15.00 Uhr
Expeditionskonzert mit Joana Mallwitz
Creative Portrait Lera Auerbach
We are pleased to welcome Lera Auerbach to Gendarmenmarkt during our 2024/25 season.With the 2024/25 season, we welcome the multi-award-winning composer and sculptor Lera Auerbach to the Konzerthaus for a residency, during which you will not only be able to discover in our concert halls orchestral and chamber music works created by her, but also experience her as a pianist with an ensemble of our musicians.
During our festival "Aus den Fugen", the Konzerthausorchester, cello soloist Kristina Reiko Cooper and the Kaunas State Choir under the direction of Joana Mallwitz will perform Lera Auerbach's 6th symphony "Vessels of Light" on November 17. The Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem commissioned the work to mark its 70th anniversary this year. ‘With Yiddish poetry, the art of Japanese Kintsugi, the mystical Shevirat ha-kelim (’breaking of the vessels‘) and the quiet words of the biblical Psalm 121, Auerbach weaves a multi-layered tapestry of words and music in one work,’ is how Auerbach's publisher describes the moving composition.
On January 17, Lera Auerbach will be the guest of presenter Christian Jost in the "2 x hören" ("Listen twice") series of talk concert with her twice played cello sonata op. 69. She herself will play the piano part, the cello soloist will be Frans Helmerson.
A work by Lera Auerbach is also embedded in our second festival "Projections": "Labyrinth" (2018), the orchestral version of which will be premiered by the KHO on February 14 under the direction of Joana Mallwitz. Inspired by Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" and texts by Jorge Luis Borges, the composer sends listeners on a mysterious journey with a dream wanderer, during which they encounter a series of mythical creatures.
On February 15, a family concert for ages 7 and up combines Mussorgsky and Auerbach in an age-appropriate way. The portrait evening "Universum Lera Auerbach" introduces the audience to the artist and her multi-faceted talents, which extend across various genres.
Lera Auerbach joins members of the Konzerthausorchester, including 1st concertmaster Suyoen Kim, as pianist on March 14. The programme includes chamber music works for strings and piano by Mozart, Dvořák and Lera Auerbach.
Biography
Lera Auerbach's path into the world of art began as a poet, with several publications before the age of 18. Born in 1973 in Chelyabinsk in the Urals, she was a virtuoso pianist from an early age and composed her first opera at the age of twelve. In 1991, during a concert tour in the USA, she spontaneously decided to stay in New York at the age of just 17 - without a safety net and without any knowledge of English - while the Soviet Union was on the brink of a historic collapse.
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She seized her freedom and began a new life in the USA, where she was later granted American citizenship in recognition of her extraordinary talent. In addition, the Austrian government granted her citizenship in 2021 for her significant contribution to music and the arts, underscoring her international impact. She studied piano and composition at the Juilliard School and comparative literature at Columbia University. She completed her concert exam at the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover in 2002. In the same year, she made her debut at Carnegie Hall with her "Suite for Violin, Piano and Orchestra" with Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica. Today, her extensive catalogue of works covers almost all genres, from chamber music and orchestral works to opera and ballet, and is performed worldwide by leading soloists, orchestras and theatres.
Today, her work as a conductor is at the centre of her artistic output. It characterises her current artistic expression: "Creating large-scale musical canvases on the podium and sharing a vision of expression with the orchestra, drawing from my experience in different art forms and integrating these currents into the ocean of the orchestra and the stage, that is the greatest happiness for me." This role enriches her artistic voice and expands her legacy as she realises her unique vision on symphonic stages worldwide. A poet of words and music, her literary work includes volumes of poetry and prose, novellas and numerous contributions to newspapers and magazines. Auerbach was named "Poet of the Year" by the International Pushkin Society, and her first book in English, "Excess of Being", explores the art of aphorisms. In 2022, her children's book "A is for Oboe", (Random House) was honoured with the "AudioFile Best Audiobook Award" and she received the "Robert Creeley Memorial Award", which led to the publication of her poetry manuscript "Forever Music".
She continues to be active as a visual artist whose work is collected and exhibited. A CV that would suffice for several careers - a path that continues to seek its goal: "There is no reason to leave something in its cage and not connect it," says Lera Auerbach. "For me, you have to feel in your art that it's bigger than life. Art, be it music, visual art or literature, is what remains of our time."