Concerts with music from Mozart

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – complete
Boccherini: Fandango & Madrid for Guitar and Strings
Albéniz: Asturias and other famous Spanish compositions for Guitar

Vladyslav Indyk - Guitar, Marcelino Rojas - Violin & Residence-Soloists

A Spanish-Italian Evening: Music Full of Sun and Passion

We begin in Baroque Venice, where the “Red Priest,” Antonio Vivaldi, made history with The Four Seasons. A master at making nature speak without a single word, Vivaldi pushed the violin to its expressive limits. The Four Seasons is more than a melody; it is an immersive experience that brings the renewal of nature directly into the concert hall.

Isaac Albéniz – Asturias
Although the title suggests the green north of Spain, this piece breathes the fiery soul of Andalusia. Originally composed for piano in 1892, it became an icon of Spanish music through its transcription for guitar—an instrument Albéniz often “tailored” his music for. He initially titled it simply Leyenda (Legend), a fitting name for a work that has since become one of the most globally recognized melodies in classical music.

Luigi Boccherini – La Musica Notturna delle Strade di Madrid
Imagine sitting at an open window on a warm summer night in 1780. Outside, the winding streets of Madrid come alive. Luigi Boccherini, the Italian virtuoso living in Spain, captures these fleeting moments in his String Quintet Op. 30 No. 6—a work so exclusive that he believed no one outside Spain could truly grasp its charm. This piece is more than chamber music; it is an acoustic painting, blurring the line between concert hall and street. Immerse yourself in a world of shadow, light, and the unbridled rhythm of old Spain.

His famous Fandango is a deliberate provocation of courtly etiquette: he brought the passionate, almost seductive street dance into chamber music, often crowned with the crisp rhythm of real castanets.

Vivaldi: Concerto for Piccolo Flute Il Cardellino
Vivaldi: Flute Concerto La tempesta di mare
Vivaldi: Concerto for Piccolo Flute in C Major
Vivaldi: Spring & Summer from The Four Seasons
Mozart: Overture from The Magic Flute
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Suite
Gershwin: Summertime 
 

Janine Schöllhorn – flute, Marcelino Rojas– violin & Residence-Soloists

From Baroque Birds to Gershwin’s Jazz Dream

In the quiet halls of the Ospedale della Pietà for orphaned girls in Venice, music was created to reach far beyond its walls. Antonio Vivaldi composed his flute and piccolo concertos for the exceptionally talented young musicians of the institute—virtuosos who became both his performers and his experimental canvas. In the piccolo concerto Il Cardellino (The Goldfinch), the tiny instrument comes alive: it chirps, flutters, and trills as if a little bird were perched within the orchestra. Vivaldi does not treat nature as mere decoration—he makes it a sonic event.

In the flute concerto La tempesta di mare, nature erupts from the idyllic into the elemental. Rapid runs leap across registers, cascading waves of sound rise and fall, and the strings tremble under an imaginary wind. Here, the sea is not painted—it rages. In the piccolo concerto, the instrument itself becomes a marvel: soaring to extreme heights, moving at breathtaking speed, a performance at the very edge of possibility. Virtuosity is never an end in itself—it is the expression of overflowing energy.

With The Four Seasons, Vivaldi expands the view to the cyclical rhythms of nature. In Spring (La Primavera), the awakening of the world is heard: bird song threads through the violins, streams murmur in gentle figures. Vivaldi even published explanatory sonnets to accompany his concertos, anchoring the music firmly in imagery—the second movement depicts a sleeping shepherd under the watch of a viola, while a dog barks in the distance. Summer (L’Estate), by contrast, is heavy and oppressive. The heat shimmers in dense harmonies, fatigue spreads, and the finale erupts into a thunderstorm: lightning flashes, thunder rolls, nature unleashes itself with dramatic force.

Another gateway opens with Mozart’s overture to The Magic Flute. Three solemn chords stand like pillars in the room—serious, symbolic, imbued with Masonic gravitas. But soon everything is in motion: a lively fugato unfolds, clever, spirited, and full of theatrical tension. Mozart composed this overture under immense time pressure; it is said the sheets were still wet with ink at the premiere in 1791. Perhaps it is precisely this risk of the moment that one feels in every turn of the music.

The evening concludes with Summertime—the floating, haunting melody from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. It echoes tradition, spirituals, and folk songs, yet it is entirely new. Gershwin composes authenticity; he invents a musical memory. Perhaps that is the secret of the song: it feels as if it has always existed, waiting only to be recognized.

The result is a concert that weaves together nature and theater, Baroque delight, classical symbolism, and the dreamlike world of Romantic and American music.

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Mozart: Serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Rossini: String Serenade in C Major & “Aria of Figaro”
Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 6

Simon Zhu *- violin & Residenz Soloists

* 1.Pricewinner Premio Paganini Genoa 2023

Following this achievement, he performed for King Charles III on the famous “Cannone” by Guarneri del Gesù.

