The central theme of this year's Christmas Concert will be hope: hope for a better world, for a humanity capable of peace, in the beauty of creation.
Linked to this theme are the opening classical pieces by Mendelssohn and Schubert, performed in their original language, German, with piano accompaniment. These include Abschiedslied der Zugvogel (Byeing Song of the Migratory Birds), which nostalgically evokes a lost world: «How beautiful was the forest and the field! How sad now the world! We sang happily in the sunshine and knew nothing of misfortune».
The subsequent pieces take us into the dramatic period of the 1940-45 years, creating a strong link with the suffering and oppression that many peoples still experience today. The compositions of Ilse Weber express this pain with disarming simplicity: «My home, what a wonderful word… now I have none… anymore. The cantata by Zuccante, to a text by the poet Tagore, on the other hand, opens up a glimmer: a sweet vision of rebirth, in which every man recognises his mistakes and «the light of a new day» shines.
These poetic texts radiate tenderness, consolation and hope. They are living words, interwoven with music, enchanting, moving and uniting us in a single vibration.
The programme continues with Christmas carols, which immerse us in an atmosphere of light, joy and sweetness. Christmas carols hold within them hope and the promise of peace: not just an idea to be celebrated, but a path to be built.
And on this path, children — keepers of hope — become our most authentic messengers of peace.