Austrian composer Roland Baumgartner will attend the Sofia premiere of his latest work, Der Himmel Uber Uns, on May 29. The violin concerto will be presented to the Bulgarian audience by Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra in Bulgaria Hall, the organizers said.
The concert’s soloist will be Vienna Royal Orchestra concertmaster Mihail Hudak under the baton of Peter Valentinovic. The programme will also include six songs after poems by Maurice Maeterlinck by Alexander von Zemlinsky to be performed by mezzo-soprano Hermine Haselbock.
Baumgartner created Der Himmel Uber Uns concerto in 2021. It is addressed to all peoples around the world, to peace, freedom and fraternity among them. The violin is a global instrument from the past and could show us the music styles of the future, the composer comments.
Baumgartner was born in Lower Austria in 1955. He studied music composition, piano and the trumpet at the Vienna Conservatory. Baumgartner has writen music for many films, such as Deadly Games, Joseph’s Daughter, Body and Soul, Jungle Warriors, and Night of Four Moons. He is the first western composer to make a co-production between the US and the USSR, the Ali Baba film ballet. Over the years he has conducted renowned orchestras such as the Czechoslovak Philharmonic Orchestra, the NDR Symphonic Orchestra, the Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Bolshoi Symphonъ Orchestra.