A summer festival concert at Schleißheim Palace: the evening air lies gently over the baroque façades, the sky stretches wide above the garden parterre, and even before the first note is played, the scene itself seems to breathe music. In this radiant setting, Antonio Vivaldi’s Le quattro stagioni unfolds.

When Vivaldi published these concertos in 1725, he created more than agreeable Baroque music—he designed a living theater of nature. In Spring, the violins chirp like excited birds, streams murmur in flowing lines, everything seems to bloom. Yet the idyll is not without interruption: a brief thunderstorm sweeps through, tremolos flashing like lightning across the orchestra. In the second movement, the shepherd rests, dreamily sketched by the solo violin, while the viola with dry, repeated notes imitates the “barking dog”—a charming detail that sharpens the imagery with a wink.

Summer lays a heavy weight on the shoulders. In the accompanying sonnets, Vivaldi explains: the cuckoo calls, the turtledove responds, a gentle wind stirs. Beneath the surface, tension grows. Finally, the storm breaks, unleashed and dramatic, as if the heavens themselves discharge over the palace gardens.

Autumn celebrates the harvest. Dance rhythms stomp, wine flows freely, the violins laugh. Merriment and good wine lull the peasants to sleep. During the hunt, gunshots ring out while the fleeing game is musically depicted in fast runs by the solo violin.

Winter finally cuts sharply through the summer warmth of this evening. The strings make the teeth chatter, rapid repetitions freeze the air. Footsteps crunch on ice, skaters glide—and fall. Yet even here, there is beauty in frost, a clear, sparkling transparency.

A change of scene: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik begins, seemingly made for such an open-air evening. Perhaps originally composed for a summer gathering, it now epitomizes classical cheerfulness. The themes are radiant, the elegance effortless. That a movement of the serenade is lost makes it a fragment—but one that feels complete.

Italian temperament enters with Gioachino Rossini. His string serenade bursts with energy, and in the “Aria of Figaro” from The Barber of Seville, the music races along in breathless tempo. Wit, virtuosity, and exuberant joy combine into a musical firework that sets even the palace walls vibrating.

On this summer evening at Schleißheim Palace, a panorama of the seasons and moods unfolds—nature, theater, and musical storytelling blending into a vivid, unforgettable experience.

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Mozart: Serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Rossini: String Serenade in C Major & “Aria of Figaro”
Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 6

Simon Zhu *- violin & Residenz Soloists

*1st Prize at the Premio Paganini in Genoa 2023. Following this achievement, he performed for King Charles III on the famous “Cannone” by Guarneri del Gesù.

A summer festival concert at Schleißheim Palace: the evening air lies gently over the baroque façades, the sky stretches wide above the garden parterre, and even before the first note is played, the scene itself seems to breathe music. In this radiant setting, Antonio Vivaldi’s Le quattro stagioni unfolds.

When Vivaldi published these concertos in 1725, he created more than agreeable Baroque music—he designed a living theater of nature. In Spring, the violins chirp like excited birds, streams murmur in flowing lines, everything seems to bloom. Yet the idyll is not without interruption: a brief thunderstorm sweeps through, tremolos flashing like lightning across the orchestra. In the second movement, the shepherd rests, dreamily sketched by the solo violin, while the viola with dry, repeated notes imitates the “barking dog”—a charming detail that sharpens the imagery with a wink.

Summer lays a heavy weight on the shoulders. In the accompanying sonnets, Vivaldi explains: the cuckoo calls, the turtledove responds, a gentle wind stirs. Beneath the surface, tension grows. Finally, the storm breaks, unleashed and dramatic, as if the heavens themselves discharge over the palace gardens.

Autumn celebrates the harvest. Dance rhythms stomp, wine flows freely, the violins laugh. Merriment and good wine lull the peasants to sleep. During the hunt, gunshots ring out while the fleeing game is musically depicted in fast runs by the solo violin.

Winter finally cuts sharply through the summer warmth of this evening. The strings make the teeth chatter, rapid repetitions freeze the air. Footsteps crunch on ice, skaters glide—and fall. Yet even here, there is beauty in frost, a clear, sparkling transparency.

A change of scene: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik begins, seemingly made for such an open-air evening. Perhaps originally composed for a summer gathering, it now epitomizes classical cheerfulness. The themes are radiant, the elegance effortless. That a movement of the serenade is lost makes it a fragment—but one that feels complete.

Italian temperament enters with Gioachino Rossini. His string serenade bursts with energy, and in the “Aria of Figaro” from The Barber of Seville, the music races along in breathless tempo. Wit, virtuosity, and exuberant joy combine into a musical firework that sets even the palace walls vibrating.

On this summer evening at Schleißheim Palace, a panorama of the seasons and moods unfolds—nature, theater, and musical storytelling blending into a vivid, unforgettable experience.

Vivaldi: „Die vier Jahreszeiten“ – gesamt
Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Corelli: Weihnachtskonzert
Händel: Concerto grosso
Pachelbel: Kanon

Simon Zhu - Violine & Residenz-Solisten

 

The best things come in small packages: With wonderful stucco works and crystal, chandeliers equipped Max's Joseph hall is for many a small pearl in the residence and forms the perfect frame for classical concerts. Just chamber music friends estimate the intimate character of the space.

