On a clear day - An einem klaren Tag

Kent Nagano and Jan Vogler, the American in Germany and the German in the United States, who continuously cross the Atlantic Ocean and call both continents their home, embody and experience this once so strong trans-Atlantic ideal in every respect. For they share much more than a deep artistic friendship and their common work. They share - in an even more comprehensive way - a worldview and an understanding of life that is based on the Western, humanistic canon of values that Europeans once brought across the Atlantic Ocean to their new world .. "It was precisely this trans-Atlantic idea that drove me when Jan and I developed this project a few years ago," says Kent Nagano. "Hamburg was the connection to the New World, not only for the Hamburgers, but for millions of Europeans." This must be reflected in a musical work that carries this idea into the future. With good reason: the continents seem to be drifting apart for years. The world-renowned conductor makes no secret of his concern about this development: "It was also important for me to anchor the trans-Atlantic idea in the next generation by enabling children's and youth choirs on both sides of the ocean to work together and spend time with each other." The result is the oratorio "An einem klaren Tag - On a Clear Day" for cello, choir and orchestra. The participants in this project emphasize the subject matter: the Hamburgs Philharmonisches Staatsorchester, texts by the renowned German poet Ulla Hahn, set to music by the young American composer Sean Shepherd, who made a name for himself early in the US, various youth choirs from Germany and New York as well as the German star cellist Jan Vogler and Nagano as the American conductor of the Hamburg Staatsoper, who grew up where America is farthest from Europe - in a fishing village on the American west coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles.