Interviews

20 Jun 2018free

Sir Simon Rattle on Mahler’s Sixth Symphony

On 14 November 1987, a promising conductor made his Berliner Philharmoniker debut with Gustav Mahler’s Sixth Symphony: Simon Rattle. In retrospect Rattle says, “I felt that I was finding my voice on that day.” Mahler’s multifaceted work was also on the programme when Sir Simon gave his last...

Sir Simon Rattle on Mahler’s Sixth Symphony Watch interview

27 May 2018free

Jörg Widmann on Tanz auf dem Vulkan

This concert is almost a condensed retrospective of the Rattle era. For example, Sir Simon’s enthusiasm for contemporary music is revealed in the premiere of a short work by Jörg Widmann; in Lutosławski’s Third Symphony, on the other hand, he once again shows what imaginative music the 20th...

Jörg Widmann on [Tanz auf dem Vulkan] Watch interview

26 May 2018free

Sir Simon Rattle on the completed Ninth Symphony of Anton Bruckner (2012)

Simon Rattle is certain that if Anton Bruckner had lived only two months longer, he would have been able to complete the finale of his Ninth Symphony. In a sensational concert in 2011, Rattle presented a reconstruction of “monolithic, threatening presence” (Gramophone magazine), based on...

Sir Simon Rattle on the completed Ninth Symphony of Anton Bruckner (2012) Watch interview

19 May 2018free

Mikko Franck in conversation with Matthew Hunter

It was one of the great choral works of the 19th century: Robert Schumann’s Paradise and the Peri. The piece has everything that makes up a grandiose, Romantic vocal work: effective choral scenes, lyrical, lieder-like solo numbers, and an instrumental ensemble that shows Schumann at the height...

Mikko Franck in conversation with Matthew Hunter Watch interview

12 May 2018free

Tugan Sokhiev in conversation with Amihai Grosz

Tugan Sokhiev, chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre, conducts two of the most popular works of the Russian repertoire at this concert, which opens with Prokofiev’s ardent Symphony No. 1, inspired by the First Viennese School. In contrast, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition depicts Russian...

Tugan Sokhiev in conversation with Amihai Grosz Watch interview

06 May 2018free

Paavo Järvi in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

At the beginning of May 2018, Paavo Järvi conducted not only the Berliner Philharmoniker’s traditional European concert (which this year took place in Bayreuth) for the first time, but also a second programme in the orchestra’s Berlin base, the Philharmonie. In this video, the Estonian musician...

Paavo Järvi in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

27 Apr 2018free

Wenzel Fuchs in conversation with Daishin Kashimoto

In April 2018, Wenzel Fuchs was the soloist in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with the Berliner Philharmoniker, which he become a member of almost 25 years earlier. The musical direction of the performance was in the hands of American conductor Alan Gilbert, who is also a personal friend of Fuchs....

Wenzel Fuchs in conversation with Daishin Kashimoto Watch interview

21 Apr 2018free

Daniel Harding in conversation with Noah Bendix-Balgley

In April 2018, the Berliner Philharmoniker played an all-Mozart programme under the direction of Daniel Harding. In addition to the incomplete yet consummate Mass in C Minor, they performed his little-known Symphony No. 32 plus two concert arias which expressed both the humorous and the...

Daniel Harding in conversation with Noah Bendix-Balgley Watch interview

13 Apr 2018free

Yuja Wang in conversation with Andreas Ottensamer

In the atmospheric Watergate Club in Berlin, Chinese pianist Yuja Wang met with Andreas Ottensamer, principal clarinet with the Berliner Philharmoniker, to mark a concert she gave with the orchestra in April 2018. As we learn in this interview, the artist, who is celebrated worldwide for her...

Yuja Wang in conversation with Andreas Ottensamer Watch interview

13 Apr 2018free

Kirill Petrenko in conversation with Knut Weber

For his second appearance with the Berliner Philharmoniker following his election as chief conductor, Kirill Petrenko programmed works alongside Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, which the orchestra had not performed for more than 50 years: the ballet music La Péri by Paul Dukas, and Franz...

Kirill Petrenko in conversation with Knut Weber Watch interview

08 Apr 2018free

Sir Simon Rattle in conversation with Sarah Willis

In the spring of 2018, Sir Simon Rattle, who ends his tenure as chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker this year, was welcomed by horn player Sarah Willis to her popular Live Lounge. His last opera production together with the orchestra was Richard Wagner’s Parsifal in a staged...

Sir Simon Rattle in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

03 Mar 2018free

Daniel Harding in conversation with Jonathan Kelly

The English conductor Daniel Harding made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the age of 21, and has returned to the orchestra on a regular basis ever since. In the 2017/2018 season, he was invited to conduct two programmes which were to be performed in Berlin and at the...

Daniel Harding in conversation with Jonathan Kelly Watch interview

17 Feb 2018free

Vasily Petrenko in conversation with Philipp Bohnen

Vasily Petrenko in conversation with Philipp Bohnen Watch interview

10 Feb 2018free

Leonidas Kavakos in conversation with Allan Nilles

Since his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2003, Leonidas Kavakos – the orchestra’s Artist in Residence in the 2012/2013 season – has returned to the orchestra on many occasions. Their work together has included performances of the violin concertos by Beethoven and Sibelius, followed in...

Leonidas Kavakos in conversation with Allan Nilles Watch interview

03 Feb 2018free

Dima Slobodeniouk in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

For his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in February 2018, Dima Slobodeniouk conducted works by Russian and Finnish composers. A very characteristic programme, geographically speaking, as the musician was born in Moscow and received his training as a conductor in Helsinki. The performance...

Dima Slobodeniouk in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

27 Jan 2018free

Mariss Jansons in conversation with Raphael Haeger

Mariss Jansons first performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1971 as the winner of the Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition, followed five years later by his official debut. Since then, the Latvian musician has become one of the orchestra’s closest artistic partners. The...

Mariss Jansons in conversation with Raphael Haeger Watch interview

27 Jan 2018free

Mariss Jansons named honorary member of the Berliner Philharmoniker

The value of an honour is tied not least to how rarely it is awarded: After Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Seiji Ozawa, Mariss Jansons was made the fifth honorary member of the Berliner Philharmoniker in January 2018. Since his debut in 1976, Jansons has conducted...

Mariss Jansons named honorary member of the Berliner Philharmoniker Watch interview

21 Jan 2018free

Mikko Franck in conversation with Stephan Koncz

Seiji Ozawa was originally to perform Maurice Ravel’s enchanting fairy tale opera L'Enfant et les sortilèges with the Berliner Philharmoniker in January 2018, but unfortunately the Japanese conductor’s health prevented him from travelling to Europe. Luckily, Mikko Franck, who made his debut with...

Mikko Franck in conversation with Stephan Koncz Watch interview

21 Jan 2018free

Noah Bendix-Balgley on Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 and Camille Saint-Saëns’s “Introduction et Rondo capriccioso”

As 1st concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Noah Bendix-Balgley regularly plays virtuoso solo passages, such as in the tone poems of Richard Strauss. In January 2018, he performed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto as soloist and conductor plus Camille Saint-Saëns’s highly...

Noah Bendix-Balgley on Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 and Camille Saint-Saëns’s “Introduction et Rondo capriccioso” Watch interview

13 Jan 2018free

Antonio Pappano in conversation with Fergus McWilliam

When Antonio Pappano appeared with the Berliner Philharmoniker in January 2018 after a long break, the programme included works by Mussorgsky, Scriabin and Ravel plus several orchestral songs by the underrated composer Henri Duparc. Pappano, who became musical director of the Royal Opera House...

Antonio Pappano in conversation with Fergus McWilliam Watch interview

31 Dec 2017free

Joyce DiDonato in conversation with Noah Bendix-Balgley

After delighting audiences in her first two appearances with the Berliner Philharmoniker with works by Hector Berlioz, Joyce DiDonato performed orchestral songs by Richard Strauss at the Philharmoniker’s 2017 New Year’s Eve Concert under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle. In addition, the...

Joyce DiDonato in conversation with Noah Bendix-Balgley Watch interview

22 Dec 2017free

Vilde Frang in conversation with Philipp Bohnen

The violinist Vilde Frang initially thought the invitation to make her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker as a soloist at the 2016 European Concert was an April Fool’s joke. Luckily she was wrong; her performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in Frang’s native Norway was enthusiastically...

Vilde Frang in conversation with Philipp Bohnen Watch interview

22 Dec 2017free

Iván Fischer in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

The music of his Hungarian countryman Béla Bartók is very close to Iván Fischer’s heart. Just before Christmas in 2017, he conducted two of the composer’s early works with the Berliner Philharmoniker: the Hungarian Peasant Songs for choir and orchestra and his First Violin Concerto. In addition,...

Iván Fischer in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

16 Dec 2017free

Christian Thielemann in conversation with Raimar Orlovsky

Beethoven’s Missa solemnis is one of the most difficult compositions in the history of music for conductors, orchestras, choirs and vocal soloists. The work, which Beethoven himself considered one of his most best creations, was performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of...

Christian Thielemann in conversation with Raimar Orlovsky Watch interview

09 Dec 2017free

Herbert Blomstedt on Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3

For many years, Herbert Blomstedt’s performances of Bruckner have been among the highlights in the Berliner Philharmoniker’s concert calendar. In December 2017, six months after his 90th birthday, the Swedish conductor performed the composer’s Third Symphony with the orchestra. The programme...

Herbert Blomstedt on Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3 Watch interview

04 Nov 2017free

Seong-Jin Cho in conversation with Marlene Ito

Before the Berliner Philharmoniker travel to Asia for the last time under the direction of Simon Rattle, they present their tour programme in Berlin. In addition to sonorous works by Brahms and Strauss, the concert includes Ravel’s G major Piano Concerto, with its shifts between enchanting...

Seong-Jin Cho in conversation with Marlene Ito Watch interview

03 Nov 2017free

Unsuk Chin in conversation with Eva-Maria Tomasi

The audience of the Berliner Philharmoniker knows the Berlin-based South Korean Unsuk Chin as the composer of a successful cello concerto and the highly virtuoso and sophisticated vocal scene Le Silence des Sirènes. In November 2017, the orchestra premiered Chorós Chordón, which was also part of...

Unsuk Chin in conversation with Eva-Maria Tomasi Watch interview

28 Oct 2017free

Ton Koopman in conversation with Jonathan Kelly

In October 2017, the Berliner Philharmoniker performed Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B Minor for the first time since 2006. The musical direction of the concert, which involved the participation of a first-class ensemble of soloists and the RIAS Kammerchor, was in the hands of the Dutch...

Ton Koopman in conversation with Jonathan Kelly Watch interview

21 Oct 2017free

Yannick Nézet-Séguin in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

In this interview, conducted in French, the Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin talks about Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach’s cantata “Heilig” and Johannes Brahms’s famous Deutsches Requiem – two works that he performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker in October 2017. Nézet-Séguin tells of his...

Yannick Nézet-Séguin in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

14 Oct 2017free

Peter Sellars on Janáček’s “The Cunning Little Vixen”

“This music takes us all to a place we have never been before,” says Peter Sellars in the introduction to his production of Leoš Janáček’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen. Following his stagings of the Bach Passions and other unforgettable projects, this production from October 2017 sees the...

Peter Sellars on Janáček’s “The Cunning Little Vixen” Watch interview

07 Oct 2017free

Mitsuko Uchida in conversation with Tobias Möller

The pianist Mitsuko Uchida made her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1984, and since Sir Simon Rattles took office as chief conductor, her collaboration with the orchestra has been particularly intensive. She performed a cycle of all of Beethoven’s piano concertos in February 2010 while...

Mitsuko Uchida in conversation with Tobias Möller Watch interview

07 Oct 2017free

Amihai Grosz in conversation with Tobias Möller

In October 2017, Amihai Grosz, 1st principal viola with the Berliner Philharmoniker, was the soloist in William Walton’s rarely performed Concerto for Viola and Orchestra. Grosz, originally from Israel, started off as a violinist, like many of his colleagues, before discovering the deeper string...

