A very special concert from June for World Environment Day, the United Nations day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment.

The destruction of nature by humans and its consequences are the focus of this concert by members of the WDR Symphony Orchestra and its guests from Vienna with a chamber music version of Beethoven's “Pastoral” Symphony.

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 6 in F major, op. 68 "Pastoral"
Arrangement for string sextet by Michael Gotthard Fischer.

The tremendous force of the earthquake in the Chinese province of Sichuan comes to life in Tan Dun in the first movement of his drum concert "The Tears Of Nature" through the menacing sounds of the kettledrum. In the slow middle movement, the Chinese composer writes a tender lament for marimba, in memory of the victims of the Fukushima tsunami. The final movement then goes to New York, where Tan Dun lives today: here he composes a wild dance for all kinds of percussion instruments in memory of Hurricane Sandy, which devastated New York.

Tan Dun
The Tears of Nature
Chamber music version for two pianos and three percussionists.

A brand new composition by Tan Dun completes the program: "Prayer and Blessing," the musical response of the composer and conductor to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tan Dun
Prayer and Blessing