WKO x Christian Schmitt - Organ Sound

The organ is the queen of instruments, but due to a lack of available instruments, it has rarely been heard at the Harmonie. Christian Schmitt, a world-renowned concert organist, travels with an organ built especially for him. The organ is the queen of instruments, but due to a lack of available instruments, it has rarely been heard at the Harmonie. Christian Schmitt, a world-renowned concert organist, travels with an organ built especially for him. The concert will be conducted by guest conductor Sébastien Rouland, who has been General Music Director at the Saarländisches Staatstheater since 2018. The “Adagio for Strings” is world-famous; it has been used in countless films and is regularly played at funerals. Hardly anyone, however, is familiar with Samuel Barber’s “Toccata festiva” for organ, strings, and trumpet, composed in 1960, which is characterized by lyrical expressiveness and stormy sonic gestures and concludes with a highly virtuosic pedal cadenza by the organist. Francis Poulenc’s Organ Concerto for Strings and Timpani is a classic of the repertoire, combining Baroque forms with late-Romantic expressiveness and a modern musical language. Benjamin Britten’s “Simple Symphony,” premiered in 1934, combines a neo-Baroque texture with dance-like elements and features evocative titles such as “Playful Pizzicato” or “Sentimental Saraband.” Dvořák’s String Quintet, Op. 97, is strongly inspired by impressions of the “New World” and incorporates elements of American musical traditions. The arrangement for string orchestra was created by WKO cellist Georg Oyen and will be performed for the first time in this program.