Amihai Grosz in conversation with Tobias Möller Watch interview

30 Sep 2017free

Daniele Gatti in conversation with Matthew Hunter

After holding positions in places such as Rome, Bologna, London, Zurich and Paris, the Italian Daniele Gatti, who has enjoyed success in both the operatic and symphonic repertoire, took up the position of chief conductor at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam at the beginning of the...

Daniele Gatti in conversation with Matthew Hunter Watch interview

23 Sep 2017free

Alain Altinoglu in conversation with Fergus McWilliam

The conductor Alain Altinoglu made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in September 2017 with a programme of works from the French repertoire and Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto. In this conversation with the Philharmoniker’s horn player Fergus McWilliam, the French conductor tells of his...

Alain Altinoglu in conversation with Fergus McWilliam Watch interview

16 Sep 2017free

Marek Janowski in conversation with Krzysztof Polonek

Marek Janowski is regarded as the perfect embodiment of the Kapellmeister tradition and a master of late-Romantic repertoire, and this programme with Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony and preludes from Pfitzner’s Palestrina emphasizes these qualities. The special charm of both works is the way they...

Marek Janowski in conversation with Krzysztof Polonek Watch interview

10 Sep 2017free

Susanna Mälkki in conversation with Matthew McDonald

For her second programme with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Susanna Mälkki conducted a concert as part of Musikfest 2017 which included her Finnish fellow countryman Jean Sibelius’s Second Symphony, a Tanz-Walzer by Ferruccio Busoni and Béla Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto with Gil Shaham as the...

Susanna Mälkki in conversation with Matthew McDonald Watch interview

25 Aug 2017free

Sir Simon Rattle on Haydn’s “Creation”

As Haydn’s oratorio The Creation has been a favourite of Simon Rattle since his youth, it was no surprise that he programmed the work for the opening concert of his final season as chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker. In this short introduction, which also welcomes the audience to the...

Sir Simon Rattle on Haydn’s “Creation” Watch interview

25 Aug 2017free

Mark Padmore in conversation with Stanley Dodds

Since 2005, the English tenor Mark Padmore has often performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker and, in particular, his performances of the Evangelist in Peter Sellars’s productions of Bach’s Passions under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle have left an unforgettable impression. So it can be no...

Mark Padmore in conversation with Stanley Dodds Watch interview

24 Jun 2017free

Mark-Anthony Turnage in conversation with Sarah Willis

Mark-Anthony Turnage and Sir Simon Rattle are connected by an artistic friendship and collaboration which has lasted for several decades, and the Berliner Philharmoniker and their chief conductor have already programmed works by the English composer on many occasions. In June 2017, between...

Mark-Anthony Turnage in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

17 Jun 2017free

Joyce DiDonato in conversation with Noah Bendix-Balgley

In June 2017, in her second concert programme with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the popular American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato who is internationally acclaimed for her interpretations of Baroque music, bel canto and Richard Strauss, sang Hector Berlioz’ lyrical scene La Mort de Cléopâtre. For...

Joyce DiDonato in conversation with Noah Bendix-Balgley Watch interview

09 Jun 2017free

Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9: an introduction by Susanne Stähr

Following its premiere in New York, Antonín Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony “From the New World” quickly developed into one of the most popular pieces of the symphonic repertoire – also in the “Old World”. The work was performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel in...

Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9: an introduction by Susanne Stähr Watch interview

03 Jun 2017free

Imogen Cooper in conversation with Matthew Hunter

The English pianist Imogen Cooper, who made her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1991, enjoys success as a soloist, a chamber musician and as a composer. Under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle, with whom she has been performing together for many years, the musician performed Wolfgang...

Imogen Cooper in conversation with Matthew Hunter Watch interview

03 Jun 2017free

Sir Simon Rattle on Stravinsky’s Chant funèbre

In 1908, Igor Stravinsky wrote a piece of funeral music entitled Chant funèbre in memory of his recently deceased, deeply revered teacher Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The music was lost in the turmoil of the revolution, and Stravinsky himself heard the work only once, at its premiere. It was not...

Sir Simon Rattle on Stravinsky’s Chant funèbre Watch interview

20 May 2017free

Andrés Orozco-Estrada in conversation with Philipp Bohnen

The Colombian conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada made his debut at the Berlin Philharmonie in May 2017 with an unusual programme. In addition to Dmitri Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony in which the Russian composer merely appears to submit to the dogmas of “socialist realism”, he also conducted...

Andrés Orozco-Estrada in conversation with Philipp Bohnen Watch interview

13 May 2017free

Gautier Capuçon in conversation with Sarah Willis

Following French cellist Gautier Capuçon’s debut as a soloist with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2012 at the European Concert in Vienna, May 2017 saw him perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s emotionally and technically highly demanding Cello Concerto with the orchestra under the direction of Semyon...

Gautier Capuçon in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

22 Apr 2017free

Live Lounge 2017 from the Baden-Baden Easter Festival

In the spring of 2017, like every year in Baden-Baden, horn player Sarah Willis welcomed colleagues from the orchestra and a soloist from the Easter Festival to the popular Live Lounge, where fans from all over the world can put questions to the musicians via the internet. Soprano Kristine...

Live Lounge 2017 from the Baden-Baden Easter Festival Watch interview

14 Apr 2017free

Lisa Batiashvili in conversation with Andreas Ottensamer

The Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili is at once one of the most virtuoso and sensitive musicians of her generation. Since her debut in 2004, the popular artist has regularly performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker – and also at the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden in 2017, when she performed...

Lisa Batiashvili in conversation with Andreas Ottensamer Watch interview

23 Mar 2017free

Kirill Petrenko in conversation with Olaf Maninger

On 21 June 2015, the Berliner Philharmoniker elected Kirill Petrenko as their future chief conductor by a large majority. In the spring of 2017, the programme of his first acclaimed concert since his election included works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and John Adams....

Kirill Petrenko in conversation with Olaf Maninger Watch interview

18 Mar 2017free

HK Gruber in conversation with Knut Weber

When HK Gruber’s Frankenstein!! was performed for the first time in 1978, the just 23-year-old Simon Rattle was standing at the conductor’s desk. In Gruber’s career, the acclaimed world premiere of his “Pandämonium”, which was performed with the composer himself at one of the Late Night concerts...

HK Gruber in conversation with Knut Weber Watch interview

12 Mar 2017free

Pinchas Zukerman in conversation with Aleksandar Ivić

The Israeli violinist, violist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman whose teachers included the legendary Ivan Galamian, has been celebrated in major concert halls for his impeccable technique and powerful yet nuanced playing since his youth. He has appeared on many occasions with the Berliner...

Pinchas Zukerman in conversation with Aleksandar Ivić Watch interview

12 Mar 2017free

The concerts of the German Federal President – A success story since 1988

The Berliner Philharmoniker have provided many highlights of the annual benefit concert of the German Federal President since it was launched in 1988: Richard von Weizsäcker, for example, head of state from 1984 to 1994, initiated the highly acclaimed Philharmoniker debut of the legendary...

The concerts of the German Federal President – A success story since 1988 Watch interview

05 Mar 2017free

Anoushka Shankar in conversation with Andreas Ottensamer

Anoushka Shankar was born in 1981 – the same year the Second Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra by her father, Ravi Shankar, was premiered in New York. The conductor then was Zubin Mehta, who also commissioned the work. Anoushka Shankar is now one of the best-known virtuosos on the sitar, an Asian...

Anoushka Shankar in conversation with Andreas Ottensamer Watch interview

18 Feb 2017free

Sir Simon Rattle and Peter Sellars on Ligeti's “Le Grand Macabre”

Le Grand Macabre, György Ligeti’s only opera received its premiere in 1978 and was later streamlined and revised by the composer for a production by Peter Sellars at the Salzburg Festival in 1996. In February 2017, the Berliner Philharmoniker together with chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle and a...

Sir Simon Rattle and Peter Sellars on Ligeti's “Le Grand Macabre” Watch interview

11 Feb 2017free

Patricia Kopatchinskaja in conversation with Paolo Mendes

György Ligeti’s only violin concerto is one of the Hungarian composer’s most captivating pieces not least because of its anarchic humour. In conversation with horn player Paolo Mendes who became a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2016, the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja explains why...

Patricia Kopatchinskaja in conversation with Paolo Mendes Watch interview

28 Jan 2017free

John Adams in conversation with Noah Bendix-Balgley

John Adams’s time as Composer in Residence included not only his debut conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker and a concert together with the Orchestra Academy, but also the performance of a number of the composer’s older and newer works under the direction of a variety of conductors. In January...

John Adams in conversation with Noah Bendix-Balgley Watch interview

21 Jan 2017free

Herbert Blomstedt on Béla Bartók and Johannes Brahms

In January 2017, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Herbert Blomstedt paired a farewell work with a symphonic debut: Béla Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto – one of his last compositions – followed by Johannes Brahms’s First Symphony. The evening’s soloist was the Hungarian pianist András Schiff. In...

Herbert Blomstedt on Béla Bartók and Johannes Brahms Watch interview

14 Jan 2017free

Marek Janowski in conversation with Christian Stadelmann

For a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s famous Requiem in January 2017, the Berliner Philharmoniker secured the services of conductor Marek Janowski to replace the indisposed Riccardo Chailly. Janowski had already performed the work not long before with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester, whose highly...

Marek Janowski in conversation with Christian Stadelmann Watch interview

31 Dec 2016free

Daniil Trifonov in conversation with Sarah Willis

The music world has raved for years about the young Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, winner at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow to name but two. At the age of 25, he made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker as the soloist in Sergei...

Daniil Trifonov in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

31 Dec 2016free

Sir Simon Rattle on the New Year’s Concert 2016

Among the unmissable dates in the Berliner Philharmoniker’s calendar is the New Year’s Eve Concert, an event that has been televised since 1977. For the 2016 concert, the orchestra under the baton of its chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle prepared a musical feast for the public of rare and popular...

Sir Simon Rattle on the New Year’s Concert 2016 Watch interview

22 Dec 2016free

Sir Simon Rattle on the first act of Wagner’s “Walküre”

Richard Wagner’s cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, which consists of 4 music dramas and lasts over 16 hours, has in the first act of Die Walküre an opera en miniature. In one breathtaking arc, Wagner gives musical expression to his thoughts on power, violence, passion and love here. Events focus on...

Sir Simon Rattle on the first act of Wagner’s “Walküre” Watch interview

17 Dec 2016free

Christian Thielemann in conversation with Christoph Streuli

Christian Thielemann has been celebrated for his performances of works by Anton Bruckner for many years. In December 2016, he conducted the Seventh Symphony, probably the composer’s most popular work. With Christoph Streuli, violinist with the Philharmoniker since 1997, Thielemann talks about...

Christian Thielemann in conversation with Christoph Streuli Watch interview

10 Dec 2016free

Gidon Kremer in conversation with Walter Küssner

The violinist Gidon Kremer is one of the great musicians of our time. He returned to the Berliner Philharmoniker in December 2016 after an absence of almost ten years, and in doing so, also celebrated his 40th anniversary as a soloist with the orchestra (plus his first appearance in the Digital...

Gidon Kremer in conversation with Walter Küssner Watch interview

03 Dec 2016free

Alan Gilbert in conversation with Andreas Ottensamer

Alan Gilbert performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker for the first time in 2006, and he has returned to the orchestra on a regular basis since then with an unusually versatile repertoire. When, in December 2016, he conducted works by John Adams, Béla Bartók and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s...

Alan Gilbert in conversation with Andreas Ottensamer Watch interview

04 Nov 2016free

Sir Simon Rattle on Brahms and the Second Viennese School

“I am a conservative who was forced to become a radical,” as the composer Arnold Schoenberg once said about himself. While contemporaries regarded him as a subverter of musical tradition, Schoenberg saw himself quite naturally as the successor of the great composers of the past. Surprisingly, he...

Sir Simon Rattle on Brahms and the Second Viennese School Watch interview

28 Oct 2016free

Iván Fischer in conversation with Stephan Koncz

For his concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker in October 2016, conductor Iván Fischer programmed the famous Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta by his fellow Hungarian Béla Bartók alongside works by Enescu and Mozart. The composition, commissioned by the Swiss conductor and patron Paul...

