Martin Spahr / Anmeldelser

It was heard for the first time at the open day of the city theater, and now the family concert "Peter and the Wolf" is the actual event. Sergei Prokofiev's musical fairy tale for children aged five and over was performed several times on Sunday and Monday in the fully occupied house. On Tuesday, October 3rd, at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. it will be played again - and tickets are still available for both concerts. Singer Tomi Wendt, disguised as a Bavarian hunter, leads the children through the famous story of Peter who, with the help of his animal friends, brings down the wolf. Martin Spahr conducts the Philharmonic Orchestra and Wendt uses the introduction to introduce the audience to the instruments that the characters imitate so perfectly: flute, oboe, bassoon, drum and violin. The one-hour concert not only familiarizes the children with the fascinating world of classical music - after all, the piece is around 80 years old - it also imparts knowledge.

What a joy, what a capacity for enthusiasm - only a children's audience can be so spontaneous, exuberant and honest. In the morning yesterday, the city theater belonged to the children who filled the house on Berliner Platz with great cheers. The Gießen Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Kapellmeister Martin Spahr invited to the classic "Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev. As a narrator, you couldn't have won anyone better than Tomi Wendt. He's got a rogue and he knows how to keep the young audience happy for an hour with all sorts of ideas, which is certainly not easy. So he stepped on stage as a hunter, spoke a refreshing Bavarian and let the children participate in this "unbelievable story". And they were immediately there with enthusiasm when it was first necessary to guess the instruments of the individual animals. Arms went up everywhere, almost every child wanted to get rid of his answer that the duck in the musical fairy tale by the oboe, the bird by the flute, the cat by the clarinet, the wolf by the horns, grandfather by the bassoon and Peter can be characterized by the strings. Under Spahr's direction, the eternally young melodies of the charming work blossomed, and Wendt kept amusing his audience with little jokes. No question, this morning in the city theater was great fun for the primary school students in Giessen. This was also shown by the enthusiasm at the final applause.