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Vivaldi: "The Four Seasons": "Autumn" and "Winter"

Residenz-Solisten

Then begins a work that rises in music history like a vast mountain range: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
At first, the sound seems to emerge from nothingness. Mysterious, vibrating tones begin to gather, gradually taking shape – until suddenly the symphony stands before us: monumental, radiant and profoundly human.
In the Scherzo, an irresistible rhythmic force erupts. Sharply accented and driven with breathtaking precision, the music pulses with defiant vitality, as though life itself were stamping out the rhythm. The third movement opens a wide, singing expanse of sound – intimate, sustained and of touching tenderness.
In the finale, the unprecedented occurs. Beethoven searches, touching upon fragments of the previous movements – only to cast them aside. Then a new melody emerges, softly and simply, almost like a folk song: the theme of the “Ode to Joy.” Rising from the depths of the bass, it gathers strength and unfolds into a triumphant vision. In this moment, Beethoven shatters the boundaries of the symphony.

Friedrich Schiller’s vision of brotherhood becomes sound:
“Joy, bright spark of divinity.”
What resounds here is more than music – it is a call to freedom, fraternity and hope.
The Ninth does not end quietly.
It ends like a sunrise in blazing D major – overwhelming, jubilant, as if Beethoven had wrested a promise from the world itself.

A century earlier, Antonio Vivaldi had already demonstrated how evocative music could be with his cycle "The Four Seasons," though he focused more on nature than on philosophy. In "Autumn," the "Red Priest" first has the violins strike up a dance before imitating the exhaustion of revelers after the harvest with gentle, almost floating melodies—a musical intoxication that subsides into a deep sleep. "Winter," by contrast, makes the listener shiver: through sharp staccato and tremolo strings, the chattering of teeth in the cold is imitated with deceptive realism, while the famous Largo describes the cozy warmth of a heated room as the rain taps softly against the window outside. Vivaldi was so convinced of the narrative power of his music that he accompanied his scores with explanatory sonnets, ensuring every musician knew exactly whether they were portraying a hunting dog or a wanderer slipping on the ice.

Vivaldi: „Die vier Jahreszeiten“ – gesamt
Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Corelli: Weihnachtskonzert
Händel: Concerto grosso
Pachelbel: Kanon

Residenz-Solisten

 

The best things come in small packages: With wonderful stucco works and crystal, chandeliers equipped Max's Joseph hall is for many a small pearl in the residence and forms the perfect frame for classical concerts. Just chamber music friends estimate the intimate character of the space.

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – “Autumn” & “Winter”
Grieg: Peer Gynt – Suite
Pachelbel: Canon
Tchaikovsky: Highlights from The Nutcracker & Swan Lake

Residence-Soloists

Concert Program – From Baroque to Romantic 

The Four Seasons – Autumn & Winter – Antonio Vivaldi
Vivaldi’s vivid violin concertos depict the colors and moods of the seasons. In Autumn and Winter, the composer contrasts festive dances, rustic celebrations, and the chill of icy landscapes with virtuosic passages and dynamic orchestral interplay.

Peer Gynt Suite – Edvard Grieg
Grieg’s suite from Henrik Ibsen’s play captures Norwegian landscapes, folk-inspired melodies, and dramatic storytelling. From the lyrical Morning Mood to the lively In the Hall of the Mountain King, the music blends poetic lyricism with rhythmic vitality.

Canon in D – Johann Pachelbel
One of the most famous Baroque pieces, Pachelbel’s canon features three violins in imitative dialogue over a repeating bass line. Its serene harmonies and elegant structure make it a timeless favorite.

Highlights from The Nutcracker & Swan Lake – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky’s ballet music brings magical storytelling to life, from the sparkling Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy to the dramatic and lyrical passages of Swan Lake. The orchestration combines brilliant color, rhythmic drive, and memorable melodies, making these works enduring classics of the Romantic repertoire.

Vivaldi: Die vier Jahreszeiten “Herbst” & “Winter”
Mozart: Violinkonzert G-Dur - Allegro
Grieg: Peer Gynt – Suite
Corelli: Weihnachtskonzert
Pachelbel: Kanon
Tschaikowski: Highlights aus “Nussknacker” & “Schwanensee”

Residenz-Solisten

 

The best things come in small packages: With wonderful stucco works and crystal, chandeliers equipped Max's Joseph hall is for many a small pearl in the residence and forms the perfect frame for classical concerts. Just chamber music friends estimate the intimate character of the space.

Vivaldi: “The Four Seasons”:  “Autumn” & “Winter” 
Vivaldi: Oboe Concerto 
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite 
Corelli: Christmas Concerto 
Pachelbel: Canon 
Tchaikovsky: Highlights from “The Nutcracker” & “Swan Lake”

Residence-Soloists

The best things come in small packages: With wonderful stucco works and crystal, chandeliers equipped Max's Joseph hall is for many a small pearl in the residence and forms the perfect frame for classical concerts. Just chamber music friends estimate the intimate character of the space.