social norms as they are mirrored in more than a century of reaction to Wagner’s works.” Ross combines Wagner’s musical compositions with his historical timeline and the ways his music was used in media across the world. In the April performance at the Center, Bamberg Symphony will perform Wagner’s Lohengrin, Prelude to Act I and Tannhäuser, Overture.
In addition to these two Wagner pieces, Bamberg Symphony will perform Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 and Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54. Pianist Hélène Grimaud joins the Symphony for an electrifying performance of Schumann’s only piano concerto, providing an “astonishing show of her proficiency and poetic sensibilities” (Washington Post). For a special preview of Grimaud’s breathtaking ability of performing Schumann, watch the video below.
Want to make the most of your evening with the Bamberg Symphony? A pre-performance discussion with The New Yorker classical music critic Alex Ross will take place in Monson Grand Tier, which is located on the third level of the Center for the Arts Lobby, 45 minutes prior to curtain. Seating is limited, and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Alex Ross has been the music critic of The New Yorker since 1996. He is the author of the books The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, Listen to This, and Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music. In 2008 he received a MacArthur Fellowship.
Bamberg Symphony with Hélène Grimaud performs on April 27 in a concert that shouldn’t be missed. Buy your tickets today and experience the “real deal: cultivated, subtly gorgeous performances.” (Forbes Magazine).
This program is sponsored by The Mather.