Iván Fischer in conversation with Stephan Koncz Watch interview

15 Oct 2016free

Nikolai Lugansky in conversation with Christoph Igelbrink

Nikolai Lugansky is one of the most technically and musically accomplished pianists of his generation. His resumé includes major awards such as first prize at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow as well as performances with the world’s top orchestras. In October 2016, he finally...

Nikolai Lugansky in conversation with Christoph Igelbrink Watch interview

08 Oct 2016free

Christian Gerhaher in conversation with Knut Weber

Hardly any other singer appears more regularly as a guest with the Berliner Philharmoniker than the baritone Christian Gerhaher. Following unforgettable performances in the Bach Passions, Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust and Pelléas and Melisande, the singer returned in October 2016 for...

Christian Gerhaher in conversation with Knut Weber Watch interview

01 Oct 2016free

Manfred Honeck in conversation with Martin Menking

The Austrian Manfred Honeck is one of those conductors who themselves have extensive experience as an orchestral musician: For many years, he was a member of the Vienna Philharmonic as a violist. His successful career as a conductor has taken him from positions in Zurich, Prague and Stuttgart to...

Manfred Honeck in conversation with Martin Menking Watch interview

24 Sep 2016free

Daniele Gatti in conversation with Bruno Delepelaire

Daniele Gatti, who took over the direction of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in the 2016/2017 season, enjoys success as both an opera and concert conductor. The music of the Austro-German tradition is as close to his heart as the repertoire of his Italian homeland. Plus, his...

Daniele Gatti in conversation with Bruno Delepelaire Watch interview

17 Sep 2016free

John Adams in conversation with Sarah Willis

For the 2016/2017 season, the Berliner Philharmoniker appointed the American John Adams as their Artist in Residence, the first composer to hold the position. To start their year of intensive work together, Adams conducted two of his own works as part of Musikfest Berlin 2016 and, at the same...

John Adams in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

26 Aug 2016free

Welcome to the 2016/2017 season!

After returning from their summer holidays, members of the Berliner Philharmoniker welcome audiences to the 2016/2017 season and tell us which projects in the concert calendar they are most looking forward to. A wide variety of new discoveries will be provided by works of the American composer...

Welcome to the 2016/2017 season! Watch interview

26 Aug 2016free

Sir Simon Rattle on Mahler’s Seventh Symphony

Of all Gustav Mahler’s symphonies, the composer’s seventh was always the “black sheep”, says Sir Simon Rattle in this introduction. However, for the chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker the Seventh Symphony, with its combination of serenade-like, folkloric atmosphere in the second and...

Sir Simon Rattle on Mahler’s Seventh Symphony Watch interview

23 Jun 2016free

Yannick Nézet-Séguin in conversation with Sarah Willis

In concerts at the Philharmonie, the Berlin Waldbühne and on a subsequent tour, the Berliner Philharmoniker performed three programmes under the baton of Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin in the summer of 2016. Here, the artist speaks with horn player Sarah Willis about Shostakovich’s 13th...

Yannick Nézet-Séguin in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

18 Jun 2016free

Betsy Jolas in conversation with Fergus McWilliam

In June 2016, there was a belated, but for that all the more rewarding encounter between the Berliner Philharmoniker and Betsy Jolas. After Sir Simon Rattle got to know the composer, born in 1926, and her music, he commissioned a new work from her which was given its premiere by the...

Betsy Jolas in conversation with Fergus McWilliam Watch interview

04 Jun 2016free

John Eliot Gardiner in conversation with Jonathan Kelly

John Eliot Gardiner enjoys legendary status in the music world, due in part to his recordings of Bach’s Passions and Mozart operas, among others. However, for many classical music fans, he has yet to be discovered as a conductor of Igor Stravinsky. In June 2016, he conducted the Berliner...

John Eliot Gardiner in conversation with Jonathan Kelly Watch interview

28 May 2016free

Marie-Pierre Langlamet on the art of harp playing

There can hardly be another instrument that has a technique as complicated or as difficult to learn as the harp. This is especially due to the seven pedals which are used to alter the pitch of each of the strings one semitone higher or lower. The harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet, who has been a...

Marie-Pierre Langlamet on the art of harp playing Watch interview

28 May 2016free

Juanjo Mena in conversation with Joaquín Riquelme García

In May 2016, the Spanish conductor Juanjo Mena made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in a concert with works by Debussy, Ginastera and Falla. Chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester since 2011, Mena’s teachers included Sergiu Celibidache, who had a turbulent history with...

Juanjo Mena in conversation with Joaquín Riquelme García Watch interview

29 Apr 2016free

Andris Nelsons in conversation with Gunars Upatnieks

In the spring of 2016, Andris Nelsons conducted a work by Anton Bruckner with the Berliner Phiharmoniker for the first time: his Third Symphony. The first half of the concert included excerpts from Richard Wagner’s Parsifal. In conversation with his fellow Latvian Gunars Upatnieks who has played...

Andris Nelsons in conversation with Gunars Upatnieks Watch interview

29 Apr 2016free

Wagner and Bruckner: an introduction by Susanne Stähr

In April 2016, Andris Nelsons appeared with the Berliner Philharmoniker to conduct Bruckner’s Third Symphony. The concert opened with the Prelude to the first act and the famous Karfreitagszauber from Richard Wagner’s final music drama Parsifal. Bruckner famously admired Wagner above all others,...

Wagner and Bruckner: an introduction by Susanne Stähr Watch interview

29 Apr 2016free

Musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker talk about Anton Bruckner

For all conductors, performing Bruckner’s symphonies is among the most demanding of tasks. It is easy to forget that due to their sheer duration alone, they also pose a great, physical challenge for orchestral musicians. Here, Matthew Hunter (viola), Thomas Leyendecker (trombone), Albrecht Mayer...

Musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker talk about Anton Bruckner Watch interview

23 Apr 2016free

Jean-Yves Thibaudet in conversation with Andreas Ottensamer

Following Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker playing Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, the programme for his second appearance with the orchestra in April 2016 included the G Major Concerto by the same composer. The French pianist feels particularly connected to...

Jean-Yves Thibaudet in conversation with Andreas Ottensamer Watch interview

16 Apr 2016free

Kirill Gerstein in conversation with Raphael Haeger

In April 2016, Kirill Gerstein made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker performing Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto. With subtle musicality and seemingly effortless technique, Gerstein received an enthusiastic response from press and public alike. The American pianist of Russian origin...

Kirill Gerstein in conversation with Raphael Haeger Watch interview

10 Apr 2016free

Seiji Ozawa becomes honorary member of the Berliner Philharmoniker

In a concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker in the spring of 2016, Seiji Ozawa made his first appearance outside his Japanese homeland since recovering from a serious illness. The Philharmoniker took the occasion of the 50th anniversary of their work together to appoint Ozawa an honorary...

Seiji Ozawa becomes honorary member of the Berliner Philharmoniker Watch interview

10 Apr 2016free

Seiji Ozawa in conversation with Daishin Kashimoto

The multi-national make-up of the Berliner Philharmoniker means that international guest soloists and conductors regularly encounter fellow countrymen within the ranks of the orchestra. As a result, interviews such as this one from April 2016 with Seiji Ozawa and Daishin Kashimoto, 1st...

Seiji Ozawa in conversation with Daishin Kashimoto Watch interview

03 Apr 2016free

Sir Simon Rattle on Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde”

In addition to the cycle of the complete symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle’s programme for the 2015/2016 season included Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, one of the greatest challenges in music history. The most recent performances of the...

Sir Simon Rattle on Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” Watch interview

21 Mar 2016free

Live Lounge 2016 from the Baden-Baden Easter Festival

As at all previous Easter Festivals, the online audience had the opportunity to meet the Berliner Philharmoniker in Baden-Baden this year too. Here is the recording of this special “Meet and Greet” of 19 March. Horn player and presenter Sarah Willis invited 1st Concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley...

Live Lounge 2016 from the Baden-Baden Easter Festival Watch interview

20 Mar 2016free

Manfred Honeck in conversation with Albrecht Mayer

The Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck, whose debut in 2013 left a strong impression on the orchestra, stood in at short notice for an indisposed Yannick Nézet-Séguin for a Berliner Philharmoniker concert at the Easter Festival at Baden-Baden. Honeck grew up in a musical family and gained...

Manfred Honeck in conversation with Albrecht Mayer Watch interview

05 Mar 2016free

Truls Mørk in conversation with Ludwig Quandt

2016 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the French composer Henri Dutilleux. Not least for this reason, Dutilleux’s Tout un monde lointain... was programmed in a Berliner Philharmoniker concert in March 2016. The soloist was the Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk, who made his debut with the...

Truls Mørk in conversation with Ludwig Quandt Watch interview

01 Mar 2016free

Statements by Daniel Barenboim, Iván Fischer and Sir Simon Rattle

With works by Mozart, Beethoven and Prokofiev, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Berliner Philharmoniker welcomed refugees and aid workers at a special concert in the Philharmonie on 1 March 2016. The performance was an overwhelming success and was a moving event,...

Statements by Daniel Barenboim, Iván Fischer and Sir Simon Rattle Watch interview

27 Feb 2016free

Daniel Stabrawa in conversation with Rainer Seegers

Daniel Stabrawa joined the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1983 and was appointed 1st concertmaster three years later. Including Herbert von Karajan and Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle is the third of the orchestra’s chief conductors he has worked with. Stabrawa, who also performs as a chamber...

Daniel Stabrawa in conversation with Rainer Seegers Watch interview

20 Feb 2016free

Stefan Dohr on Richard Ayres’s NONcerto

The English composer Richard Ayres, born in 1965, has already written a whole series of NONcertos, works which use humour and respectful irony to question the tradition of the solo concerto. At a Late Night concert in February 2016, members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle...

Stefan Dohr on Richard Ayres’s NONcerto Watch interview

13 Feb 2016free

Herbert Blomstedt on Franz Berwald and Antonín Dvořák

In his performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt has repeatedly enchanted audiences with interpretations of works of Beethoven and Bruckner. However, in February 2016, the programme included symphonies from the north and east of Europe: With Franz...

Herbert Blomstedt on Franz Berwald and Antonín Dvořák Watch interview

29 Jan 2016free

Iván Fischer about Mahler’s Third Symphony

Iván Fischer is a regular guest of the Berliner Philharmoniker. In January 2016, he conducted a work by Gustav Mahler with the orchestra for the first time: The Third Symphony, in which Mahler captivatingly gives musical expression to flowers, birds, landscapes and seasons. This magnificent...

Iván Fischer about Mahler’s Third Symphony Watch interview

23 Jan 2016free

Magnus Lindberg in conversation with Frank Peter Zimmermann

Since his debut in 1985, Frank Peter Zimmermann has been one of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s closest artistic partners. In early 2016, the violinist made a guest appearance with the orchestra with a new piece – and with a new instrument: the Stradivarius “General Duport” which had just recently...

Magnus Lindberg in conversation with Frank Peter Zimmermann Watch interview

23 Jan 2016free

Daniel Harding in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

At the beginning of 2016, the music world mourned the passing of Pierre Boulez, who had close ties with the Berliner Philharmoniker both as a composer and conductor. Shortly after his death, a work by Boulez had already been programmed for a concert under the direction of Daniel Harding: The...

Daniel Harding in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

16 Jan 2016free

Christian Thielemann in conversation with Albrecht Mayer

Since his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1996, Christian Thielemann has performed a fascinatingly wide-ranging repertoire with the orchestra, with music from the First Viennese School to the present day, including works by German, Austrian, Italian, Russian and French composers. Time...

Christian Thielemann in conversation with Albrecht Mayer Watch interview

09 Jan 2016free

Gijs Leenaars in conversation with Matthew Hunter

The young Dutch conductor Gijs Leenaars had big shoes to fill when he took over from Simon Halsey as choir master of the Berliner Rundfunkchor at the beginning of the 2015/2016 season. Since then, he has convinced audiences and musicians with meticulous work and unerringly self-confident...

Gijs Leenaars in conversation with Matthew Hunter Watch interview

31 Dec 2015free

The Berliner Philharmonikers New Year’s Eve Party

The members of the Berliner Philharmoniker are not only experts when it comes to music; they also have considerable insider knowledge of a range of cultural festive customs. As a warm-up act for the 2015/2016 New Year’s Eve Concert, some of the musicians demonstrated the festive rituals from...

