75 Years of Broadcast Music: Celebration with Dvorák and Rachmaninov

The broadcasting ensembles are celebrating their 75th anniversary! The Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Groot Omroepkoor celebrate with Dvorák. Karina Canellakis also conducts Rachmaninoff's The Bells, full of stirring and festive cheer.
Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Choir
In 1945, the broadcasting ensembles were founded, now together under the Stichting Omroep Muziek. Through the ether, the top radio ensembles brought the most beautiful music to the entire country. Now 75 years old, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Groot Omroepkoor are celebrating together. American star conductor Karina Canellakis conducts, among others, Dvorák's symphonic poem The Water Spirit.

Dvorák
For The Water Spirit, Dvorák was inspired by a ballad by the Czech poet Erben. A water spirit is looking for a bride. An innocent village girl who does her laundry by the lake is chosen. Her new life is deep underwater, far from home. In The Water Spirit, Dvorák combines fairytale-like and menacing melodies. The water sloshes, swirls and finally swallows everything up.

Rachmaninoff
By Rachmaninoff, Karina Canellakis leads The Bells. Bells, according to Rachmaninoff, are symbolic of the Russian spirit. Melancholy and hope, both can be heard in the bells on the sleigh, or in the bells announcing weddings and funerals. The choral symphony The Bells was created on the basis of texts by Edgar Allen Poe. Life and death are close together in this atmospheric, serene work. The Groot Omroepkoor will be joined by soprano Elena Tsallagova, tenor Sergei Skorokhodov and bass Alexander Vinogradov.