Debüt!

"Debut!" focuses on two young soloists and a groundbreaking composer: they all prove the courage of the first time in their own way.

The prelude is the overture to "La clemenza di Tito" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. With radiant energy and dramatic gesture, she opens the concert evening and takes us directly into the world of opera. The famous aria "Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso" also shows Mozart's incomparable ability to bring character and humour to life in a musically subversive way.

"O del mio dolce ardor" by Christoph Willibald Gluck is one of the most beautiful lyrical arias of the 18th century. Her simple, wide-ranging melody focuses entirely on the expression of the voice. Vincenzo Bellini's "Cinta di fiori" then leads into the lush sound world of Italian bel canto, in which long, cantabile melodies and warm timbres dominate.

The Violin Concerto in E minor op. 64 by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy is one of the most popular concertos of his instrument. Right at the beginning, the solo violin emerges immediately – an effective moment that combines virtuoso brilliance and lyrical expressiveness.

The Second Symphony in A minor by Alice Mary Smith* is not only a strong piece of symphonic music, but also an expression of a pronounced artistic self-confidence in the midst of rigid historical conventions: the great musical forms were reserved exclusively for men at the time. The English composer was the first woman in England to write a symphony. Her work from 1876 impressively shows how naturally and non-conformist she deals freely with the great symphonic form: a powerful exclamation mark at the end of "Debut!".

* The Symphony in A minor by Alice Mary Smith will be performed as a Swiss premiere.