The Berliner Philharmonikers New Year’s Eve Party Watch interview

20 Dec 2015free

Peter Sellars in conversation with Sarah Willis

The staging of the two Bach Passions with the Berliner Philharmoniker by Peter Sellars already enjoy legendary status. So it was no great surprise that the American was chosen when the orchestra appointed a director for the first time as its Artist in Residence. The central project of this...

Peter Sellars in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

06 Dec 2015free

Till Fellner in conversation with Knut Weber

In December 2015, the Austrian pianist Till Fellner made his Berliner Philharmoniker debut with Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C major, K. 503. Fellner has won, among others, first prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in 1993, and has performed with numerous world-class...

Till Fellner in conversation with Knut Weber Watch interview

01 Dec 2015free

François-Xavier Roth in conversation with Sebastian Krunnies

In this interview, the violist Sebastian Krunnies meets the French conductor François-Xavier Roth who made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in December 2015. Roth is Generalmusikdirektor of the city of Cologne and has been chief conductor of the SWR Sinfonieorchester since 2011. With...

François-Xavier Roth in conversation with Sebastian Krunnies Watch interview

30 Oct 2015free

Baiba Skride in conversation with Philipp Bohnen

The Latvian violinist Baiba Skride made a successful debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2010 with Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto. Her compatriot Andris Nelsons, who was also celebrating his debut with the orchestra at that time, was on the podium when the violinist returned to Berlin in...

Baiba Skride in conversation with Philipp Bohnen Watch interview

24 Oct 2015free

Piotr Anderszewski in conversation with Krzysztof Polonek

As a performer of works by Bach, Mozart, Schumann and Bartók to name but a few, Piotr Anderszewski is regarded as one of the most distinguished and insightful pianists of our time. He has a particular affection for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor which he performed together...

Piotr Anderszewski in conversation with Krzysztof Polonek Watch interview

19 Oct 2015free

Behind the scenes: The 12 Cellists play tango

Tangos have been a part of the repertoire of the 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker for many years. The works of Astor Piazzolla in particular are the perfect combination of melancholy and verve, cantabile and rhythmic conciseness, entertainment value and compositional demands. The...

Behind the scenes: The 12 Cellists play tango Watch interview

16 Oct 2015free

Simon Rattle talks about Beethoven’s symphonies

The performance of all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven was the outstanding artistic project of the Berliner Philharmoniker and their chief conductor, Sir Simon Rattle in the 2015/2016 season. To celebrate the cycle, he talks to the journalist Shirley Apthorp about his view of the works:...

Simon Rattle talks about Beethoven’s symphonies Watch interview

26 Sep 2015free

Gil Shaham in conversation with Julia Gartemann

The Israeli-American violinist Gil Shaham made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1988 when he was 17, and since then he has returned to play with the orchestra on many occasions. He has had an even longer connection with Zubin Mehta with whom he performed as an 11-year-old prodigy....

Gil Shaham in conversation with Julia Gartemann Watch interview

19 Sep 2015free

Tomi Mäkelä on Carl Nielsen and Arnold Schoenberg

As 2015 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Carl Nielsen, the works of the Danish composer formed a central theme of Musikfest Berlin. Under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, the Berliner Philharmoniker performed his Fourth Symphony, known as “The Inextinguishable”. The concert also...

Tomi Mäkelä on Carl Nielsen and Arnold Schoenberg Watch interview

13 Sep 2015free

Matthias Pintscher in conversation with Raphael Haeger

The composer Matthias Pintscher, who received a commission from Claudio Abbado at the age of only 25, has had many of his works performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker. As a conductor, Pintscher made his debut with the orchestra in September 2015. In addition to his own Violin Concerto mar’eh...

Matthias Pintscher in conversation with Raphael Haeger Watch interview

28 Aug 2015free

Greeting the new season

In the traditional welcome video to the Berliner Philharmoniker’s new season, Sir Simon Rattle and members of the orchestra talk about the highlights of the coming year. Of course, there is considerable excitement about one particular key project of the season: the cycle of the complete...

Greeting the new season Watch interview

25 Jun 2015free

Unsuk Chin and Barbara Hannigan about “Le Silence des Sirènes”

Hardly any singer works together as intensively or as regularly with contemporary composers as the Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan. The audience of the Berliner Philharmoniker has heard her in recent years in – among other things – works by Henri Dutilleux, Hans Abrahamsen and György Ligeti....

Unsuk Chin and Barbara Hannigan about “Le Silence des Sirènes” Watch interview

20 Jun 2015free

Christian Tetzlaff on his season as Artist in Residence

In this video, Christian Tetzlaff discusses the 2014/2015 season when he was Artist in Residence with the Berliner Philharmoniker. His performances ranged from a solo recital to chamber music concerts with members of the orchestra and a programme with the Orchestra Academy to a performance of...

Christian Tetzlaff on his season as Artist in Residence Watch interview

12 Jun 2015free

Barbara Hannigan about Kurt Weill and William Walton

In June 2015, the Canadian singer Barbara Hannigan gave another concert in the popular Late Night series together with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle. Accompanied by Rattle, who also makes an appearance as a pianist, she sang not only three songs by Kurt Weill, but...

Barbara Hannigan about Kurt Weill and William Walton Watch interview

06 Jun 2015free

Jörg Widmann about “Teufel Amor”

Jörg Widmann is one of the most successful composers of the younger generation, also, as a clarinetist who performs all over the world, he is unusually well acquainted with the technical and tonal possibilities of orchestral instruments. After the Berliner Philharmoniker premiered Widmann’s...

Jörg Widmann about “Teufel Amor” Watch interview

06 Jun 2015free

Daniel Barenboim in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

After Daniel Barenboim conducted Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony with the Berliner Philharmoniker for the 2014 European Concert, another work by the Russian composer was programmed for his next concert with the orchestra in June 2015: With the “Pathétique”, Tchaikovsky’s sixth and final...

Daniel Barenboim in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

30 May 2015free

Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker remember Lorin Maazel

The American Lorin Maazel was one of the very few child prodigy conductors – at the age of only nine, he stood before an orchestra at a public concert for the first time. Born in 1930, he also had a career as a violinist and composer, but above all, he became one of the most successful maestros...

Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker remember Lorin Maazel Watch interview

24 May 2015free

Gianandrea Noseda in conversation with Stanley Dodds

Gianandrea Noseda is one of the many distinguished conductors who the classical music business has Italy, the motherland of music, to thank for. Noseda made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in May of 2015 with a programme that demonstrated the maestro’s versatility. With the famous...

Gianandrea Noseda in conversation with Stanley Dodds Watch interview

16 May 2015free

Yuja Wang in conversation with Andreas Ottensamer

For years, audiences and critics have raved about Yuja Wang, about the extreme virtuosity and unusual sense of timbre the Chinese pianist possesses. It was therefore only a matter of time before she was invited to perform with the Berliner Philharmoniker, and in May 2015, the moment had come:...

Yuja Wang in conversation with Andreas Ottensamer Watch interview

10 May 2015free

Mariss Jansons in conversation with Gábor Tarkövi

Since Mariss Jansons won the Herbert von Karajan Competition in 1971, the career of Latvian maestro has been closely linked with the Berliner Philharmoniker. In the early summer of 2015, the conductor led the orchestra in works by Béla Bartók, Dmitri Shostakovich and Maurice Ravel. To mark the...

Mariss Jansons in conversation with Gábor Tarkövi Watch interview

10 May 2015free

Frank Peter Zimmermann in conversation with Rüdiger Liebermann

Over the years, Frank Peter Zimmermann has performed almost all of the major violin concertos with the Berliner Philharmoniker, and in the Digital Concert Hall alone you can find the musician playing works by Mozart, Brahms, Hindemith and Martinů. When, in May 2015, the violinist performed...

Frank Peter Zimmermann in conversation with Rüdiger Liebermann Watch interview

25 Apr 2015free

Andris Nelsons and Håkan Hardenberger in conversation with Sarah Willis

Since 2010, the Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons has been invited to appear with the Berliner Philharmoniker every season, while the famous Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger celebrated his debut with the orchestra in April of 2015. What makes this combination of conductor and soloist so...

Andris Nelsons and Håkan Hardenberger in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

11 Apr 2015free

Joyce DiDonato in conversation with Tobias Möller

The American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato has been one of the most famous singers for a number of years and yet she has never been tempted to succumb to the airs of a diva, as the likeable superstar relates in this conversation. The interview marked a concert performance of Hector Berlioz’s La...

Joyce DiDonato in conversation with Tobias Möller Watch interview

12 Mar 2015free

Works by Messiaen, Debussy and Duruflé: Introduction by Simon Halsey

In Donald Runnicles’s wide-ranging repertoire, French music occupies an important position. In March of 2015, the Scottish conductor made a guest appearance with an evening à la française with the Berliner Philharmoniker. The programme included works by Olivier Messiaen, Claude Debussy and...

Works by Messiaen, Debussy and Duruflé: Introduction by Simon Halsey Watch interview

06 Mar 2015free

Isabelle Faust in conversation with Wieland Welzel

Ludwig van Beethoven did not write a cadenza for his violin concerto, but he did write one for the version for piano and orchestra which he himself created. The violinist Isabelle Faust performed the violin concerto in a concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker in March 2015 and decided to play...

Isabelle Faust in conversation with Wieland Welzel Watch interview

06 Mar 2015free

Bernard Haitink in conversation with Klaus Wallendorf

There are few conductors who enjoy such great respect worldwide as Bernard Haitink, who has maintained a musical agility despite his age, and remains incredibly modest despite his great success. In a concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker in March of 2015, the chief conductor of many years of...

Bernard Haitink in conversation with Klaus Wallendorf Watch interview

28 Feb 2015free

Valery Gergiev in conversation with Matthew Hunter

In February 2015, the Russian conductor Valery Gergiev returned as a guest to the Philharmonie in Berlin to present Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with soloist Hélène Grimaud and Sergei Prokofiev’s rarely heard Sixth Symphony. On the occasion of this performance, the artist spoke to Matthew...

Valery Gergiev in conversation with Matthew Hunter Watch interview

05 Feb 2015free

Simon Rattle in conversation with Vesa Sirén

In this extensive interview, Sir Simon Rattle talks to the Finnish music journalist Vesa Sirén about Jean Sibelius, who Rattle considers to be among the most important symphonic composers in music history. The conversation took place in February 2015 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of...

Simon Rattle in conversation with Vesa Sirén Watch interview

27 Jan 2015free

Amnon Weinstein on the Violins of Hope

On the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp, an emotional concert was given under the title Violins of Hope in the Chamber Music Hall. Sir Simon Rattle conducted the Adagietto from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, and the programme included other works by Johann Sebastian...

Amnon Weinstein on the Violins of Hope Watch interview

24 Jan 2015free

Christian Gerhaher, Gijs Leenaars and Christian Thielemann about Brahms’s “Deutsches Requiem”

Johannes Brahms’s German Requiem is one of the most famous sacred works of the 19th century – not least because due to its Protestant basis, it differs so significantly from the settings of the Latin mass by Mozart or Verdi. The Berliner Philharmoniker performed the work in January 2015 under...

Christian Gerhaher, Gijs Leenaars and Christian Thielemann about Brahms’s “Deutsches Requiem” Watch interview

17 Jan 2015free

Christian Thielemann in conversation with Amadeus Heutling

In January 2015, Christian Thielemann conducted a work by Ludwig van Beethoven with the Berliner Philharmoniker for the first time – the “Eroica” – almost twenty years after he made his debut here. In this interview given to mark this occasion, the conductor discusses among other things his...

Christian Thielemann in conversation with Amadeus Heutling Watch interview

10 Jan 2015free

Herbert Blomstedt about Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony

Bruckner’s symphonies are considered an area of expertise of experienced conductors; Firstly, because their interpretation benefits from the patience that comes with age, and secondly because understanding the dimensions of their depths requires decades of study. Herbert Blomstedt is not only...

