Our latest 10 concerts:
Gustavo Dudamel conducts Wagner and Schumann at the Waldbühne
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
The orchestral music from Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen is ideal for a concert at Berlin’s Waldbühne. Particularly with such a dynamic conductor as Gustavo Dudamel, pieces like the Ride of the Valkyries develop an impact that reaches even the very last rows of the enormous auditorium. Like Wagner’s opera cycle, Robert Schumann’s Third Symphony leads us to the Rhine, inspiring the composer to vibrating and sonorous music.
01 Jul 2017
From the Berlin WaldbühneBerliner Philharmoniker
Gustavo DudamelRobert Schumann
Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, op. 97 “Rhenish”Richard Wagner
Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung): Orchestral MusicRichard Wagner
Tristan und Isolde: LiebestodRichard Wagner
Lohengrin: Prelude to Act 1Paul Lincke
Berliner Luft
The 2017 European Concert from Cyprus with Mariss Jansons and Andreas Ottensamer
Photo: Martin Walz
The 2017 European Concert took the Berliner Philharmoniker to Cyprus, more precisely: to the ancient port city of Pafos. Before the city’s Byzantine castle, the orchestra played works by Carl Maria von Weber and Antonín Dvořák which impress with their lyrical zest and warm colours. The conductor was Mariss Jansons, a close friend of the orchestra for several decades, and the soloist in Weber’s Clarinet Concerto no. 1 was Andreas Ottensamer.
01 May 2017
European Concert from CyprusBerliner Philharmoniker
Mariss JansonsAndreas Ottensamer
Carl Maria von Weber
Oberon: OvertureCarl Maria von Weber
Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra No. 1 in F minor, op. 73Andreas Ottensamer Clarinet
Stephan Koncz
Hungarian Fantasy on Themes by Carl Maria von WeberAntonín Dvořák
Symphony No. 8 in G major, op. 88
Simon Rattle conducts Dvořák, Turnage and Brahms
Photo: Holger Kettner
Rarely is classical music as cheerful as in the serenades of the 18th century. Simon Rattle shows at this concert how ingeniously the genre was taken up in the late romantic era. Thus, for instance, Antonín Dvořák expanded traditional forms in his wind serenade to include Bohemian colours. Johannes Brahms, whose Serenade No. 2 has almost symphonic dimensions, went even one step further. There is also a new work by Mark-Anthony Turnage.
24 Jun 2017Berliner Philharmoniker
Sir Simon RattleAntonín Dvořák
Serenade for winds in D minor, op. 44Mark-Anthony Turnage
Remembering – In Memoriam Evan Scofield (German première)Johannes Brahms
Serenade No. 2 in A major for small orchestra, op. 16- free
Interview
Mark-Anthony Turnage in conversation with Sarah Willis
Vocal Heroes choir project: “A Trip to the Moon”
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
Singing together and inspiring an interest in making music is the goal of our Education Programme’s Vocal Heroes project, and to achieve this, Vocal Hero choirs for children and young people have been founded all over in Berlin. Under the direction of Simon Rattle, they present Andrew Norman’s children’s opera A Trip to the Moon: a fantastical adventure in outer space whose themes include encountering strangers and overcoming prejudices.
18 Jun 2017
Vocal Heroes choir projectBerliner Philharmoniker and Young Instrumentalists
Sir Simon RattleVocal Heroes
- free
Andrew Norman
A Trip to the Moon (première)Vocal Heroes, Ela Baumann Stage Direction, Simon Halsey Chorus Master
Ludovic Morlot and Joyce DiDonato
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
Hector Berlioz’s cantata La Mort de Cléopâtre is a highly concentrated drama of sometimes delicate, sometimes overwhelming expressiveness. Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato sang the work in June 2017 and was acclaimed by the audience for her powerful stage presence. Conductor Ludovic Morlot also presented Maurice Ravel’s charming suite Ma Mère l’Oye and Igor Stravinsky’s pioneering ballet music The Firebird.
