Kirill Petrenko and Lars Vogt in conversation with Sarah Willis (8 min.)

Following Kirill Petrenko’s debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in February 2008, the press wrote of a “grandiose pilgrimage of the soul”. The orchestra members discussed not whether, but simply when they wanted to invite Petrenko back to Berlin, according to horn player Sarah Willis in this interview which took place on the occasion of the second programme with the Russian conductor and the orchestra in the early summer of 2009. In this programme, Petrenko demonstrated his expertise in the core orchestral repertoire with the performance of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, and with Elgar’s Second Symphony, he revealed his interest in neglected rarities of the concert world. Here he tells how he discovered Elgar’s almost one hour-long wonderfully spirited composition almost by accident, and why as a Russian conductor he avoids being associated primarily with Russian music. The soloist of the evening and third participant in the discussion is the pianist Lars Vogt, a friend of the Philharmoniker for many years who was its Pianist in Residence in the 2003/2004 season.