Herbert Blomstedt about Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony Watch interview

20 Dec 2014free

Jörg Widmann in conversation with Dominik Wollenweber

The flute and the violin concerto by Jörg Widmann had already been performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker when the orchestra premiered the first piano concerto by the composer under the direction of Simon Rattle in December 2014. To mark this event, Widmann was interviewed by Dominik...

Jörg Widmann in conversation with Dominik Wollenweber Watch interview

13 Dec 2014free

Tugan Sokhiev in conversation with Stanley Dodds

Since his debut in 2010, the Ossetian conductor Tugan Sokhiev has made regular guest appearances with the Berliner Philharmoniker. In December 2014, the programme was a Russian evening with works by Liadov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. To mark the event, Sokhiev spoke with...

Tugan Sokhiev in conversation with Stanley Dodds Watch interview

29 Nov 2014free

Sir Simon Rattle on Schubert’s “Winterreise”

Sir Simon Rattle sees Franz Schubert’s famous song cycle Winterreise as a major inspiration for later composers such as Mahler and Schoenberg. In its subjective yet sensitive treatment, Hans Zender’s adaptation of the work for voice and 24 instrumentalists brings out the latently modern aspects...

Sir Simon Rattle on Schubert’s “Winterreise” Watch interview

29 Nov 2014free

Christian Elsner on Schubert’s “Winterreise”

Anyone who was there will remember the concert performance of Wagner’s Die Walküre in the summer of 2012 and the persuasive interpretation of the role of Siegmund by the tenor Christian Elsner. For Hans Zender’s adaptation of Franz Schubert’s Winterreise, Elsner returned to the Philharmonie in...

Christian Elsner on Schubert’s “Winterreise” Watch interview

22 Nov 2014free

Alan Gilbert in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

A Bach cantata and the third symphonies of Felix Mendelssohn and Carl Nielsen respectively were heard in a concert which the Berliner Philharmoniker gave in November 2014 under the baton of Alan Gilbert. The chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic can be regarded as a specialist in...

Alan Gilbert in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

09 Nov 2014free

The Fall of the Berlin Wall - Memories of Musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker

Many current members of the Berliner Philharmoniker were playing in the orchestra before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. They include first concertmaster Daniel Stabrawa, violinist Madeleine Caruzzo, violinist Peter Brem, oboist Andreas Wittmann and horn player...

The Fall of the Berlin Wall - Memories of Musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker Watch interview

09 Nov 2014free

The Fall of the Berlin Wall - Memories of Sir Simon Rattle

The Fall of the Berlin Wall - Memories of Sir Simon Rattle Watch interview

31 Oct 2014free

Emmanuelle Haïm in conversation with Jonathan Kelly

The French Emmanuelle Haïm played with the Berliner Philharmoniker as long ago as 2002, when she took over the harpsichord part in performances of Bach’s St. John Passion under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. This was followed in 2008 by Handel’s Ode for St Cecilia’s Day with which she made her...

Emmanuelle Haïm in conversation with Jonathan Kelly Watch interview

25 Oct 2014free

Daniele Gatti in conversation with Tobias Möller

Daniele Gatti, who has held senior positions at such major addresses as Zurich Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, takes up his new position as chief conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in the...

Daniele Gatti in conversation with Tobias Möller Watch interview

18 Oct 2014free

Emanuel Ax in conversation with Matthew Hunter

Since 1988, the American pianist of Polish origin Emanuel Ax has appeared as a guest with the Berliner Philharmoniker, where he was Pianist in Residence in the 2005/2006 season. In many of their concerts together, he impressed audiences with his sensitive yet unsentimental Mozart playing. In...

Emanuel Ax in conversation with Matthew Hunter Watch interview

26 Sep 2014free

Winrich Hopp in conversation with Benedikt von Bernstorff

Since 2006, the musicologist Winrich Hopp has been the artistic director of Musikfest Berlin whose programming has captivated press and public alike due to the way it constantly sheds new light on the symphony orchestra’s Classical-Romantic core repertoire by juxtaposing it with contemporary...

Winrich Hopp in conversation with Benedikt von Bernstorff Watch interview

25 Sep 2014free

Musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker on the Brahms/Schumann cycle

The four symphonies of both Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms belong of course to the core repertoire played by the Berliner Philharmoniker on a regular basis. But over four evenings during the 2014 Musikfest Berlin, the numerically corresponding symphonies of both composers were juxtaposed –...

Musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker on the Brahms/Schumann cycle Watch interview

19 Sep 2014free

Introducing Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings – The label of the Berliner Philharmoniker

The audiovisual “Declaration of Independence” by the Berliner Philharmoniker with the Digital Concert Hall which started in 2008 was followed in 2014 by the founding of their own CD label with the name Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings. In a rapidly changing classical music market, the...

Introducing Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings – The label of the Berliner Philharmoniker Watch interview

18 Sep 2014free

Sir Simon Rattle about the Brahms/Schumann cycle

Robert Schumann was committed to supporting the young Johannes Brahms who, in turn, honoured Schumann’s memory after his death. They also both held Clara Schumann in great affection, without doubt the great love in the lives of both composers. As an early highlight of the 2014/2015 season and at...

Sir Simon Rattle about the Brahms/Schumann cycle Watch interview

13 Sep 2014free

Patricia Kopatchinskaja in conversation with Ulrich Knörzer

Patricia Kopatchinskaja is considered one of the younger generation’s most exciting violinists. Both her unconventional and idiosyncratic interpretations of well-known classical repertoire and her commitment to contemporary music have caused a sensation and enthralled audiences. She has a close...

Patricia Kopatchinskaja in conversation with Ulrich Knörzer Watch interview

30 Aug 2014free

Greeting the new season

It has become a tradition that members of the Berliner Philharmoniker welcome the audience of the Digital Concert Hall at the beginning of a new season in a short film. To start the 2014/2015 season, the musicians of the orchestra put on record what concerts they were especially looking forward...

Greeting the new season Watch interview

18 Jun 2014free

“The Unanswered Question” – A musical introduction

The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives lasts less than six minutes and yet is one of the landmarks of modern music as well as one of the most original American contributions to music history. In the piece, composed between 1906 and 1908, an increasingly confused and excited offstage ensemble...

“The Unanswered Question” – A musical introduction Watch interview

18 Jun 2014free

Musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker about Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim debuted as pianist with the Berliner Philharmoniker in June 1964. Conducted by Pierre Boulez, the programme included Béla Bartók’s First Piano Concerto. Fifty years later, Barenboim and the orchestra celebrated a half century of intense and exhilarating collaboration with a...

Musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker about Daniel Barenboim Watch interview

07 Jun 2014free

Bruno Delepelaire and Máté Szücs in conversation with Sarah Willis

As the Berliner Philharmoniker are a collection of outstanding virtuosos, every concert where a member of the orchestra appears as a soloist, is looked forward to by audiences with eager anticipation. In June 2014, Semyon Bychkov conducted this concert which in addition to Schubert’s “Great”...

Bruno Delepelaire and Máté Szücs in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

31 May 2014free

Hilary Hahn in conversation with Albrecht Mayer

Despite her youth, the violinist Hilary Hahn can already look back on a long and extraordinary career. The artist has played with all the renowned orchestras of the world; since her debut in 1999, she has performed numerous times with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Almost no other violinist has so...

Hilary Hahn in conversation with Albrecht Mayer Watch interview

24 May 2014free

Sol Gabetta in conversation with Stephan Koncz

Cellist Sol Gabetta is not only one of the most successful musicians of her generation, but also one of the most cosmopolitan. Her family roots extend to France and Russia; Gabetta grew up in Argentina; her musical training brought her to Europe when she was just ten years old, where she studied...

Sol Gabetta in conversation with Stephan Koncz Watch interview

24 May 2014free

Krzysztof Urbański in conversation with Krzysztof Polonek

Krzysztof Urbański is one of the most successful conductors of his generation. At a young age he took on leading positions, including with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. In May 2014, he celebrated his debut with the...

Krzysztof Urbański in conversation with Krzysztof Polonek Watch interview

17 May 2014free

Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker remember Claudio Abbado

Claudio Abbado died on 20 January 2014. He was the principal conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker from 1990 to 2002, and every May since then he had returned to the orchestral rostrum. On the occasion of the memorial concert with works by Schubert, Mozart and Bruckner, orchestra musicians...

Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker remember Claudio Abbado Watch interview

10 May 2014free

Unsuk Chin in conversation with Helge Grünewald

The Korean Unsuk Chin is among the most significant composers of our time. A pupil of Ligeti, who has received many awards and has been living in Berlin since 1988, her work is appreciated by conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel and Kent Nagano; the latter conducted the...

Unsuk Chin in conversation with Helge Grünewald Watch interview

16 Apr 2014free

Live Lounge from the 2014 Baden-Baden Easter Festival

Music fans question the musicians: In our live Hangout at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival 2014, the global audience were again able to put fascinating, funny and thoughtful questions to members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and soprano Eva-Marie Westbroek. The recording of this event is now...

Live Lounge from the 2014 Baden-Baden Easter Festival Watch interview

22 Mar 2014free

Yannick Nézet-Séguin in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

The Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin is one of the most gifted and successful conductors of the younger generation. He has already taken up a significant number of important posts with great orchestras in Canada, North America and Europe, including as principal conductor of the Philadelphia...

Yannick Nézet-Séguin in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

22 Mar 2014free

Andreas Blau in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

Andreas Blau, whose father was also a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker, took the position of principal flutist with the orchestra at the age of 20 after brief studies. After Karajan and Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle is now the third principal conductor he has experienced in his orchestra career....

Andreas Blau in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

15 Mar 2014free

Bernard Haitink in conversation with Peter Brem

Since his debut in 1964, the Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink has collaborated particularly closely with the Berliner Philharmoniker. In conversation with the violinist Peter Brem, a member of the orchestra since 1970, Haitink recounts his encounters with Claudio Abbado and Herbert von Karajan,...

Bernard Haitink in conversation with Peter Brem Watch interview

28 Feb 2014free

Sir Simon Rattle and Peter Sellars in conversation with Andy King-Dabbs

Sir Simon Rattle got to know the St John Passion only at 30; for a long time Peter Sellars considered the work a mere preliminary study to St Matthew Passion. In conversation with English music film director Andy King-Dabbs the composer and director tell how they each discovered the music’s...

Sir Simon Rattle and Peter Sellars in conversation with Andy King-Dabbs Watch interview

22 Feb 2014free

Georg Friedrich Haas in conversation with Götz Teutsch

In conversation with Götz Teutsch, formerly principal cellist of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas tells of his collaboration with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker to premiere his work dark dreams. In addition, we learn how his childhood memories...

Georg Friedrich Haas in conversation with Götz Teutsch Watch interview

15 Feb 2014free

Mitsuko Uchida in conversation with Ludwig Quandt

Hardly any other soloist performs as regularly with the Berliner Philharmoniker as Mitsuko Uchida, who is represented in the Digital Concert Hall, for instance, with a complete cycle of Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano concertos. The mainstays of her repertoire are in Austro-German and French music,...

Mitsuko Uchida in conversation with Ludwig Quandt Watch interview

08 Feb 2014free

Herbert Blomstedt talks about Paul Hindemith’s “Mathis der Maler”

Every year the Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt is guest conductor with the Berliner Philharmoniker; his interpretations of works by Beethoven and Bruckner in particular have made unforgettable impressions on the audience. But also more rarely played, underappreciated composers like Paul...

Herbert Blomstedt talks about Paul Hindemith’s “Mathis der Maler” Watch interview

01 Feb 2014free

Alan Gilbert and Magnus Lindberg in conversation with Sarah Willis

“Kraft is coming home!” the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg declares in conversation with conductor Alan Gilbert and French horn player Sarah Willis. Gilbert has already performed the experimental composition in different locations. The Berlin audience has a chance to hear the piece for the...

Alan Gilbert and Magnus Lindberg in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

25 Jan 2014free

Zubin Mehta in conversation with Martin Stegner

Zubin Mehta and Claudio Abbado knew each other for more than half a century, and a close friendship developed between the two musicians over this time. The first concert after the former principal conductor’s death was dedicated to Abbado’s memory. In the interview for the interval, Mehta tells...

