Nicholas Carter / Brett Dean

Australian-born Brett Dean, a former violist with the Berlin Philharmonic, has gained increasing international recognition as a composer since the 1990s and is now one of the most frequently performed contemporary composers. His Viola Concerto, which he has performed with renowned orchestras worldwide, brings him to the Staatsorchester Stuttgart this season. With soaring cantilenas, delicate sounds inspired by birdsong, and dramatic, virtuosic outbursts, the multifaceted character of this string instrument – rarely heard in a solo role – is revealed. Dean’s Viola Concerto, conducted by General Music Director Nicholas Carter, is paired with the solemn and monumental Ninth Symphony by the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. A mysterious “primordial mist“ at the beginning, a scherzo reminiscent of a dance of death with dreamlike, fleeting passages, a world-weary song of the tubas, and the overwhelming waves of crescendo so characteristic of Bruckner mark this work, which the gravely ill composer dedicated to “the dear Lord“ at the end of his life and which ultimately remained unfinished.

There will be an introduction 45 minutes before the concert at Silchersaal.