Programme

For over 400 years, we have been enchanted by the story of the most famous lovers in literary history: Romeo and Juliet. Since then, many composers have been inspired by William Shakespeare's play and have paid tribute to the couple in symphonic poems, ballets, operas and musicals. In the process, they have developed very different musical languages to express their forbidden, secret love and its tragic end. General Music Director Roland Böer will present works by Peter Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Heinrich Sutermeister, Edward Elgar and Leonard Bernstein at his first Klassik Open Air in the Luitpoldhain - music that is also generally about people who have the courage to stand up for their love.

Roland Böer has been General Music Director of the Staatstheater Nürnberg and Chief Conductor of the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg since the 2023/24 season. He has made guest appearances at leading international opera houses such as the Teatro alla Scala, the Royal Opera House and the English National Opera London, as well as the Deutsche Oper and the Komische Oper Berlin. As a concert conductor, he has led renowned orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie. From 2002 to 2008, he was Kapellmeister at the Frankfurt Opera. From 2009, he conducted the "Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte di Montepulciano" festival for twelve years and was principal guest conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg until 2019. He has made recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Bamberger Symphoniker, among others. Roland Böer was honoured by the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with the Congregation Award RNCM Fellow and is an honorary citizen of the city of Montepulciano.

The Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg is the largest orchestra in the metropolitan region and the second largest opera and concert orchestra in Bavaria. Roland Böer has been General Music Director of the orchestra since the 2023/24 season. Previous General Music Directors have included Marcus Bosch and Joana Mallwitz. The orchestra offers around 150 opera and ballet performances every year as well as its own concert series in the Meistersingerhalle, supplemented by special projects such as New Year's concerts and the "Dreiklang" series. The Staatsphilharmonie performed its first classical open-air concert in Europe's greenest concert hall in 1999 in cooperation with the city of Nuremberg. The orchestra's history dates back to 1377, when it was actually founded in 1922 as the " Nürnberger Philharmoniker". In 2012, the orchestra was renamed the " Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg" and an orchestra academy was founded. For its 100th anniversary in 2022, the State Theatre founded the "Junge Staatsphilharmonie" on the initiative of Joana Mallwitz. Concerts and opera performances are regularly broadcast by BR-Klassik and Deutschlandradio Kultur.

Tobias Föhrenbach works for Bayerischer Rundfunk. There he presents radio, television and online formats and reports live from concerts, festivals and other cultural events. He also works as a media coach and voice artist on theatre stages and gives seminars on voice and presentation.
Tobias Föhrenbach's experience as a moderator at BR-KLASSIK (Studio Franken), as well as his personal affinity for classical music, means that he aims to accompany the concert with a balanced mix of emotion, entertainment and quality.