With Richard Strauss and Arnold Schönberg, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble explores love: from romantic longing to the confrontation with harsh reality. The light, graceful Serenade and the more elaborate Suite by a young Strauss stand in contrast to Schönberg’s poignant Verklärte Nacht, a musical interpretation of a nocturnal confession full of guilt, love, forgiveness, and redemption.

For the first time, the NBE performs a program exclusively with wind instruments. Strauss is heard in his original instrumentation, while Schönberg’s string sextet takes on a new form in an arrangement by Geert van Keulen. The result is chamber music of the very highest level, an exciting quest for new timbres and what lies hidden behind the original orchestrations. The Flemish writer Maud Vanhauwaert translates the story of Verklärte Nacht into the present. With playful and astute observations and unexpected twists, she makes love and vulnerability palpable.