17 Jun 2017Berliner Philharmoniker
Ludovic MorlotJoyce DiDonato
Maurice Ravel
Ma Mère l’Oye, Suite for orchestraHector Berlioz
La Mort de Cléopâtre, Lyrical Scene for soprano and orchestraJoyce DiDonato Mezzo-Soprano
Igor Stravinsky
L’Oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet- free
Interview
Joyce DiDonato in conversation with Noah Bendix-Balgley
Gustavo Dudamel conducts Dvořák’s Symphony “From the New World”
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
Antonín Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony, composed in New York, presents itself as colourful, yearning, with a somewhat exotic touch – an inspired fusion of American impressions and symphonic music. In an exciting juxtaposition, Gustavo Dudamel also conducts John Adams’s City Noir. Here too there is a fascinating mixture of styles, this time between classical music and jazz of the 1940s and 1950s.
09 Jun 2017Berliner Philharmoniker
Gustavo DudamelTimothy McAllister
John Adams
City Noir for orchestraTimothy McAllister Saxophone
Antonín Dvořák
Symphony No. 9 in E minor, op. 95 “From the New World”- free
Interview
Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9: an introduction by Susanne Stähr
Simon Rattle conducts “Le Sacre du printemps”
“Simon Rattle and friends”: that’s how one could describe this concert from June 2017. The composer Thomas Adès, whose Powder Her Face Suite we hear here, and Imogen Cooper, the soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25, have both been artistic associates for many years. One could say the same about Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps, which Rattle has conducted in Berlin repeatedly, including in 2003 at the first dance project of the Philharmoniker’s Education Programme.
03 Jun 2017Berliner Philharmoniker
Sir Simon RattleImogen Cooper
Thomas Adès
Powder Her Face Suite, commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation together with Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (WP)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 25 in C major, K. 503Imogen Cooper Piano
Igor Stravinsky
Chant funèbre German PremièreIgor Stravinsky
Le Sacre du printemps (revised 1947 version)- free
Interview
Imogen Cooper in conversation with Matthew Hunter - free
Interview
Sir Simon Rattle on Stravinsky’s Chant funèbre
Andrés Orozco-Estrada and Leif Ove Andsnes
Although Sergei Rachmaninov was of a melancholic disposition, his Fourth Piano Concerto is full of colour and spontaneity, qualities that pianist Leif Ove Andsnes brings out in his transparent, sinewy performance from May 2017. The virtuoso programme also included Richard Strauss’s Macbeth and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. Making his debut conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker was Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
20 May 2017Berliner Philharmoniker
Andrés Orozco-EstradaLeif Ove Andsnes
Richard Strauss
Macbeth, op. 23Sergei Rachmaninov
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 in G minor, op. 40Leif Ove Andsnes Piano
Jean Sibelius
Romance in D-flat major, op. 24, No. 9Leif Ove Andsnes Piano
Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony No. 5 in D minor, op. 47- free
Interview
Andrés Orozco-Estrada in conversation with Philipp Bohnen
Semyon Bychkov and Gautier Capuçon
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
Richard Strauss often came in for caustic criticism for his innovative music. He traces these conflicts in his tone poem Ein Heldenleben: biting, original, with an opulent orchestra sound. Dmitri Shostakovich’s battles in the dictatorship under Stalin were even more existential. Here too, there is an echo of this in the composer’s music, including in the First Cello Concerto – which can be heard here with Gautier Capuçon as the soloist. Semyon Bychkov conducts.
13 May 2017Berliner Philharmoniker
Semyon BychkovGautier Capuçon
Dmitri Shostakovich
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1 in E flat major, op. 107Gautier Capuçon Cello
Pablo Casals
El cant dels ocellsGautier Capuçon Cello
Richard Strauss
Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), op. 40- free
Interview
Gautier Capuçon in conversation with Sarah Willis
Simon Rattle conducts Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony
Photo: Kai Bienert
Anton Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony is not only the composer’s most extensive work, but also one of his most striking. Its tremendous energy derives from the interplay of wave-like climaxes – from the building up of monumental blocks of sound which subside into melancholic brooding. In 2017, Simon Rattle performed the symphony for the first time with the Berliner Philharmoniker. The concert opened with a new short work by Simon Holt.
06 May 2017Berliner Philharmoniker
Sir Simon RattleSimon Holt
Surcos (première)Anton Bruckner
Symphony No. 8 in C minor (Haas edition)
