In his Four Last Songs, Richard Strauss looks back wistfully on a rich and turbulent life. A beautiful and fitting farewell in which the composer allowed Hermann Hesse and Joseph von Eichendorff to speak: he thereby expresses calmness and acceptance for the end.

In Vier letzte Lieder our regular guest conductor Jun Märkl meets soprano Carolyn Sampson. We also hear another symphonic poem by Strauss, which is known to everyone by the opening bars: Also sprach Zarathustra , which opens heaven for us. But it is also an afternoon of new life. For example, we present the Dutch premiere of Toshio Hosokawa's Uzu . This so-called 'uzu', the whirlpool, comes straight from the heart and takes the audience with it. The famous Japanese composer wrote the work especially for Märkl's sixtieth birthday.