Zubin Mehta in conversation with Martin Stegner Watch interview

18 Jan 2014free

Marlis Petersen in conversation with Eva-Maria Tomasi

Marlis Petersen became internationally known as the temperamental and virtuoso title heroine in Alban Berg’s opera Lulu. In January 2014 she debuted with the Berliner Philharmoniker with George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children. On this occasion, Petersen speaks here with the violinist...

Marlis Petersen in conversation with Eva-Maria Tomasi Watch interview

11 Jan 2014free

Menahem Pressler in conversation with Carolin Pirich

The 90-year old Menahem Pressler recounts in conversation with the journalist Carolin Pirich the great importance that Mozart’s music has had in his life (“without Mozart we couldn’t fly”). Furthermore, we learn that even as a soloist the most important thing is not “to shine”, of encounters...

Menahem Pressler in conversation with Carolin Pirich Watch interview

11 Jan 2014free

Semyon Bychkov in conversation with Madeleine Carruzzo

The conductor Semyon Bychkov has been invited to work with the Berliner Philharmoniker on a regular basis. In his interview with violinist Madeleine Carruzzo, Bychkov tells of memories of his Russian homeland, which he left when he was 22. In addition, the conductor talks about his affinity with...

Semyon Bychkov in conversation with Madeleine Carruzzo Watch interview

21 Dec 2013free

Barbara Hannigan in conversation with Hans Abrahamsen and Paul Griffiths

Hans Abraham’s three-part song cycle Let me tell you shows emotional states such as love, hope, desperation and mania in fascinating soundscapes that the composer seems to have learned about by listening directly to nature. The text is from writer Paul Griffiths, who composed a monologue using...

Barbara Hannigan in conversation with Hans Abrahamsen and Paul Griffiths Watch interview

15 Dec 2013free

Daniel Harding in conversation with Matthew Hunter

The English conductor Daniel Harding admires Robert Schumann more than most other composers, and considers Scenes from Goethe’s Faust one of his favourite works. In the dialogue in the interval with violist Matthew Hunter, Harding speaks of his attachment to Schumann and the challenges that life...

Daniel Harding in conversation with Matthew Hunter Watch interview

06 Dec 2013free

Gustavo Dudamel in conversation with Sarah Willis

Sarah Willis brings along two bags of popcorn to this conversation with the conductor Gustavo Dudamel – no wonder, given that the concert was broadcast live to movie theaters. Both of them turn out to be accomplished amateur pianists, playing music by Igor Stravinsky. Finally, the conductor...

Gustavo Dudamel in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

06 Dec 2013free

Gustavo Dudamel in conversation with Edicson Ruiz

Like Edicson Ruiz, double-bass player with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Gustavo Dudamel is originally from Venezuela, and both of them received their first musical inspiration in the legendary education project El Systema. The musician friends take this concert, consisting of works by Beethoven,...

Gustavo Dudamel in conversation with Edicson Ruiz Watch interview

02 Nov 2013free

Sir Simon Rattle talks about Schumann’s symphonies

The performance of all the Schumann symphonies was a core project of the Berliner Philharmoniker and their principal conductor in 2013. In this introduction, Simon Rattle speaks about the four works and why he thinks it’s wrong to interpret them in the style of Brahms or even Wagner – while...

Sir Simon Rattle talks about Schumann’s symphonies Watch interview

27 Oct 2013free

Thomas Quasthoff in conversation with Christoph Franke

The great bass baritone Thomas Quasthoff sang with the Berliner Philharmoniker over a period of many years before retiring from the stage as singer in 2012. He uses his return to the orchestra in October 2013 in the role of speaker in Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder as an occasion to speak about the...

Thomas Quasthoff in conversation with Christoph Franke Watch interview

20 Oct 2013free

The opening of the Berlin Philharmonie in 1963 - recollections of Rudolf Weinsheimer

The cellist Rudolf Weinsheimer was a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker from 1956 to 1996, and he experienced the building of the Philharmonie first-hand. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the official opening, he tells here about the origins of this unique concert hall, about the...

The opening of the Berlin Philharmonie in 1963 - recollections of Rudolf Weinsheimer Watch interview

19 Oct 2013free

Introduction by Simon Halsey

On the occasion of the revival of Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Simon Halsey, principal conductor of the Rundfunkchor Berlin, speaks in his accustomed eloquent and entertaining manner about the never-ending search for the “right” Bach interpretation and about the particular challenges for his choir...

Introduction by Simon Halsey Watch interview

19 Oct 2013free

Peter Sellars in conversation with Mark Padmore

Peter Sellars in conversation with Mark Padmore Watch interview

11 Oct 2013free

Karl-Heinz Steffens in conversation with Walter Seyfarth

Karl-Heinz Steffens and Walter Seyfarth played clarinet jointly with the Berliner Philharmoniker for many years before Steffens decided to give up his position as principal and embark upon a career as conductor. On the occasion of his debut as conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Steffens...

Karl-Heinz Steffens in conversation with Walter Seyfarth Watch interview

04 Oct 2013free

Reinhard Goebel in conversation with Raimar Orlovsky

Reinhard Goebel has been leading the Ensemble Musica Antiqua Köln, which he founded, for more than 30 years – and it has been a global success. In the meanwhile he has also made a name for himself as conductor with national and international symphony orchestras. In conversation with Reimar...

Reinhard Goebel in conversation with Raimar Orlovsky Watch interview

28 Sep 2013free

Daniel Harding in conversation with Rachel Helleur

The Berliner Philharmoniker are well acquainted with Daniel Harding, ever since his debut here at the age of just 21. The former assistant to Claudio Abbado and Sir Simon Rattle shares with the two of them their great passion for Mahler’s music, especially his last works. Music lovers debate...

Daniel Harding in conversation with Rachel Helleur Watch interview

21 Sep 2013free

Antoni Wit in conversation with Krzysztof Polonek

Krzysztof Penderecki’s monumental St Luke Passion fascinates us with its successful fusion of tradition and avantgarde compositional techniques, ranging from twelve-tone rows to clusters to noisy and spoken passages. In September 2013 the Berliner Philharmoniker applied themselves to the work,...

Antoni Wit in conversation with Krzysztof Polonek Watch interview

14 Sep 2013free

Thomas Zehetmair in conversation with Eva-Maria Tomasi

Leoš Janáček’s Violin Concerto with the poetic sobriquet “Pilgrimage of the Soul” remained unfinished, but the version compiled based on the composer’s sketches reveals all his music’s typical characteristics: uncompromisingly repeated motivic cells, surprising sound effects and abrupt lyrical...

Thomas Zehetmair in conversation with Eva-Maria Tomasi Watch interview

08 Sep 2013free

Christian Gerhaher in conversation with Albrecht Mayer

Known in equal measure as concert singer, opera singer and Lieder singer, Christian Gerhaher is one of the most prominent musicians of our time. For the 2013-14 season, he was appointed Artist in Residence with the Berliner Philharmoniker. To kick off the year of collaboration, the baritone...

Christian Gerhaher in conversation with Albrecht Mayer Watch interview

08 Sep 2013free

Sir Simon Rattle and Winrich Hopp in conversation with Margarete Zander

Primitive power as if from a wild, faraway past mixes with the vibrancy of the modern in Leoš Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass. An eye to the past and the future is also evident in Gustav Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen which combine innovative expression with a Romantic, folk-like sound. The...

Sir Simon Rattle and Winrich Hopp in conversation with Margarete Zander Watch interview

23 Aug 2013free

Sir Simon Rattle talks about the new season

At this press conference, music director Sir Simon Rattle presents the plans for the 2013-14 season. The home base of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Hans Scharoun’s inspired concert hall, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its opening. Which is why in a festive concert all the building’s...

Sir Simon Rattle talks about the new season Watch interview

15 Jun 2013free

Sir Simon Rattle in conversation with James Jolly

There are some works musicians feel particularly close to for the whole of their lives, and for Simon Rattle, Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem has been such a work, especially in the early years of his career. On the occasion of a performance for the 100th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s birth...

Sir Simon Rattle in conversation with James Jolly Watch interview

31 May 2013free

Albrecht Dümling on Pierre Boulez' »Notations«

Pierre Boulez’s Notations which were conceived as piano works and later orchestrated by the composer himself, are among the most important works of contemporary music. Sir Simon Rattle has felt a deep reverence for Boulez since his student days, and the Notations in particular belong to the...

Albrecht Dümling on Pierre Boulez' »Notations« Watch interview

31 May 2013free

Albrecht Dümling on Bruckners Symphony No. 7

After years of failure, Anton Bruckner succeeded in establishing his reputation as a symphonic composer with the acclaimed premiere of his Seventh Symphony. The popularity of the work continues to this day, most likely due in part to the wealth of melody in the first movement and the massive...

Albrecht Dümling on Bruckners Symphony No. 7 Watch interview

25 May 2013free

Herbert Blomstedt on Beethoven and Nielsen

Herbert Blomstedt, who still radiates an unusual youthfulness and curiosity at more than 80 years of age, is one of the great conductors of our time. Moreover, hardly anyone talks about music as so vividly and entertainingly as he does. Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, perhaps because of its...

Herbert Blomstedt on Beethoven and Nielsen Watch interview

19 May 2013free

Konstantia Gourzi on working with Claudio Abbado

“It is an honour and a pleasure to rehearse something for Claudio Abbado,” says the Greek composer and conductor Konstantia Gourzi in this concert introduction. For the performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, the musician prepared the choral passages with the ladies of the...

Konstantia Gourzi on working with Claudio Abbado Watch interview

19 May 2013free

Berlioz' "Symphonie fantastique": A little organology with Philipp Bohnen

Hector Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique is a score of excesses, a musical portrayal of drug-induced fantasies. Nevertheless, it is a very artfully constructed work in which the composer employs the instruments of his time in a virtuoso and innovative way. In our video, Philipp Bohnen, violinist...

Berlioz' "Symphonie fantastique": A little organology with Philipp Bohnen Watch interview

10 May 2013free

Jaap van Zweden in conversation with Christoph Streuli

Jaap van Zweden began his musical career as a 19-year-old with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam – not as a conductor but as a concertmaster. In 1996, he exchanged his violin for a baton and launched an international career as a conductor. Currently head of the Dallas Symphony...

Jaap van Zweden in conversation with Christoph Streuli Watch interview

27 Apr 2013free

Brett Dean: Composing Socrates

Two exciting approaches to instilling new life into the genre of oratorio were presented by the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Rundfunkchor Berlin and Sir Simon Rattle in April 2013. One of the works – Brett Dean’s The Last Days of Socrates – was given its world premiere, the other – Michael...

Brett Dean: Composing Socrates Watch interview

27 Apr 2013free

Simon Halsey on Michael Tippett's "A Child of Our Time"

Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time has established itself since the 1940s as one of the outstanding British choral works. At the concert in the Berlin Philharmonie in April 2013, Brett Dean’s The Last Days of Socrates was paired with Tippett’s work. For the listener, it was particularly...

Simon Halsey on Michael Tippett's "A Child of Our Time" Watch interview

20 Apr 2013free

Leonidas Kavakos on Dutilleux’s Violin Concerto

In the 2012/2013 season, the Berliner Philharmoniker invited a violinist as Artist in Residence for the first time: Leonidas Kavakos, who made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker with Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in 2003. In the following years, he was also heard with the orchestra as the...

Leonidas Kavakos on Dutilleux’s Violin Concerto Watch interview

13 Apr 2013free

Paavo Järvi on his work with the Berliner Philharmoniker

In the concert in April 2013, Paavo Järvi revealed a range of different qualities: In Beethoven’s First Symphony, he succeeded in making a core work of the symphonic repertoire sound as fresh and new as if it had just come from the composer’s pen. But Järvi also showed himself to be the...

Paavo Järvi on his work with the Berliner Philharmoniker Watch interview

07 Apr 2013free

Sir Simon Rattle on Mozart’s “Magic Flute”

Concert performances of opera can be tricky things. Can the action, the drama, really come across without sets or costumes? The recent performance of Mozartʼs Magic Flute in the Berlin Philharmonie with Simon Rattle at the podium showed just how wonderfully – and wonderfully dramatic – the...

