Staatskapelle Weimar and the STÜBAphilharmonie have been associated with each other for many years through a mentorship agreement and perform together here for the first time on the grand concert stage. The centrepiece of the evening is Gustav Holst’s »The Planets« – a milestone in 20th-century orchestral music. Holst’s colourful soundscapes and striking rhythms bring the qualities of the contrasting celestial bodies to life in expressive character studies. The menacing force of Mars, the floating calm of Venus and the mysterious sound of Neptune: the music tells its story associatively, emotionally, as if in trance. The concert opens with »Fratres« (Latin for »Brothers«) by Arvo Pärt, this year’s recipient of the Goethe Medal. Through radical reduction, spiritual depth and meditative »tintinnabuli« sounds, it evokes an almost timeless tranquillity.