CULTURE

A legendary ensemble

The Athens Concert Hall is playing host to one of the world’s oldest, most established orchestras, a highly distinguished maestro as well as an acclaimed pianist. The legendary Staatskapelle Dresden, under the baton of Fabio Luisi, will give its second performance of works by Beethoven and Richard Strauss with pianist Radu Lupu at the Friends of Music Hall tonight. The program will begin with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4, Opus 58 and will continue with Richard Strauss’s symphonic poem «Ein Heldenleben,» completed in 1898, which consists of six parts: The Hero, The Hero’s Adversaries, The Hero’s Female Companion, The Hero’s Battlefield, The Hero’s Work of Peace and The Hero’s Retirement from the World and Fulfillment. On September 22, 1988, the Dresden National Orchestra, better known as the Staatskapelle Dresden, celebrated its 450-year anniversary. Its uniqueness lies in that it has maintained its position as a top music ensemble unchallenged for four-and-a-half centuries, through different periods in the history of music. In one of his notebooks dating to 1823, Beethoven wrote that everyone talked about the orchestra of the Dresden court being the best in Europe. The orchestra was founded in 1548 by Elector Moritz of Saxony. Its conductors have included great personalities such as Johann Walter, Heinrich Schuetz, Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner, and more recently, Karl Boehm, Giuseppe Sinopoli and Sir Colin Davis. Athens Concert Hall, 1 Kokkali & Vas. Sofias Avenue, tel 210.728.2333.

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