Symphony concert by the Academic Orchestra of the University of Würzburg

By the Academic Orchestra of the University of Würzburg, Germany
Show certified as part of the 2025 Franco-German Fortnight in Occitanie

The performance by this university ensemble, founded in 1955 and composed of students from various faculties of this partner institution of the University of Montpellier (both members of the CHARM-EU European University Alliance consortium and the Coimbra Group), which is touring France this year, will include works by Aaron Copland, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

The main themes of this symphonic concert in Montpellier, conducted by Markus Popp¹, are individual and civil liberty (Aaron Copland), exile and the search for freedom (Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Sergei Rachmaninov), and social criticism and biographical identity (Korngold). They highlight the quest for freedom and the challenges faced by composers in their respective historical contexts and place this program in a broader context, as all three composers have ties to the United States, a symbol of freedom in the 20th century.

The composer Copland wrote “Fanfare for the Common Man” to celebrate the “century of the common man.” Korngold and Rachmaninoff, who would later become naturalized citizens, had sought refuge in the United States to escape political constraints in their respective countries of birth, Austria and Russia. And this program raises the question of whether Korngold and Rachmaninoff would find the same freedom in America today as they did then. While Korngold regained his personal freedom in Hollywood, his artistic creativity was limited by the demands of the film industry. And it was from his forced exile that Rachmaninoff celebrated his homeland in his Second Symphony.

Free admission, subject to availability
(donations will be requested at the exit, "pass the hat").

Subject to availability · Registration required

1. Since 2006, Markus Popp has been conducting the Academic Orchestra of the University of Würzburg. He has worked in several theaters in Germany and has been invited to participate in prestigious productions, most recently a production of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida, which premiered at the Barclays Arena in Hamburg in 2024. For 2026, he is working on a production of Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser. ↩︎