L'expérience Nils Wanderer

From the Romantic composers to today’s musicians, Baroque music remains an endless source of inspiration. With the collaboration of German countertenor Nils Wanderer, conductor Clemens Schuldt has crafted a program that is as unexpected as it is inspiring. Beyond the irresistible theme of its opening movement, Brahms’s Fourth Symphony — his final one — encapsulates the full breadth of the composer’s musical heritage. Its finale is a passacaglia inspired by a theme borrowed from Bach, the “father of musicians,” whose elegiac Sinfonia opens the concert.

Instrumental works by Gabrieli, Rameau, and Vaughan Williams — the latter revisiting the beloved Greensleeves from the Renaissance and Baroque eras — converse with the most beautiful arias of Purcell and Handel, elevated by Nils Wanderer’s rare and velvety timbre. Aheym by Bryce Dessner, guitarist of The National, pays tribute through striking minimalist writing to the Jewish immigrants from whom he descends. The piece lends a special resonance to Leonard Cohen’s iconic Hallelujah. Finally, Adele’s hit Skyfall, written for the 23rd James Bond film, traces through its lyrics the entire arc of this extraordinary concert, illuminated by resident lighting designer Nyco Desmeules.

Clemens Schuldt, conductor
Nils Wanderer, countertenor
Nyco Desmeules, resident lighting designer

Program
Bach: Sinfonia from Cantata No. 4, Christ lag in Todesbanden
Brahms: Symphony No. 4
Gabrieli: Canzon XVI
Purcell: Dido’s Lament (“When I am laid in earth”), from Dido and Aeneas
Purcell: “What power art thou” (Cold Song), from King Arthur
Rameau: Contredanse en rondeau, from Les Boréades
Handel: Stille amare, from Tolomeo
Handel: Lascia ch’io pianga, from Rinaldo
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Greensleeves
Dessner: Aheym (arr. C. Schuldt)
Cohen: Hallelujah
Adele: Skyfall