School Orchestra Extravaganza 2008
At the Berliner Philharmonikers’ School Orchestra Extravaganza it can sometimes happen that the students are so excited they almost drop their instruments when Simon Rattle raises his baton to make music with them. But when, with a smile, he gives tips like “the violins sound too English, not sexy enough” or “the trombones are too soft, please, a bit like Schwarzenegger”, he wins the hearts of his young musicians in no time and dispels their fear of making mistakes.
For this concert, the young musicians from ten Berlin schools rehearsed works by Berlioz and Elgar with members of the orchestra. The instrumental sections first rehearsed separately before coming together for a full rehearsal and performance conducted by Sir Simon.
“When children learn a sport, they don’t just watch, but really play football or hold a tennis racket in their hands,” says the conductor. In this way, his young virtuosos can experience for themselves just how much concentration and sensitivity are required to play a piece of music together. That it should also be fun is another discovery they make during this rehearsal.
© 2008 Berlin Phil Media GmbH
Our recommendations
- Lisa Batiashvili and Simon Rattle at the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden
- Kirill Petrenko conducts Strauss’s “Elektra”
- 2019 Europakonzert with Daniel Harding from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris
- Claudio Abbado conducts works with a maritime theme at the 1998 Europakonzert from Stockholm
- Bernard Haitink conducts Mahler’s Second Symphony
- Simon Rattle and Christian Gerhaher
