The Danish Chamber Orchestra & Adam Fischer Pay Tribute to Europe

Conductor: Adam Fischer
Soloist: Jonas Frølund, clarinet

In the second half of 2025, Denmark will take over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, gaining the opportunity to set the agenda for European cooperation over the following six months. The year also marks the 50th anniversary of the historic Helsinki Final Act, which established international norms for human rights and freedom of expression. Before the fall of communism, the declaration served as a vital ideal for democratic movements behind the Iron Curtain, and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it played a key role in the EU’s eastern expansion.

The Danish Chamber Orchestra celebrates both occasions with a concert that honours Europe’s political and cultural community—and the democratic and humanist ideals upon which it is founded. The programme opens under the theme “Europe Dances” with a series of dances, primarily from Eastern European countries, by Brahms, Dvořák, Bartók and Schubert. The orchestra’s clarinetist, Jonas Frølund, then takes the stage as soloist in Carl Nielsen’s clarinet concert. Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony is a grand tribute to heroic ideals and humankind’s struggle against adversity. Originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, whom Beethoven saw as the embodiment of those ideals, the composer famously tore the title page to pieces in fury and disappointment when Napoleon crowned himself Emperor—revealing himself, in Beethoven’s eyes, as just another power-hungry ruler. But the music still holds on to its hope. The concert concludes with the European Anthem from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, where the audience is invited to join in singing the rousing words celebrating the brotherhood of humanity.

Principal Conductor Adam Fischer, a long-standing member of the Helsinki Committee, leads the entire programme. He is widely recognised for his deep social commitment and for using his public platform as an artist to highlight key democratic and humanist challenges of our time. Since 2016, he has also presented the annual Human Rights Award of Tonhalle Düsseldorf in his role as Principal Conductor of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra.