Susanna Mälkki will conduct the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln on June 14, 15 and 16 at the Kölner Philharmonie with a program that explores the allure of the forbidden, secrets in relationships, and the question of why people are sometimes drawn to the very things that frighten them.
The first piece will be Dukas’s Overture to Act 3 from Ariane et Barbe-Bleue followed by Debussy’s Nuages and Fêtes from Trois Nocturnes. Mezzo-soprano Victoria Karkacheva and bass-baritone Ryan McKinney will be the soloists in Bartók’s Herzog Blaubarts Burg, an operatic thriller whose evocative, vivid imagery needs no staging to command the audiences’ emotions.