About the Concert

The planets by Gustav Holst describe the different forces and mystical meanings of our celestial neighbours with large-scale orchestral musical language. The beauty and power emanating from the music makes us aware that we are part of a great and whole whose vastness we can never grasp. The opening piece "Lontano" by György Ligeti fits this. Here he does without what seems to be essential in music: namely melody, harmony and rhythm. A new world of sound emerges; the music behind the music, so to speak. Is this how the universe sounds? Or is this how it sounds inside us?
 
Embedded between these monumental works, we discover another world: 2023 is the year of the mandolin. Its sound is rarely heard on the classical concert platform. With the premiere of a mandolin concerto by Agnes Ponizil, we hear, among other things, the highly individual sound of each. For some passages in the work call for an improvising orchestra. Here we take a look, so to speak, at the world within us - at the microcosm.
 
In the Saxony State Youth Orchestra, the talented young musicians of the classical music landscape of the Free State meet and prepare an exciting programme twice a year under the overall artistic direction of Tobias Engeli.