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Herbert Blomstedt conducts Sibelius and Brahms
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Sakari Oramo conducts Chin and Sibelius
Photo: Frederike van der Stræten
In 2006, Sunwook Kim won the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition – just 18 years old and the first Asian pianist to do so. With his colourful, virtuosic style of music-making, the South Korean soon found an international audience. Here he makes his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker with Unsuk Chin’s brilliant and rhythmically challenging Piano Concerto. Sakari Oramo also conducts Sibelius’s mystical and poetic Second Symphony.
05 Jun 2021Berliner Philharmoniker
Sakari OramoSunwook Kim
Unsuk Chin
Concerto for Piano and OrchestraSunwook Kim piano
Jean Sibelius
Symphony No. 2 in D major, op. 43- free
Interview
Unsuk Chin on her Piano Concerto - free
Interview
Sunwook Kim in conversation with Kyoungmin Park - free
Interview
Sakari Oramo in conversation with Kyoungmin Park
Europakonzert from Berlin with Kirill Petrenko
Photo: Stephan Rabold
As in 2020, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko again gave their 2021 Europakonzert in the Philharmonie Berlin, due to the corona pandemic – this time in the foyer of the building. Its special architecture is an invitation to present the music spatially: Blacher’s festive Fanfare, Ives’s enigmatic Unanswered Question, Mozart’s serene Notturno and Penderecki’s spherical Emanations consciously rely on the effect of spatial sound. Also in the Europakonzert programme: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s charming Orchestral Suite No. 3 and John Adams’s witty piece Short Ride in a Fast Machine.
01 May 2021
Europakonzert from BerlinBerliner Philharmoniker
Kirill PetrenkoBoris Blacher
Fanfare for the Opening of the PhilharmonieCharles Ives
The Unanswered QuestionWolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Notturno for 4 orchestras in D major, K. 286Krzysztof Penderecki
Emanations for 2 string orchestrasPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Suite No. 3 in G major, op. 55John Adams
Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Simon Rattle conducts Ginastera and Britten
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
A programme which allows the Berliner Philharmoniker to show off their skills as soloists: Ginastera’s Variaciones concertantes and Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra offer our musicians wonderful opportunities to showcase the tonal splendour of their instruments. Principal horn Stefan Dohr and tenor Andrew Staples lead us through different nocturnal moods in Britten’s Serenade, ranging from the tender and mysterious to the menacing.
29 May 2021Berliner Philharmoniker
Sir Simon RattleAndrew Staples, Stefan Dohr
Alberto Ginastera
Variaciones concertantes, op. 23Benjamin Britten
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, op. 31Andrew Staples tenor, Stefan Dohr french horn
Benjamin Britten
The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, op. 34- free
Interview
Sir Simon Rattle, Andrew Staples and Stefan Dohr in conversation
Susanna Mälkki conducts “Bluebeard’s Castle”
Photo: Stephan Rabold
Zoltán Kodály described Béla Bartók’s only opera Bluebeard’s Castle as “a masterpiece, a condensed tragedy, a musical volcano that erupts for 60 minutes and leaves us with only one wish: to hear the whole thing again”. Written in 1911, the one-act piece is a brilliantly orchestrated symbolist drama that takes us deep into the emotional world of the fin de siècle. “What do you see?”, Bluebeard asks Judith, who wants to open the seven doors of his past. Susanna Mälkki presents this musical psychoanalysis that will make you shudder.
22 May 2021Berliner Philharmoniker
Susanna MälkkiIldikó Komlósi, Johannes Martin Kränzle
Kaija Saariaho
Vista (German première) – commissioned jointly by Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation together with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association (concert performance)Béla Bartók
Bluebeard’s Castle, Sz 48 (concert performance)Ildikó Komlósi mezzo-soprano (Judith), Johannes Martin Kränzle baritone (Bluebeard)
- free
Interview
Susanna Mälkki in conversation with Esko Laine
Tabea Zimmermann with Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
As Artist in Residence, Tabea Zimmermann has a double role in this concert: together with Noah Bendix-Balgley, 1st concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmoniker, she performs as a soloist in Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante, a joyful work whose virtuosic dialogue between viola and violin captivates the listener. She also leads the scholarship holders of the Karajan Academy from the viola section in Johannes Brahms’s Second Serenade.
08 May 2021Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Tabea ZimmermannNoah Bendix-Balgley
Johannes Brahms
Serenade No. 2 in A major, op. 16Dmitri Shostakovich
2 Pieces for String Octet, op. 11Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sinfonia concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E flat major, K. 364Noah Bendix-Balgley violin, Tabea Zimmermann viola
Daniel Barenboim and Yefim Bronfman perform Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
“When I think of Brahms, I think of natural landscapes, mountains and beautiful panoramas, of this incredible grandeur,” says Yefim Bronfman, who has been one of the piano world’s elite for many years. He performs the composer’s monumental First Piano Concerto. Brahms actually wanted to write his First Symphony instead of the concerto. But it took another two decades before he actually succeeded. It is conducted here by the Philharmoniker’s honorary conductor Daniel Barenboim.
24 Apr 2021Berliner Philharmoniker
Daniel BarenboimYefim Bronfman
Johannes Brahms
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in D minor, op. 15Yefim Bronfman piano
Johannes Brahms
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, op. 68- free
Interview
Yefim Bronfman in conversation with Hande Küden - free
Interview
Daniel Barenboim in conversation with Hande Küden
Zubin Mehta conducts Bruckner and Messiaen
Photo: Frederike van der Stræten
A century separated Olivier Messiaen and Anton Bruckner, but they had a lot in common: both were among the leading organists of their time, and both were deeply rooted in the Catholic faith. Zubin Mehta combines Messiaen’s Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, a memorial to the dead of both world wars, with Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. It is not only the summation of the Austrian composer’s work but also a personal farewell to this world.
17 Apr 2021Berliner Philharmoniker
Zubin MehtaOlivier Messiaen
Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum for wind orchestra and percussionAnton Bruckner
Symphony No. 9 in D minor- free
Interview
Zubin Mehta in conversation with Stanley Dodds
Kirill Petrenko conducts Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov
Photo: Stephan Rabold
Rachmaninov's late-Romantic Second Symphony is filled with the wistful melancholy typical of the composer. Today it is one of the Russian composer’s most popular works, and the symphony also has a special significance for Kirill Petrenko: having chosen the Second for his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2006, he conducted it again 15 years later as the orchestra’s chief conductor. It was preceded by Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet.
20 Mar 2021Berliner Philharmoniker
Kirill PetrenkoPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy Overture after ShakespeareSergei Rachmaninov
Symphony No. 2 in E minor, op. 27- free
Interview
Emmanuel Pahud in conversation with Daniel Stabrawa
Semyon Bychkov and Lisa Batiashvili perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto
Photo: Lena Laine
With its its beguiling, heartfelt melodies, its captivating dance-like rhythms and its highly virtuosic solo part, Tchaikovsky’s opus 35 is considered the epitome of the Romantic violin concerto. Ideal for a violinist like Lisa Batiashvili, who – according to the Guardian – knows how to interpret this piece in an intense, radiant and heartfelt way. Semyon Bychkov, a long-standing associate of the Berliner Philharmoniker, also conducts Antonín Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony.
11 Mar 2021Berliner Philharmoniker
Semyon BychkovLisa Batiashvili
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major, op. 35Lisa Batiashvili violin
Antonín Dvořák
Symphony No. 7 in D minor, op. 70- free
Interview
Lisa Batiashvili in conversation with Albrecht Mayer - free
Interview
Semyon Bychkov in conversation with Albrecht Mayer
