Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Maria Herz, Ernest Bloch, Leonard Bernstein
Cello: Raphaela Gromes
Conductor: Markus L. Frank
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy:
“Calm Sea and Happy Voyage,” Concert Overture, Op. 27
Maria Herz: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 10
Ernest Bloch:
Schelomo: Hebrew Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra (1916)
Leonard Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (1960) The roar of the sea, endless expanses, and a mirror-smooth sea—the opening of the 130th concert season of the North German Philharmonic Orchestra Rostock gets off to a maritime start: with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s overture “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage.” In composing this piece, the Hamburg-born Romantic composer drew inspiration from Goethe’s poems of the same name.
The concert marks the Rostock orchestra’s third collaboration with the internationally acclaimed cellist Raphaela Gromes. The multi-award-winning artist has devoted herself for years with great passion to female composers, most recently with her album *Femmes* and the *Fortissima* project. Gromes unearths forgotten works by women, including the cello concerto composed in 1930 by Maria Herz, who came from a Jewish family in Cologne. Ernest Bloch’s *Schelomo* is also shaped by Jewish tradition; in this work, the solo cello embodies the figure of the wise biblical King Solomon.
Markus L. Frank, General Music Director and Principal Conductor in Dessau, is also making his third guest appearance with the North German Philharmonic Orchestra Rostock. To conclude the program, he will conduct Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances with motifs from the legendary musical *West Side Story*. This spectacular suite, based on Bernstein’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy *Romeo and Juliet*—set against the backdrop of New York’s street fights in the 1950s—brings the orchestra’s anniversary season opener to a close.
