A Trio of Birthdays

Tonight, Evening Music salutes a trio of birthday celebrants: versatile pianist/conductor Christian Zacharias, Straussian soprano Anja Silja, and Wagnerian tenor Siegfried Jerusalem. Indian-born (but of German heritage) Zacharias is represented — as a pianist — in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C; Hans Vonk conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden. Then we’ll hear the final scenes from two legendary roles with our German singers. Christoph von Dohnanyi and the Vienna Philharmonic help Anja Silja bring the house down with the finale of Strauss’s “Salome.” After that, tenor Siefried Jerusalem essays “Lohengrin’s Farewell” from Wagner’s opera; Gabriel Chmura leads the Munich Radio Orchestra.