Symphony concert by the Academic Orchestra of the University of Würzburg

By the Academic Orchestra of the University of Würzburg, Germany
Certified show within the framework of the Quinzaine franco-allemande en Occitanie 2025

The performance by this university ensemble, founded in 1955 and made up 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) and touring France this year, will include works by Aaron Copland, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Sergeï Rachmaninov.

The main themes of this symphony concert in Montpellier, conducted by Markus Popp¹are individual freedom and citizenship (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 the composers in their respective historical contexts, and place this programming in a broader context, with all three composers having a link to the United States, symbols of freedom in the 20th century.

Composer Copland wrote "Fanfare for the Common Man" to celebrate the "century of the ordinary citizen". Korngold and Rachmaninov, who would later become naturalized citizens, had taken refuge in the United States to escape the political constraints of their respective countries of birth, Austria and Russia. And this programming raises the question of whether Korngold and Rachmaninov would find the same freedom in America today as they did then. While Korngold regained his individual freedom in Hollywood, his artistic creativity was limited by the demands of the film industry. And it was from his forced exile that Rachmaninov celebrated his homeland in his 2nd Symphony.

Free admission, subject to availability
(donations will be solicited at the door, "by the hatful").

Subject to availability - Registration required

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