Sir Simon Rattle on Mozart’s “Magic Flute” Watch interview

01 Apr 2013free

Mozart's "Magic Flute": an introduction by Sir Simon Rattle

With a memorable performance of Mozart’s Magic Flute, Sir Simon Rattle opened the first Easter Festival in Baden-Baden in March 2013. The Financial Times spoke of a “top-drawer cast”: “Pavol Breslik is all you could wish for in a Tamino, Michael Nagy’s Papageno is charismatic and lithe, Kate...

Mozart's "Magic Flute": an introduction by Sir Simon Rattle Watch interview

01 Apr 2013free

Robert Carsen on his staging of »The Magic Flute«

With a memorable performance of Mozart’s Magic Flute, Sir Simon Rattle opened the first Easter Festival in Baden-Baden in March 2013. The Financial Times spoke of a “top-drawer cast”: “Pavol Breslik is all you could wish for in a Tamino, Michael Nagy’s Papageno is charismatic and lithe, Kate...

Robert Carsen on his staging of »The Magic Flute« Watch interview

01 Apr 2013free

Mozart's »Magic Flute« in Baden-Baden: Behind the scenes

With a memorable performance of Mozart’s Magic Flute, Sir Simon Rattle opened the first Easter Festival in Baden-Baden in March 2013. The Financial Times spoke of a “top-drawer cast”: “Pavol Breslik is all you could wish for in a Tamino, Michael Nagy’s Papageno is charismatic and lithe, Kate...

Mozart's »Magic Flute« in Baden-Baden: Behind the scenes Watch interview

22 Feb 2013free

Miklós Perényi on Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto

The 20th century was rich in ingeniously devised music. More rarely, there were works whose substance unfolds in more of a playful rather than an intellectual way which, while still ingenious, are also sensuous and spontaneous. One of these sumptuous creations – Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto –...

Miklós Perényi on Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto Watch interview

16 Feb 2013free

Barbara Hannigan on her work with Henri Dutilleux

The works of Henri Dutilleux lead rather a shadowy existence in the music world. Unjustly so, as shown by his Correspondances for soprano and orchestra, premièred in 2003 by the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle. In February 2012, this virtually fully Romantic-sounding work was...

Barbara Hannigan on her work with Henri Dutilleux Watch interview

09 Feb 2013free

Manfred Honeck in conversation with Stephan Koncz

To this day, guest appearances by Anne-Sophie Mutter with the Berliner Philharmoniker are an event. After all, there is no other musician of our time whose career has been more closely linked with the orchestra. In February 2013, the violinist interpreted Dvořák’s Violin Concerto at the...

Manfred Honeck in conversation with Stephan Koncz Watch interview

02 Feb 2013free

Gustavo Dudamel in conversation with Sarah Willis

For his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker – an open-air concert at the Waldbühne in 2008 – Gustavo Dudamel presented the music of his homeland in an exclusively “South American Night”. This was followed by appearances in the Philharmonie with more of a Russian flavour, then for a guest...

Gustavo Dudamel in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

25 Jan 2013free

Louis Langrée in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

A look at Louis Langréeʼs current commitments demonstrate clearly just how passionate a performer of Mozart he is. He is chief conductor of the Camerata Salzburg from the birthplace of the composer, and he has served as music director of the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York since 2002. But it...

Louis Langrée in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

18 Jan 2013free

Sir Simon Rattle talks about “in vain” by Georg Friedrich Haas

For Simon Rattle, Georg Friedrich Haasʼ in vain is “one of the first masterpieces of the 21st century.” It is mysterious, multiperspectival music that in some way resembles the images of M. C. Escher. The effect is strengthened by the lighting directions given by the composer which create a wide...

Sir Simon Rattle talks about “in vain” by Georg Friedrich Haas Watch interview

18 Jan 2013free

Murray Perahia in conversation with Sarah Willis

“Come, dear May, and make the trees green again.” With the theme of this song, Wolfgang Amadeus ended his Piano Concerto No. 27, which Murray Perahia and the Berliner Philharmoniker performed in January 2013. Many of the audience in a wintry, frosty Berlin would surely have agreed with this wish...

Murray Perahia in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

11 Jan 2013free

Riccardo Chailly in conversation with Albrecht Mayer

At first glance, the Riccardo Chailly’s performance with the Berliner Philharmoniker from January 2013 was an evening of symphonic contrasts. Felix Mendelssohn’s Fourth Symphony, referred to by the composer himself as “Italian”, paired with the Sixth by Anton Bruckner, whose music is always...

Riccardo Chailly in conversation with Albrecht Mayer Watch interview

21 Dec 2012free

Kirill Petrenko in conversation with Alexander Bader

Kirill Petrenko, born in Omsk in Siberia, received international acclaim following a performance of Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen over four consecutive evenings in Meiningen. Subsequently, as chief conductor of the Komische Oper in Berlin between 2002 and 2007, he returned the opera house to its...

Kirill Petrenko in conversation with Alexander Bader Watch interview

08 Dec 2012free

Christian Thielemann in conversation with Eva-Maria Tomasi

An entire evening of Verdi with the Berliner Philharmoniker: If you exclude performances of the Requiem, this is a rare treat. The last time it occurred, Claudio Abbado performed highlights from Verdi’s operas for the New Year’s Eve concert in 2000. In December 2012 Christian Thielemann also...

Christian Thielemann in conversation with Eva-Maria Tomasi Watch interview

09 Nov 2012free

Sir Simon Rattle and Simon Halsey talk about Stravinsky and Rachmaninov

Both works were composed in 1913: Stravinsky’s ballet music Le Sacre du printemps and Rachmaninoff’s tone poem The Bells. And yet they convey completely different sound and intellectual worlds. In November 2012 the Berliner Philharmoniker and Simon Rattle excitingly juxtaposed both works in a...

Sir Simon Rattle and Simon Halsey talk about Stravinsky and Rachmaninov Watch interview

03 Nov 2012free

Iván Fischer in conversation with Simon Halsey

There are many prejudices about the music of the 20th century – for example, that it is always complicated or ponderous, or in the worst case, both. In early November 2012, the Berliner Philharmoniker, conductor Iván Fischer and the violinist Lisa Batiashvili proved the opposite to be the case...

Iván Fischer in conversation with Simon Halsey Watch interview

26 Oct 2012free

Andris Nelsons in conversation with Esko Laine

He was a “miracle conductor”, wrote the Sueddeutsche Zeitung about Andris Nelsons, who has impressed concert-goers around the world with interpretations full of passion and excitement. The fact that he is also able to put together an exciting concert programme was demonstrated by Nelsons at a...

Andris Nelsons in conversation with Esko Laine Watch interview

20 Oct 2012free

Kristjan Järvi in conversation with Philipp Bohnen

It is probably a unique situation for a young conductor to make his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker following directly in the footsteps of his father and brother. Under these auspicious circumstances, Kristjan Järvi – son of Neeme Järvi and younger brother of Paavo Järvi – replaced...

Kristjan Järvi in conversation with Philipp Bohnen Watch interview

13 Oct 2012free

Andrea Marcon in conversation with Albrecht Mayer

It is always doubly exciting when an Early Music expert stands on the podium of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Firstly, because the fusion of historical performance practice and the characteristic sound of the orchestra produces unexpected, delightful results, and secondly because there is the...

Andrea Marcon in conversation with Albrecht Mayer Watch interview

06 Oct 2012free

Bernard Haitink in conversation with Matthew Hunter

The heroism in Beethoven’s “heroic” Symphony No. 3 can take many forms. Often the music is interpreted brashly and tensely, bursting with boundless energy. Bernard Haitink’s reading in a performance from October 2012 was dominated by a different characteristic: an energy that comes from inner...

Bernard Haitink in conversation with Matthew Hunter Watch interview

24 Sep 2012free

Cameron Carpenter and Sarah Willis introduce the organ of the Berlin Philharmonie

Many may have seen it, but only the very few have ever heard it: The Karl Schuke organ in the Berlin Philharmonie. The instrument has been extensively renovated and equipped with a state-of-the-art console in 2012. In September of that year, the outstanding qualities of the restored organ were...

Cameron Carpenter and Sarah Willis introduce the organ of the Berlin Philharmonie Watch interview

23 Sep 2012free

Jörg Widmann in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

The European premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Flûte en suite was eagerly awaited in September 2012. The piece received its world premiere in Cleveland in 2011. At the concert in Berlin the soloist was Emmanuel Pahud, who confidently brought together all the virtuosity, changes of mood and the many...

Jörg Widmann in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

15 Sep 2012free

Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Willard White in conversation with Sarah Willis

Almost every music lover can whistle at least one or two tunes from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Yet very few are aware of just how much outstanding music there is in the rest of the opera alongside hits such as “Summertime” or “I got plenty o’ nuttin’”. Only a complete performance of the score...

Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Willard White in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

15 Sep 2012free

Behind the scenes of “Porgy and Bess”

A love story as poignant as any Puccini opera, immortal melodies plus pulsating, swinging “street life”: George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess is the perfect fusion of musical and dramatic depth and entertainment. In what the reviews called an “exceptional event beyond compare”, Simon Rattle...

Behind the scenes of “Porgy and Bess” Watch interview

08 Sep 2012free

Introductions by Ingo Metzmacher and Winrich Hopp

Hard to believe, but true: Until September 2012, the Berliner Philharmoniker had never played the Symphonic Dances from Bernstein’s West Side Story. They constituted the culmination of an American evening with Ingo Metzmacher, who took to the conductor’s stand of the Berliner Philharmoniker for...

Introductions by Ingo Metzmacher and Winrich Hopp Watch interview

24 Aug 2012free

Sir Simon Rattle on Witold Lutosławski

The second half of the concert that celebrated the start of the 2012/13 season was dedicated to the composer Witold Lutosławski. The concert included his Third Symphony, whose premiere Simon Rattle had followed on the radio in his younger years. According to Rattle, he realised immediately that...

Sir Simon Rattle on Witold Lutosławski Watch interview

22 Jun 2012free

Andris Nelsons on his work with the Berliner Philharmoniker

The Berliner Philharmoniker brought their 2012/2013 season to a close together with Andris Nelsons, a conductor who enjoys the esteem of the orchestra like few other young conductors. The programme included works from the late 19th century. Firstly, Mahler’s songs based on folk poems from the...

Andris Nelsons on his work with the Berliner Philharmoniker Watch interview

16 Jun 2012free

Yannick Nézet-Séguin on Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé”

The press wrote of a “memorable evening” with a “rising star in the conducting firmament” when Yannick Nézet-Séguin, chief conductor designate of the Philadelphia Orchestra made ​​his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in October 2010. For his return to the podium of the Philharmonie, he has...

Yannick Nézet-Séguin on Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé” Watch interview

10 Jun 2012free

Mariss Jansons on Smetana, Dvořák and Martinů

The fact that Czech music has more to offer than folklore – rather, that it encompasses an infinite range of colours, styles and emotional worlds – was amply demonstrated in June 2012 with the concert by the Berliner Philharmoniker with Mariss Jansons and Frank Peter Zimmermann. Another...

Mariss Jansons on Smetana, Dvořák and Martinů Watch interview

03 Jun 2012free

Herbert Blomstedt on Beethoven’s Missa solemnis

We know that Wilhelm Furtwängler stopped conducting Beethoven’s Missa solemnis when he was 44 years old. Not because he regarded the work as inferior, but on the contrary, because he thought it too great and grand for any earthly performance. Although Herbert Blomstedtʼs regard for the Missa is...

Herbert Blomstedt on Beethoven’s Missa solemnis Watch interview

27 May 2012free

Sir Simon Rattle on Wagner’s “Die Walküre” · Part 1

When the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Simon Rattle, performed Wagner’s Die Walküre at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence in the summer of 2007, they had not played the work for four decades. “You do not know what an orchestra is until you have heard the Berliner Philharmoniker,” Le Monde...

Sir Simon Rattle on Wagner’s “Die Walküre” · Part 1 Watch interview

27 May 2012free

Sir Simon Rattle on Wagner’s “Die Walküre” · Part 2

When the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Simon Rattle, performed Wagner’s Die Walküre at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence in the summer of 2007, they had not played the work for four decades. “You do not know what an orchestra is until you have heard the Berliner Philharmoniker,” Le Monde...

