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BAVARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Sir Simon Rattle, Chief Conductor
Lester Lynch, bass-baritone
Tuesday, April 30, 2024, 8:00 p.m.
Kennedy Center Concert Hall
“Here is an orchestra that is not only very brilliant – it doesn’t have any weaknesses at all. They are enormously spontaneous and emotional performers, playing every concert like it could be their last. They give everything, more than a hundred percent.” – Gramophone
Sir Simon Rattle makes his first visit to Washington, D.C., in more than 20 years as chief conductor of Germany’s acclaimed Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO). Known throughout the world for his deep musical insight, and charismatic presence as an educator and communicator, Rattle leads the Grammy-winning BRSO in a performance of orchestral showpieces. Experience Richard Wagner's "Prelude und Liebestod" from the heart-wrenching opera Tristan und Isolde; Beethoven's nature-inspired “Pastoral” Symphony; and Alexander von Zemlinsky's Symphony Gesänge, performed with charismatic baritone Lester Lynch, a vocalist “with nuance and satisfying dramatic variety” (Bachtrack), who is well-known to D.C.-area audiences. Do not miss the opportunity to experience this one of only four U.S. performances by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2024.
Program:
Richard Wagner – “Prelude und Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde
Alexander von Zemlinsky – Symphonische Gensänge, op. 20
Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 in F Major, op. 68 (“Pastorale”)
This performance is an external rental presented in coordination with the Kennedy Center Campus Rentals Office and is not produced by the Kennedy Center.
Washington Performing Arts is committed to ensuring visitors of all abilities can experience the performances and programs we present. We partner with our venues to ensure accommodations are available. For specific questions about accessibility at our Kennedy Center events, please visit https://www.kennedy-center.org/visit/accessibility or contact us at patronservices@washingtonperformingarts.org.
This performance is made possible through the generous support of the Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts.
Washington Performing Arts’s classical music performances this season are made possible in part through the generous support of Betsy and Robert Feinberg.
Her Excellency Dame Karen Pierce DCMG, His Majesty’s Ambassador to the U.S. British Embassy Washington, is the honorary patron of this engagement.
This is one of fourteen 2023-24 season performances included in Washington Performing Arts’s The World in Our City initiative, which promotes cross-cultural understanding and cultural diplomacy via the presentation of international visiting artists, globally inspired local programming, and the award-winning Embassy Adoption Program, a partnership with D.C. Public Schools.
Special thanks to the following lead supporters of Washington Performing Arts’s mission-driven work: Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated; D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities; and the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs Program and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.
