In 2024, the Odessa Classics music festival, founded by Ukrainian pianist Alexey Botvinov, will celebrate its tenth anniversary. Until the outbreak of war, the festival took place annually in Odessa; since then, it has been held in various cities in Western Europe in a modified form with the participation of international artists. For the concerts on September 24, 26 and 29, 2024, around 50 Ukrainian musicians living in exile will now travel to Bremen to give a total of three concerts in the Sendesaal and the Great Hall of the Glocke. The festival is also being organized as part of the long-standing musical partnership between Bremen and Odessa, which was initiated by Alexey Botvinov together with the Bremen RathsChor.

In the closing and choral concert of Odessa Classics, Alexey Botvinov will perform the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, with which he won the All-Union Rachmaninoff Competition at the age of 19.

The Bremer RathsChor presents masterpieces of Brahms' vocal music.

Performers:

Alexey Botvinov, piano

Nora Steuerwald, alto

Bremen RathsChoir

Odessa Classics Orchestra

Conductor: Antonius Adamske

Program:

Johannes Brahms:

Schicksalslied, Gesang der Parzen, Alt-Rhapsodie, Begräbnisgesang, Nänie, Geistliches Lied (Arr. Sir John Eliot Gardiner)

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2, op. 18