Youth orchestras from Mexico and Germany play Beethoven’s Eroica | Music Documentary

Beethoven’s “Eroica” in Mexico City and Chapela’s “Zimmergramm” in Bonn was a classical music adventure between two continents. The film documents the Campus project from the Beethovenfest Bonn in 2016, where members of the German Federal Youth Orchestra and the Mexican Orquesta Escuela Carlos Chávez performed joint concert programs under the baton of Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra.

The Campus project’s first stop was Mexico City, where Ludwig van Beethoven’s (1770 - 1827) 3rd Symphony, the “Eroica”, was performed in the famous concert hall Palacio de Bellas Artes. The second stop was the Beethovenfest Bonn, where the world premiere of “Zimmergramm” by Mexican composer Enrico Chapela (*1974) was performed. “Zimmergramm” for tenor, baritone, bass, guitar, chorus and orchestra is a kind of mini-opera and refers to the “Zimmermann-Depesche” of 1917, which marks an exciting chapter of German-Mexican history during World War 1. The composition of “Zimmergramm” was commissioned by Deutsche Welle.

The music documentary shows the collaboration between young German and Mexican musicians during rehearsals and at the two concerts. This music-making across the continents stands out for the enthusiasm of the participants in the campus project – and for the striking professionalism of conductor de la Parra.

At a glance:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:21) Alondra de la Parra on her favorite Beethoven symphony
(00:42) Mexico City and Ludwig van Beethoven
(01:16) Rehearsal: Silvestre Revueltas, La noche de los mayas (Alondra de la Parra, German Federal Youth Orchestra, Mexican Orquesta Escuela Carlos Chávez)
(02:05) Alondra de la Parra on playing music with young musicians
(02:27) Katharina Mecheels (flutist) on playing music with the Mexican Youth Orchestra
(02:38) Fernando Martínez Cueto (clarinetist) on playing music with the German Federal Youth Orchestra
(02:54) Rehearsal: Beethoven, Eroica (Alondra de la Parra, German Federal Youth Orchestra, Mexican Orquesta Escuela Carlos Chávez)
(03:30) Enrico Chapela talks about composing for youth orchestras
(03:50) The two youth orchestras visit the pyramids of Teotihuacán
(04:20) Daniel Burmeister (violist) on stage fright
(04:33) Before the concert at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City on June 6, 2016
(05:11) Concert excerpt: Beethoven, Eroica, IV. Finale (Alondra de la Parra, German Federal Youth Orchestra, Mexican Orquesta Escuela Carlos Chávez)
(06:26) Peter Limbourg (Director General Deutsche Welle) speaks about the concert
(06:48) Assia Weissmann (violinist) on the concert
(06:56) Lorenz Hofmann (bassoonist) on the concert
(07:06) A change of location to Germany and the Beethovenfest Bonn
(08:08) Rehearsal: Enrico Chapela, Zimmergramm
(08:41) Concert excerpt: Chapela, Zimmergramm (Alondra de la Parra, Pablo Garibay, Daniel Todd, German Federal Youth Orchestra)
(09:50) Enrico Chapela talks about the Zimmergramm premier
(09:58) Alondra de la Parra on Zimmergramm
(10:15) Johannes Rosenberg (violinist) on Alondra de la Parra
(10:26) Amelie Wallner (violinist) speaks about the collaboration with Enrico Chapela
(10:36) Lukas Plag (cellist) on Zimmergramm
(11:16) Credits

A co-production between Deutsche Welle (DW) and Sistema Público de Radiodifusión del Estado Mexicano (SPR)

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