Members of the London Chapter of Alumni Freiburg, together with Rektor Prof. Dr. Hans-Jochen Schiewer, gathered at Royal Albert Hall for an exciting matinee concert by the world-renowned Freiburger Barockorchester on 3 September 2017 as part of this year’s BBC Proms.

The concert was followed by a champagne reception hosted by the Chapter at Royal Albert Hall for the Alumni Freiburg members and their guests, Rektor Prof. Dr. Schiewer, and all the members of the orchestra, their families and friends, as well as the orchestra’s management leadership Team. The reception provided a terrific opportunity for alumni and alumnae to mingle with old friends and meet new ones, speak individually with Rektor Prof. Dr. Schiewer about the latest developments at the university, and to speak with the musicians and others associated with the orchestra. Members of the London Chapter were especially grateful to Rektor Prof. Dr. Schiewer for taking time from his busy international schedule to spend the afternoon with them.

The orchestra was genuinely appreciative of the recognition and warm welcome with which the London Chapter greeted them. Led by the highly-acclaimed conductor, Pablo Heras-Casado, the orchestra performed three compositions by Felix Mendelssohn. The concert opened with the composer’s glorious overture, The Hebrides, inspired by his visit to Fingal’s Cave on the Scottish Isle of Staffa. Violinist, Isabell Faust, featured as soloist in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto—the composer’s last completed orchestral work and perhaps the loveliest of all the Romantic violin concertos. The orchestra commemorated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation with Mendelssohn’s Fifth Symphony, whose final movement quoted movingly from Luther’s chorale “Ein fester Burg ist unser Gott.”

During the reception, Rektor Prof. Dr. Schiewer welcomed all participants and praised the important and enduring relationship between the university and the orchestra—two world-class institutions. The exciting atmosphere at the performance and the reception created by the return of the Freiburger Barockorchester to such an historic concert hall inspired the participants of the recently formed London Chapter of Alumni Freiburg to plan more events in the coming months and to actively encourage even more alumni and alumnae  involvement in the wider university community.

A report of Daniel Celentano, Freiburg Alumni/ae UK Ambassador.