Known for his “stimulating exactitude, verve, and power” (New York Classical Review) in Schoenberg, Gilbert launches his sixth season as Chief Conductor of Hamburg’s NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra (NDR) season with star-studded performances of the Austrian American composer’s monumental late-Romantic oratorio, Gurre-Lieder, to celebrate this year’s Schoenberg sesquicentennial. Joined by narrator Thomas Quasthoff and vocal soloists Christina Nilsson, Jamie Barton, Simon O’Neill, Michael Schade, and Michael Nagy, with the NDR Vocal Ensemble, MDR Radio Choir, and Berlin Radio Choir, Gilbert and the NDR give two Opening Nightaccounts of the work (Sep 11 & 13), the second of which is a livestreamed event that takes place 150 years to the day after Schoenberg’s birth. Launching the season at Hamburg’s iconic Elbphilharmonie, these concerts will be followed by a third performance that concludes the 2024 Lucerne Festival (Sep 15).

The conductor’s upcoming NDR fall highlights also include collaborations with violist Antoine Tamestit (Sep 19–22) and pianists Daniil Trifonov (Oct 3 & 4), Rafał Blechacz (Oct 6), and Yefim Bronfman, who joins them in Hamburg and on a six-city European tour (Oct 10–20). Their tour program features Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, of which, after a previous NDR performance, Bachtrack observed: “Gilbert responds instinctively to Russian music and he was in his element.” Tour dates follow below.

Oct 10–20
Concerts and North European tour with NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra

Oct 10 & 11: Hamburg, Germany
Oct 12: Cologne, Germany
Oct 13: Friedrichshafen, Germany
Oct 14: Freiburg, Germany
Oct 16: Basel, Switzerland
Oct 18: Turin, Italy
Oct 20: Munich, Germany