Gala Concert: Avni, Mendelssohn, Weill

To celebrate 1700 years of Jewish life in Germany, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne and rising star conductor Lahav Shani celebrate three major Jewish composers: Tzvi Avni, born in 1927 in Saarbrücken, is one of Israel's most famous composers. Since the 1960s, faith has played an increasingly important role in his works. Prayer for Strings immerses itself in melodic lines which are interrupted by a restless middle section. Symphony no. 2 by Kurt Weill was written during the rise to power of the National Socialists in Germany – a short while later, Weill would flee to the United States. It is a work that belongs to the romantic tradition, though the spirit of the Threepenny Opera flares up in the presto of the third movement. Arabella Steinbacher is the soloist on Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Violin Concerto in E minor.

A production of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne.