On 10 April Paavo Järvi and the The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen will bring the Hanseatic composer Johannes Brahms back “home” to Bremen, with a performance of the German Requiem at the “Bremer Dom”. The special performance takes place exactly 150 years to the day that Brahms himself conducted the world premiere of the Requiem in Bremen’s cathedral. Joining Järvi and The Deutsche Kammerphilhamonie Bremen for this special concert are soloists Matthias Goerne and Valentina Farcas, also the Latvian National Choir – Koris Latvija – which accompanied the orchestra on their most recent tour of Asia. The Hanseatic cities of Bremen and Riga have been twinned for 800 years.
As Bremen’s resident ensemble since 1992, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie has a long and close history with the city. Paavo Järvi joined as Artistic Director in 2004 and, in the intervening years, their landmark projects focusing on Beethoven and Schumann have met with international praise. This special performance of the Brahms Requiem, which will be filmed for later broadcast on Germany’s 3Sat TV, plays a central role in the orchestra’s current Brahms cycle.
The Brahms cycle
Paavo Järvi and The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen embarked on the Brahms Project in 2015 since which time they have performed the complete symphony cycle in Germany, Tokyo, Vienna, St Petersburg and Canada. Their recent performance of the full cycle in Paris will be broadcast on Medici TV on 9 April on Medici TV. The first CD in the cycle, featuring Symphony No.2, the Tragic and Academic Festival Overtures on Sony / RCA, was released in the Autumn of 2017. The second release follows this Autumn featuring Symphony No. 1 and the Haydn Variations