On May 4th and 5th, maestro Lorin Maazel will bring his The Ring Without Words to commemorate the bicentenary of German composer Richard Wagner. 12 artists from the Berlin Philharmonic will collaborate with China NCPA Concert Hall Orchestra in the concert, offering the Chinese audience a masterpiece of 80 minutes with a lineup of more than 100 musicians.
The China Premiere of The Ring Without Words celebrating the bicentenary of Wagner
2013 marks the bicentenary of the German composer Richard Wagner, NCPA, on the one hand, offers Der Fliegende Holl？nder and Die Walküre in its Opera Festival 2013, and on the other, brings a concert of world renowned conductor Lorin Maazel’s The Ring Without Words.
Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring in short) is a cycle of four epic operas by Richard Wagner known for its rich music content, extensive motif and enormous difficulty to stage. The span of the opera usually takes four nights of totally 15 hours to cover.
Joined by 12 artists from the Berlin Philharmonic, the orchestra boasts of a spectacular orchestration of more than 100 musicians
In order to meet the requirement of The Ring Without Words, the orchestration employs a rarely seen full-sized orchestra with four winds and more than 100 musicians, including eight horns and three harps. In addition, 12 musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic will join China NCPA Concert Hall Orchestra and serve as the principals of different sections, taking the performance to a new level.
The 12 musicians brought by Lorin Maazel are all mainstays in the Berlin Philharmonic, among whom many are the principals of different sections, including Andreas Blau, principal clarinet, Rainer Seegers, principal timpani, Jonathan Kelly, principal oboe, Wenzel Fuch, principal clarinet, Christhard G？ssling, principal trombone, and Christophe Horak, principal 2nd violin, etc. Alessandro Cappone, member of the first violin section, will act as the concert master of China NCPA Concert Hall Orchestra this time.
Lorin Maazel's three visits to Beijing in three month make him apt at training the China NCPA Orchestra
After his visit in February with the Chicago Symphony and a return with the Munich Philharmonic on April 24th, maestro Lorin Maazel now returns for the second time this year to NCPA with The Ring Without Words. His three appearances in such a short period of three months is record breaking for NCPA.
As a matter of fact, The Ring Without Words is Lorin Maazel's exclusive. No other conductor has ever conducted this piece. The only orchestras who are lucky to collaborate with maestro Lorin Maazel are world-leading ones like the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic and NHK Symphony. Thus, the collaboration with the China NCPA Concert Hall Orchestra shows the recognition for China’s orchestras.