Musikwoche Hitzacker 2025: The program is online!
For the second time, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO) will shape the Musikwoche Hitzacker. From February 28 to March 9, 2025, visitors can experience the orchestra and its outstanding musicians in concerts and events throughout the small town on the river Elbe. The motto of the 39th Musikwoche Hitzacker, “Bewegte Zeiten” / “A Moveable Feast,” was inspired by the novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The MCO’s musical partner this time is Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, who will perform both as a soloist and in various chamber music formats.
At the heart of the ten varied concert days is music that originated around the 1920s in Paris—a decade of artistic awakening after the catastrophe of WWI. “During this interwar period, musicians were searching for ways to offer humanity a new, better future through their art,” explains British trumpeter Matthew Sadler, the MCO’s “Artistic Representative” for the 2025 Musikwoche.
The program features works by Maurice Ravel, Louis Vierne, Igor Stravinsky, and Francis Poulenc, among others—well-known pieces contrast with lesser-known gems, with larger ensembles alternating with smaller formats. The orchestra’s focus, as always, is on chamber music dialogue, openness to new experiences, and musical diversity.
The MCO musicians bring this diversity to the festival with their own ensembles: Martin Piechotta and his percussion ensemble “Motion” will kick off the Musikwoche on February 28, 2025. Clarinetist Jaan Bossier and his quartet invite audiences for an evening of original compositions. MCO concertmaster and baroque specialist Matthew Truscott presents a premiere: the first performance by “MCO Unwound,” the Baroque Ensemble of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
There is also diversity among the invited artists: Mari Eriksmoen (soprano), Alex Potter (countertenor), Johannes Berger, and Elina Albach (organ) offer a wide range of secular and sacred music, spanning from the Baroque period to the present, always showcasing surprising aspects and connections. Renowned journalist Christoph Heinemann (Deutschlandfunk) will moderate a cantata concert conducted by MCO cellist and founding member Philipp von Steinaecker.
How music can be experienced not only with the ears but with all senses is demonstrated by Paul Whittaker in “Feel the Music.” The British musician, who has been deaf since birth, has accompanied the MCO’s project of the same name for many years—as has Leif Ove Andsnes.
“Bewegte Zeiten” also means that the Musikwoche itself will be on the move, with concerts planned in Lüneburg and Gartow, and a concert tour with Leif Ove Andsnes that will take part of the Hitzacker program to Luxemburg, Brussels, and London in the second week of March 2025.
Finally, the 2025 Musikwoche offers numerous opportunities to experience the Mahler Chamber Orchestra up close: through moderated concerts, open rehearsals, and many chances to engage in conversations with the musicians on-site.
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