Status: 05/23/2022 09:11 a.m
Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter played on Usedom with the New York Philharmonic on Saturday evening. On Friday night the orchestra had that Usedom Music Festival opened.
For world star Anne-Sophie Mutter it was an emotional challenge to perform the violin concerto “Anne Sophie” in the former Nazi rocket station in Peenemünde. The Jewish composer André Previn, who fled Berlin from the Nazis in 1938, composed the concerto in the early 2000s as an engagement present for Anne-Sophie Mutter. “For me, as a German musician, it’s difficult to give concerts here. But it’s also an opportunity for togetherness,” says the violinist. “We musicians stand for the coexistence of very different life plans, religious roots. It is therefore also quite obvious that we are playing André Previn’s violin concerto here, who had to flee from Germany to America as a small Jewish boy.”
It was also a very special guest performance for chief conductor Jaap van Zweden: “Right now, it’s important to remember that music can bring peace, the peace of being human. Especially now that Russia is waging this war against Ukraine , it must be the message from our orchestra that music can be one of the solutions to getting closer as people.”
Kick-off of the concert series on Friday with Jan Lisiecki
With the visit of world stars and the New York Philharmonic, the Usedom Music Festival celebrates 20 years of peace concerts in Peenemünde. The New York Philharmonic Orchestra gave its first concert on Usedom on Friday evening to great applause. First, the orchestra presented the work “Lumina”, composed by the young American Nina Shekhar. “Light stands for hope in such a difficult time,” said Thomas Hummel, director of the music festival, at the beginning of the concert. One wants to send a sign of peace and tolerance from Peenemünde into the world.
The program in the sold-out Peenemünde power station also included works by Dmitri Shostakovich and Ludwig van Beethoven. The star of the evening was the soloist Jan Lisiecki on the piano. According to the organizers, 1,200 visitors came to the opening concert of the Usedom Music Festival.
New York Philharmonic with more performances
The New York Philharmonic will be guests on Usedom until May 24th. Two more chamber music concerts are planned for Monday and Tuesday in Heringsdorf and Wolgast. It is the world-famous orchestra’s first tour abroad since 2019. Artistic Director Thomas Hummel has been working towards the guest performance for ten years. In 2012 he spoke to Kurt Masur for the first time about it, he was honorary music director in New York. “First I said everyone wants the New York Philharmonic. We have very specific ideas for a hotel, we need 150 rooms for such an orchestra and it has been built in the meantime. That made it possible to invite the orchestra . But it took a few years.”
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