Discover the 2023/24 Season

Dear audience,
Our new season programme is here – and the anticipation at the prospect of exciting concerts and encounters is growing!

Three very different musicians will be accompanying us through the 2023/24 season: Austrian cellist Kian Soltani will not only be performing the great cello concertos by Schumann, Shostakovich and co. as one of our Focus Artists (Fokus-Künstler), but will also be exploring his roots by playing traditional Persian music. Our second Focus Artist (Fokus-Künstlerin) is Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna; in several concerts, the titular organist of Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie will be living up to her reputation for imaginative programming. And the American composer and electric guitarist Bryce Dessner will be coming to Zurich as our Creative Chair. Having risen to fame with his band, The National, he will be probing the possibilities of classical music – ranging from the piano concerto to his «Electric Fields» multimedia project.

Our Music Director Paavo Järvi will continue the Bruckner cycle with Symphony No. 9 at the opening of the season. In February 2024, he will then begin a Mahler cycle that will occupy him and the orchestra for the next few years.

The trial subscription (Probe-Abo) we introduced last year was a great success. We are therefore continuing it – for all those who have never had a subscription with us before. For very reasonable prices, they can immerse themselves in the world of classical music at four top-class concerts. For former trial subscribers (Probe-Abo), we are now offering a newcomer subscription (Einsteiger-Abo), which can also only be booked for one year.

The tonhalleCRUSH concert format will also be continued. Listening to a piece – and Paavo Järvi’s comments on it – in the Grosse Tonhalle in the early evening, then enjoying drinks in the concert foyer while our musicians play folk, jazz or other genres – this formula has proven its worth. And while we’re on the subject of special formats: you will of course still find the cult tonhalleLATE series and the concerts of symphonic film music on offer.

What else? There is a great deal worthy of mention. For example, the Rachmaninoff cycle, which we will be staging together with Zurich Opera House: Paavo Järvi and Gianandrea Noseda will be swapping desks and orchestras. Or the family concerts (Familienkonzerte), which are given at the Tonhalle as well as in various community centres (Zürcher Gemeinschaftszentren). Or the chamber music matinees (Kammermusik-Matineen), for which our musicians put together the programmes themselves. Or the projects that take us to galleries and museums – under the motto classic meets art.

If you would like to learn more about our plans, Artistic Director Ilona Schmiel and Music Director Paavo Järvi will tell you all about them in the interview. You can discover everything else by leafing through the season programme or clicking through the concert calendar here on our website.

And while you’re clicking: you can also discover numerous stories on our website. In portraits and interviews you will come to know artists better; in reportages and our column «Big questions, little questions» (Grosse Fragen, kleine Fagen) you will learn all sorts of background information, as well as discovering strange and surprising facts about our musical world. And for our «Tram for Two» video series, Paavo Järvi will be driving through the city with a guest ... We are looking forward to the upcoming concerts – and to welcoming you!

Your Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich

P.S.: Single tickets and our subscriptions are available now.

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