SWR Symphonieorchester

In memory of the countless victims of armed conflict, Patricia Kopatchinskaja presents a concert conceived as a mosaic of deeply moving music and texts from a wide variety of sources and authors. The violinist breaks down the traditional barrier between the stage and the audience.

The iconoclastic Sir Roger Norrington, one of the most influential British conductors of the 20th century and a great interpreter of the Baroque repertoire, died on 18 July 2025 at the age of 91. ARTE pays him tribute by inviting you to (re)discover this concert given in 2014 in the rococo theatre of Schwetzingen Castle, where he conducted the SWR Symphony Orchestra.

With the Russian soprano Irina Lungu, the British tenor Allan Clayton and the German baritone Matthias Goerne, a star cast has been found that ties in with the history of the work in a special way: Benjamin Britten composed his War Requiem as a work of mourning and remembrance of the war dead and wanted the soloists to be members of the countries that had previously been enemies in the war. The premiere took place in 1962 in the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral, whose previous building had been destroyed by German bombing. The text was based on the Latin text of the Missa pro Defunctis and poems by Wilfred Owen, one of the most important literary witnesses to the horrors of the First World War.