Berliner Oratorien-Chor

“I’m composing like crazy.”

A biography of Edward Elgar – who taught himself music and went on to become England’s leading composer.

In 1857, Edward Elgar was born in a village in the English West Midlands – north-west of London, in the heart of England. He was born into a world of music, as his father traded in musical instruments and accessories. A musician and self-taught from an early age Little Edward tried his hand at the …

“It was a dream! The dream of GERONTIUS!”

“The Dream of Gerontius”, Edward Elgar It is 3 October 1900. That morning, the renowned Birmingham Triennial Music Festival stages *The Dream of Gerontius* for the very first time. The premiere is a failure – and is described by critics as a “poorly executed performance”. Yet the audience cheers. …

„Music is the word of the inexpressible“

Messe solennelle, Naji Hakim.

More than a hundred years after Dvořák, Naji Hakim (*1955 in Beirut) wrote his "Messe solennelle", or "solemn mass", in 1999. It combines the traditional liturgical form with a rhythmically lively tonal language that is characterised by Hakim's origins in Lebanon and French organ music. Choir and …