Interview
A talk about the launch of the Digital Concert Hall Simon Rattle conducts the first live concert of the Digital Concert Hall
With this concert, the Berliner Philharmoniker and their chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle celebrated the first live broadcast from the Digital Concert Hall on 6 January 2009, thus opening a new chapter in the orchestra’s media history. The main work on the programme is Johannes Brahms’s First Symphony; in addition, the video platform is introduced with interviews.
Both the occasion and the programme of this special concert reflect a beginning. Not until he reached the comparatively advanced age of 43 did Johannes Brahms present his First Symphony to the public in 1876. Like composers before and after him, the example of Beethoven in this genre seemed overwhelming to Brahms; more than fourteen years of hard work preceded the publication of the symphony.
The conductor and orchestra presented a Slavonic Dance by Antonín Dvořák as impressive opening music; in addition, the English journalist Terry Martin conducted interviews with Sir Simon Rattle and the principal cellist of the Philharmoniker, Olaf Maninger, who is also a member of the Media Board and one of the initiators of the Digital Concert Hall. Jürgen Fitschen was also present as a representative of the Deutsche Bank, whose financial support made the Berliner Philharmoniker’s exciting journey to a new media future possible.
Berliner Philharmoniker
Sir Simon Rattle
© 2009 Berlin Phil Media GmbH
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