Musikfest Berlin

Koninklijk theater Carre
Amsterdam
Netherlands

Sergei Leiferkus speaker
Rundfunkchor Berlin / Simon Halsey coach
Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam
Mariss Jansons conductor

After experiencing the latest trends of his era in Paris and Berlin, a talented young composer left Europe, burning his bridges behind him. He declared his previous music invalid and started from scratch in America. During his search for new horizons, Edgard Varèse moved to the USA in 1915. His emigration was an act of artistic liberation. New York, melting-pot and bubbling cauldron, with the most modern skyscrapers of the day, people from all over the world and a frantically fast pace – all this overwhelmed the young Edgard Varèse on his arrival. He incorporated his impressions of New York and first experiences of life in the USA into his orchestral work Amériques.


Arnold Schoenberg : A Survivor from Warsaw
Igor Stravinsky : Symphonie des Psaumes
Samuel Barber : Adagio
Edgard Varèse : Amériques