It is a highlight of summer musical life in Bavaria’s state capital: at the open-air classical concert, younger visitors also like to listen to Tchaikovsky, Dvořák and Co.

For the first time in three years, Munich’s most popular classical open-air concert has been able to take place again without restrictions.

At the start of the two-day short festival “Classic at Odeonsplatz”, the Munich Philharmonic played two evergreens from the orchestra’s repertoire on Saturday evening in front of an audience of 8,000 in mild temperatures: Pjotr ​​Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto – with the Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos as the soloist – and Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 “Aus of the New World”.

The British Daniel Harding stepped in for the former Russian chief conductor Valery Gergiev, who was dismissed in March. After much applause, he added two more encores and ended the concert with Johann Strauss Junior’s Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka.

The open-air concerts on the Odeonsplatz have been held since the year 2000. Since then they have been among the highlights of summer musical life in Munich. The organizers are the city administration and Bayerischer Rundfunk. The repertoire is usually popular, and the audience is younger than usual at classical concerts. The second open-air concert with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle was planned for Sunday evening.