Status: 03/23/2022 1:13 p.m
In May 2022, the New York Philharmonic will give a three-day guest performance as part of the Usedom Music Festival. It is to take place from May 20th to 22nd in the Historical-Technical Museum in Peenemünde.
After a good two years of Corona and the massively restricted offers in culture and tourism, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania now wants to bring itself back into the international conversation. “We want and have to signal at as many markets as possible that we look forward to guests from near and far,” says Birgit Hesse, who is coming to New York this week in her dual function as President of the State Parliament and the Tourist Association.
A piece of New York is already in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania
Thomas Hummel, director of the Usedom Music Festival, is standing in front of the Ahlbeck pier on the beach on the island of Usedom.
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New York has already arrived in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on the website of the Usedomer Music Festival. A model of the Statue of Liberty stands on the beach in Ahlbeck with the oldest pier in Germany in the background, in front of it a sign: ‘Liberty Island Usedom 2022’. In May the time has actually come. The New York Philharmonic come to the Usedom Music Festival. Festival Director Thomas Hummel has been working towards this moment for ten years. In 2012 he spoke to Kurt Masur for the first time about it, he was honorary music director in New York. “First I said everyone wants the New York Philharmonic. We have very specific ideas for a hotel, we need 150 rooms for such an orchestra and it has been built in the meantime. That made it possible to invite the orchestra . But it took a few years.”
New York Philharmonic plays in Turbinenhalle Peenemünde
Probably the most famous orchestra in the world plays for three evenings in a very special place in the turbine hall of the former Peenemünde power plant. Here, on the site of the former army research institute, the Nazis developed rockets which, according to the planners, should also have destroyed New York. This is also why it is a very special guest performance for chief conductor Jaap van Zweden. “Especially now at this time it is important to remember that music can bring peace, the peace of being human. Especially now that Russia is waging this war against Ukraine, our orchestra’s message must be that music is one of the solutions to get closer to each other as people.”
Anne-Sophie Mutter also comes to Usedom
Also attending the concerts will be violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, who will perform a piece by her late husband, André Previn. His family had fled from the National Socialists to the USA. “We also bring some world premieres of new music. But we also play Beethoven, Bartók, Shostakovich. I think it’s a good impression of what we usually play here in New York,” says chief conductor Jaap van Zweden.
Guest performances are intended to make the festival better known internationally
After the pandemic severely restricted culture and tourism in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the state wants to attract international attention again with the prominent guests from New York. This was achieved 20 years ago with a concert at the Usedom Music Festival, at that time with Benjamin Britten’s ‘War Requiem’, with which the Turbinenhalle in Peenemünde was opened as a concert hall. Back then, Thomas Hummel was already festival director. For him, the guest performance by the New York Philharmonic is the highlight of his work to date. “Well, I’ve always said we want to maintain quality. We’ve offered a lot of quality for 20 years, right from the first concert. And after 20 years, I think we should make a special mark again. And that’s certainly one of the biggest things that you can organize in life. Nobody knows what comes after that. But I’m not about higher, faster, further, but simply about continuity and great concerts. That we simply create moments that you won’t forget . And I hope that we do that with this guest performance.”
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