WDR FUNKHAUSORCHESTER
ELIONOR MARTÍNEZ, soprano
WAYNE MARSHALL, piano/conductor
Bernstein, Overture To “Wonderful Town”
Gershwin, Gershwin in Hollywood
Gershwin, Concierto para piano en Fa
movimiento: Allegro agitato
Bernstein, Overture to “Candide”
Bernstein/Gershwin, Canciones
“Summertime, I feel pretty, the man I love, By Strauss”
Bernstein, Suite from “Candide”
SALE OF SINGLE TICKETS: From July 30, 2026.
WDR FUNKHAUSORCHESTER
With a unique joy of playing and at the highest level, the WDR Funkhausorchester offers entertaining music in every facet. Its versatility is the programme, whether film music, musicals, game sounds or concerts for children, whether symphonic jazz, comedy, chanson or electro, whether tango, operetta, opera or favourite classical pieces: the WDR Funkhaus Orchestra creates inspiring musical moments.
The ensemble constantly opens up new perspectives on the world of orchestral music. Its concerts tell stories and convince with creative and lively concepts; no two evenings are the same. With passion and passion, the WDR Funkhausorchester reaches all age groups and brings enthusiasm to concert halls and to its digital fan base.
The WDR Funkhausorchester collaborates regularly with international artists: Till Brönner, Jonas Kaufmann, Max Mutzke, Ute Lemper, Bastian Pastewka, Eckart von Hirschhausen, Carolin Kebekus and Bodo Wartke. In this way, the ensemble creates connections with very different genres such as film, literature, the fine arts, cabaret and the world of computer games. Since this season, the orchestra has been directed by David Brophy, who will continue developing the WDR
Funkhausorchester in its quality and versatility as chief conductor.
In addition to regular performances in Cologne and North Rhine-Westphalia, the WDR Funkhausorchester also appears outdoors in well-known concert venues such as the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, at festivals such as the Rheingau Music Festival and on tour. With its concert broadcasts on radio, television and streaming, creative music videos and radio play and soundtrack productions, the WDR Funkhausorchester reaches a broad and colourful audience across a variety of channels.
ELIONOR MARTÍNEZ. Soprano
Born in 1996 in Barcelona, Elionor Martinez pursues her higher studies at the Conservatori del Liceu with Professor Dolors Aldea, on a scholarship from the Fundació Ferrer-Salat. She graduates from the Master’s in Musical Performance (summa cum laude) at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel with Professor Marcel Boone, under the patronage of the Fundació Salvat, and receives the award for best final Master’s recital of the 2021/22 academic year. She is awarded the Salvat Beca Bach (2016) and four special prizes in the Josep Palet Singing Competition in Martorell (Barcelona, 2019).
Her repertoire includes works such as Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Passions and Magnificat, Mozart’s Requiem and Great Mass in C minor, Fauré’s Requiem and Brahms’s German Requiem. In opera she has performed Clorinda in Rossini’s La Cenerentola and Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. She forms a Lied duo with pianist Olivia Zaugg; together they have given several concerts in Switzerland and Spain and are part of the Associació Franz Schubert’s Lied the Future programme.
She sings regularly under Jordi Savall and has worked with conductors such as Ton Koopman, Andrés Gabetta, Hermes Helfricht and Salvador Brotons. She has appeared in halls such as Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris and the Palau de la Música Catalana, as well as at festivals such as Bachfest Leipzig and the Salzburg Festival.
WAYNE MARSHALL. Piano / Conductor
Wayne Marshall, British conductor, organist and pianist, is world-renowned for his musicality and versatility both on the podium and at the keyboard.
He is a celebrated interpreter of the music of George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and other 20th-century American composers. He has worked regularly with the Tonkünstler Orchestra Vienna, the Czech, Rotterdam, Oslo and Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestras, the RSO Vienna, the Orchestre de Paris, the NDR BigBand; with the BBC chorus on several occasions; and has appeared as soloist, conductor and television commentator at the BBC Proms.
As an organ recitalist, he has an exceptionally varied repertoire and performs throughout the world.
During 2024, he has appeared at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, at the Philharmonie Essen, at Brussels Cathedral and at London’s Royal Albert Hall on the occasion of the celebrations of organist Henry Willis’s 150th anniversary. In June 2025, he will give organ recitals at the Royal Festival Hall and Norwich Cathedral. In October 2025, Wayne Marshall will give an organ recital in Dudelange, followed by an extensive tour of organ recitals in China. He will also perform and conduct at the Lucerne Festival to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the KKL hall organ.
Among his distinctions are an Honorary Doctorate from Bournemouth University (2004), a Fellowship of the Royal College of Music (2010), and the Golden Jubilee Award of the Government of Barbados (2016). In 2021, Wayne was awarded an OBE (Officer of the British Empire) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
In March 2024, Wayne was named Doctor Honoris Causa by Coventry University. Wayne Marshall is proud to be an ambassador for the London Music Fund, a charitable organisation whose mission is to transfer to disadvantaged communities children’s access to high-quality music education.
