Christian Thielemann

Programme

Giuseppe Verdi
Ballet music out Macbeth, Don Carlo and Otello

Interval

Giuseppe Verdi
Quattro pezzi sacri

Christian Thielemann, Conductor

Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Information about the programme

Giuseppe Verdi is the only composer featured on the program of this year’s Open Air at Odeonsplatz with the BRSO conducted by Christian Thielemann – and yet, this is a program rich in contrasts. First, there is ballet music that Verdi added in some of his operas in order to please the dance-obsessed Parisian audience: the Witches’ Dance from Macbeth, a dance interlude during the coronation festivities in Don Carlo, and the ballet music in Otello. The orchestra will then join forces with the BR-Choir and perform Verdi’s musical testament: the Quattro pezzi sacri. The four movements comprising the work are Verdi’s last sacred compositions. While Verdi was not religious, he nevertheless wanted to take this work with him in afterlife: “With this hymn of praise I will go before God and beg him for mercy.”