Last December saw the premiere concert of our newly founded concert series “Sturm und Klang”. The series, whose name echoes the cultural youth movement of Sturm und Drang, is part of the SDO’s support programme, which embodies one of the founding ideas of how we see ourselves musically:
Concerts with the SDO are meant to give young musicians from Baden-Württemberg the chance to perform at an exceptionally high level. Appearing with an orchestra, gaining stage experience in a large hall and working artistically in the run-up to the concert all strengthen their development as artists and set important milestones on the road to musical recognition.
In 2025, the “Sturm und Klang” project was held in cooperation with UNICEF Stuttgart. As a benefit concert, it was intended to support the work of UNICEF Stuttgart as well as the young artists. The Süddeutsches Sinfonieorchester and its partner were united by the idea of supporting children and young people, and together they threw themselves, full of anticipation, into organising and promoting the event. For the 2025 annual concert, five exceptionally gifted musicians were selected in advance, who were able to demonstrate their skills on five different instruments. With Patrick Giesel, the project’s principal initiator, on the podium in his home region, everything was set for a great evening of classical music.
With Franz Anton Hoffmeister’s Concerto for Viola and Orchestra in D major, Anna Katharina Ringger got the concert off to a lively start. She combined virtuosity and tone with great skill and assurance, and the audience rewarded her with long ovations.
The next soloist to take the stage was Simon Gollong on bassoon, with Carl Maria von Weber’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra. He impressed the hall with mature nuance and demanding runs, which made his performance a true treat to hear.
The first half closed with the clarinettist Daito Kobayashi. With Weber’s Clarinet Concerto in F minor, Daito once again amazed the audience; this is, after all, one of the great works of the classical clarinet repertoire, and it received its due in the clarinettist’s brilliant playing.
After a short breather for musicians and audience, another rising talent introduced himself to the hall at the piano: William Marius Kaden, just 13 years old, brought one of the greatest piano concertos by the world-famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to the stage together with the SDO. With great dexterity and a mature interpretation of the Piano Concerto in E-flat major, K. 482, William gave our listeners a wonderful insight into Mozart’s musical world.
But that was not all: as the crowning finale of our benefit concert, Elisabeth Gühring performed Felix Mendelssohn’s celebrated Violin Concerto, Op. 64, on violin with the tireless musicians of the SDO. Elisabeth, too, won the audience over completely with great virtuosity and enchanting sound, and they honoured the performance with frenetic applause after the breathtaking finale of the third movement.
With all the soloists and the conductor taking another bow together to never-ending applause, the SDO bade its audience farewell at the close of a year full of musical experiences in 2025. But the parting will not last long: before long the SDO will return to the Stuttgart Liederhalle with a new programme and thrilling music-making.
Our thanks go to all the supporters of the concert, to UNICEF Stuttgart for the successful collaboration and, not least, to the wonderful musicians, without whom such a concert would not have been possible!
Jonathan Wagner, January 2026