Programme Guide

After each orchestra had been presented to the audience under the direction of their music teacher, they all came together on the stage for the big finale Peer Gynt: a record-breaking orchestra of over 200 musicians. This was when things got really exciting: to see and hear how this huge ensemble of students of all ages who had never played together grow more and more together. Of course, this was also thanks to the Philharmoniker’s chief conductor who not only worked on their precision but also their expression (“Don’t let it sound too much like God Save the Queen!”). But this morning in the Philharmonie was also a new experience for Simon Rattle: As he admitted, he had never conducted the Peer Gynt music before.