Interview
Benefit concert for the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster Concert to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
In a joint benefit concert in April 2011, the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Staatskapelle Berlin commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl reactor disaster. This day of remembrance was all the more relevant given the nuclear disaster in Fukushima just a few weeks previously. The concert, with works by Dmitri Shostakovitch, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Tōru Takemitsu, was conducted by Andrey Boreyko.
Chernobyl and Fukushima have become symbols of the risks associated with nuclear energy – and the devastating consequences, lasting over decades, children in particular suffer from. A reminder, but not only that: the aim of the evening was to commemorate the many victims of the reactor disasters in Chernobyl and Japan. The evening’s musical elements were accompanied by texts by Svetlana Alexievich, Günther Anders and other writers. The chamber choir Credo from Kiev contributed liturgical chants and religious cantatas from Russia and Ukraine.
Proceeds from the concert and the live webcast from the Digital Concert Hall went to organisations that provide help especially for young people in Chernobyl and Japan.
A concert by IPPNW-Concerts, the Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker and the Staatskapelle Berlin.
Staatskapelle Berlin, Strings of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Andrey Boreyko
© 2011 Berlin Phil Media GmbH
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