Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

“Ácana” by Tania León was inspired by a poem by the Cuban national poet Nicolás Guillén: paying homage to the tree of that name, whose remarkably sturdy wood finds multiple uses in that island nation. Lively dance rhythms illustrate the bustling life of Tania León’s birthplace Havana – with detours into the impenetrable Cuban rainforests with their glass clear streams and high mountains. Maurice Ravel’s “Cinq mélodies populaires grecques” then leads us into the world of Greek folklore  – with an imressionistic lyricism – while Gustav Mahler’s “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen” are based to the lyrics of folk songs taken from the collection “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”. The soloist is Julian Prégardien, who will be accompanied by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. The programme after the interval starts with Charles Ives’s orchestral suite “Three Places in New England”, whose three movements refer to natural landscapes and scenes from American history – with a wealth of echoes of traditional marches and hymns that repeatedly merge into the musical proceedings over a distance of space and time. The evening will be rounded off with the orchestral suite “Appalachian Spring” by Aaron Copland.