Sir Simon Rattle on Wagner’s “Die Walküre” · Part 2 Watch interview

11 May 2012free

Isabelle Faust on Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto

Alban Berg dedicated his violin concerto “To the Memory of an Angel”, to Manon Gropius, the daughter of Alma Mahler, who died in the spring of 1935 at the age of only 18. “I do not attempt … to find the words where language fails by letter,” Berg wrote to Alma Mahler, “but yet: one day … may you...

Isabelle Faust on Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto Watch interview

09 May 2012free

The 12 Cellists: past and presence

The 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker are a prominent institution on the international music scene – and have been now for four decades! No matter what genre the musicians turn their hands to, their performances are a unique chamber music collaboration by twelve soloists, who through...

The 12 Cellists: past and presence Watch interview

28 Apr 2012free

Gustavo Dudamel on Ravel, Korngold and Richard Strauss

In his acclaimed concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Gustavo Dudamel has for a long time focused mainly on Russian, French and Latin American composers. However, the programme of his guest appearance in April 2012 included a work from the orchestra’s core German repertoire for the first...

Gustavo Dudamel on Ravel, Korngold and Richard Strauss Watch interview

21 Apr 2012free

“Carmen” at the Berlin Philharmonie

Probably no other opera has so many “hits” as Carmen – from the orchestral preludes to the Habanera and the Toreador Song. But despite its popularity, Carmen can always be discovered anew, as was also the case at this performance by the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle on 21 April...

“Carmen” at the Berlin Philharmonie Watch interview

14 Apr 2012free

Murray Perahia on his thoughts and feelings about music

“The soul of a poet, the mind of a thinker, the hands of a virtuoso,” was how an American critic succinctly and accurately described the qualities of Murray Perahia. As Pianist in Residence with the Berliner Philharmoniker for the 2011/2012 season, he was heard regularly in solo and chamber...

Murray Perahia on his thoughts and feelings about music Watch interview

21 Mar 2012free

Mark Padmore and Bernhard Forck in conversation and in rehearsal

Orchestral musicians do not often have the opportunity to pursue a love of music from the Baroque period. As a result, members of the Berliner Philharmoniker took the logical step and founded the Berliner Barock Solisten in 1995 – an ensemble that is now among the best in the field of early...

Mark Padmore and Bernhard Forck in conversation and in rehearsal Watch interview

17 Mar 2012free

Zubin Mehta on Bruckner’s Eighth: an introduction to the work with excerpts from rehearsals

Zubin Mehta and Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony: This is a long-term love affair, with the Berliner Philharmoniker playing a not insignificant role – to be precise, with a recording of the work by Wilhelm Furtwängler which deeply affected Mehta at young age. Yet, for many years, the symphony was not...

Zubin Mehta on Bruckner’s Eighth: an introduction to the work with excerpts from rehearsals Watch interview

11 Mar 2012free

Christian Thielemann on passion and nobility in Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony

Whether he is performing Wagner in Bayreuth or Bruckner with the world’s major orchestras, Christian Thielemann’s interpretations of late German Romanticism always receive high praise from the critics. It was all the more exciting when, in March 2012, he conducted a work which illuminates this...

Christian Thielemann on passion and nobility in Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony Watch interview

04 Mar 2012free

Albrecht Mayer on the oboe concerto by Richard Strauss

Albrecht Mayer is not only principal oboist with the Berliner Philharmoniker, but has also made a name for himself as a guest soloist with orchestras around the world. In March 2012, he performed the Oboe Concerto by Richard Strauss together with the Berliner Philharmoniker and conductor...

Albrecht Mayer on the oboe concerto by Richard Strauss Watch interview

04 Mar 2012free

Christian Thielemann on Strauss’s Oboe Concerto and Bruckner’s Fourth

The concept that underlies Christian Thielemann’s concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker is a captivating one. The conductor wanted to juxtapose two works which go well together – while remaining in contrast to each other. And so here we have an evening of late Romantic music, in which the...

Christian Thielemann on Strauss’s Oboe Concerto and Bruckner’s Fourth Watch interview

18 Feb 2012free

Simon Halsey on Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony

Hans von Bülow, chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker, was somewhat disturbed when Gustav Mahler played him the first movement of his Second Symphony. Mahler wrote in a letter that “he went into a nervous shock and declared Tristan to be like a Haydn symphony compared to my piece”....

Simon Halsey on Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony Watch interview

09 Feb 2012free

Sir Simon Rattle on the completed Ninth Symphony of Anton Bruckner

Sir Simon Rattle is certain: If Anton Bruckner had lived just two months longer, he would have been able to complete the finale of his Ninth Symphony. When he died in October 1896, the work on this movement was so far advanced that the original intentions of the composer can be reconstructed...

Sir Simon Rattle on the completed Ninth Symphony of Anton Bruckner Watch interview

02 Feb 2012free

Guy Braunstein on Brahms’s Violin Concerto

The famous dictum that Johannes Brahms’s Violin Concerto is a concerto “against the violin” is attributed to Hans von Bülow – simply because the work gives the soloist little opportunity for virtuoso showmanship. In a concert from February 2012, soloist Guy Braunstein, the Berliner...

Guy Braunstein on Brahms’s Violin Concerto Watch interview

27 Jan 2012free

Magdalena Kožená and Sir Simon Rattle in conversation and in rehearsal

In January 2012, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle presented a concert which conveyed delicate melancholy in a variety of forms. In addition to orchestral works by Ravel and Schubert – including Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony – the programme included late songs by Dvořák and...

Magdalena Kožená and Sir Simon Rattle in conversation and in rehearsal Watch interview

21 Jan 2012free

Boris Berezovsky on Liszt’s First Piano Concerto

For Gramophone magazine, Boris Berezovski is “surely the true successor to the great Russian pianists of the past.” In January 2012, he performed Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 alongside conductor Tugan Sokhiev – a work that alternates masterfully between effervescent furore and delicate...

Boris Berezovsky on Liszt’s First Piano Concerto Watch interview

14 Jan 2012free

Simon Halsey on Edward Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius”

You could almost talk of an “Elgar Festival” which took place in the Berlin Philharmonie and the Digital Concert Hall in winter 2011/12. In December, Donald Runnicles conducted the First Symphony, and in February, the famous Enigma Variations followed under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle. The...

Simon Halsey on Edward Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius” Watch interview

23 Dec 2011free

Nicola Luisotti in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

Composing works which were both modern and understandable – that was the supreme discipline for many composers of the 20th century. Nicola Luisotti here presents works which realise this concept most beautifully: Francis Poulenc’s Gloria, which shifts between meditation and exuberant joy, and...

Nicola Luisotti in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

17 Dec 2011free

Anne Sofie von Otter in conversation with Christoph Hartmann

In December 2011, Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker brought their performance of all of Gustav Mahler’s major orchestral works to a close with Das Lied von der Erde. Mahler himself described it as “probably the most personal work I have written so far”. And indeed, Mahler, already...

Anne Sofie von Otter in conversation with Christoph Hartmann Watch interview

10 Dec 2011free

Ludwig Quandt in conversation with Götz Teutsch

Both works in this concert with Donald Runnicles represent the brilliance of the art of orchestration at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century – and yet they could be hardly more contrasting in terms of expression and attitude. For while Edward Elgar’s First Symphony impresses with its...

Ludwig Quandt in conversation with Götz Teutsch Watch interview

04 Dec 2011free

Daniel Stabrawa in conversation with Christoph Streuli

Iván Fischer brings some musical gems from his native Hungary for this 2011 concert. Ernő Dohnányi’s Symphonic Minutes and Jenő Hubay’s Violin Concerto No. 3 (soloist: Daniel Stabrawa) perfectly embody the fire and longing that we associate with Hungarian music, while at the same time remaining...

Daniel Stabrawa in conversation with Christoph Streuli Watch interview

05 Nov 2011free

Helmut Lachenmann in conversation with Catherine Milliken

The conclusion of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony is no jubilant finale – but resolution, even annihilation, become music. And so the audience at first remained silent when the Berliner Philharmoniker and Simon Rattle performed the work in November 2011. Only gradually did the roaring applause rise in...

Helmut Lachenmann in conversation with Catherine Milliken Watch interview

29 Oct 2011free

Nikolaus Harnoncourt in conversation with Olaf Wilhelmer

Anyone listening to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony inevitably imagines the composer as a revolutionary firebrand. In October 2011, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Berliner Philharmoniker showed that this is only half the truth when they performed Beethoven’s symphony alongside the Mass in C major,...

Nikolaus Harnoncourt in conversation with Olaf Wilhelmer Watch interview

22 Oct 2011free

Pablo Heras-Casado in conversation with Madeleine Carruzzo

For over a decade, no Spanish conductor has stood at the podium of the Berliner Philharmoniker – until October 2011 when Pablo Heras-Casado made his debut with the orchestra. In his young career, he has attracted particular attention due to his versatility, enabling Heras-Casado to work together...

Pablo Heras-Casado in conversation with Madeleine Carruzzo Watch interview

15 Oct 2011free

Simon Halsey on the premiere of Weltethos by Jonathan Harvey

To give expression to the common values of world religions with spoken and sung words – this is the ambitious goal of the choral work Weltethos, realised by the composer Jonathan Harvey and the theologian Hans Küng as librettist. The work, which will be part of the cultural programme of the...

Simon Halsey on the premiere of [Weltethos] by Jonathan Harvey Watch interview

08 Oct 2011free

Nikolaj Znaider in conversation with Amihai Grosz

The fact that Jean Sibelius’s Violin Concerto should one day become one of the most famous of its kind was by no means foreseeable at the premiere in 1904; with an overtaxed soloist and an uninspired orchestra, it was a complete failure. It took top-class musicians such as Jascha Heifetz and David...

Nikolaj Znaider in conversation with Amihai Grosz Watch interview

02 Oct 2011free

Johannes Moser in conversation with Walter Küssner

A fascinating idea for an impressive anniversary: In 2011, 50 years after his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Zubin Mehta presented the same programme he conducted for his first guest appearance. The main work is Mahler’s First Symphony, including the rarely performed, emotional Blumine...

Johannes Moser in conversation with Walter Küssner Watch interview

24 Sep 2011free

Semyon Bychkov in conversation with Sarah Willis

In September 2011 the Berliner Philharmoniker and Semyon Bychkov presented a concert of wide-ranging dynamics: from Luciano Berio’s Sequenza No. 7 for solo oboe, to a chamber orchestra Schubert collage by the same composer, to the unbridled force of the full orchestra in William Walton’s First...

Semyon Bychkov in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

18 Sep 2011free

Sir Simon Rattle on Mahlers Symphony No. 8

Of all Gustav Mahler’s symphonies, the Eighth is probably the least often performed – not because of any doubts regarding its quality, but because of the forces required in terms of instrumentalists and singers which only a few orchestras are in a position to meet. With such large numbers...

Sir Simon Rattle on Mahlers Symphony No. 8 Watch interview

11 Sep 2011free

Winrich Hopp in conversation with Helge Grünewald

In this ingenious programme, Andris Nelsons presents composers from the early 20th century who were creatively and innovatively inspired by music of the past – such as Gregorian chant, revitalised by Hans Pfitzner in his prelude to Palestrina, Baroque music in Heinrich Kaminski’s Dorian Music,...

Winrich Hopp in conversation with Helge Grünewald Watch interview

26 Aug 2011free

The Berliner Philharmoniker prepare for the 2011/12 season

With this “unrelentingly brilliant” (Berliner Morgenpost) performance of Gustav Mahler’s Seventh Symphony, Simon Rattle opened the Philharmoniker’s 2011/2012 season. The most striking movement of the work is undoubtedly the overwhelming, celebratory finale. More nuanced, on the other hand, are...

The Berliner Philharmoniker prepare for the 2011/12 season Watch interview

23 Jun 2011free

Emmanuelle Haïm in conversation with Catherine Milliken

For her concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker in June 2011 Emmanuelle Haïm has programmed some of the most beautiful and varied orchestral suites of the Baroque. The most famous of them is undoubtedly George Frideric Handel’s Water Music. Jean-Philippe Rameau stands alongside Handel as the...

Emmanuelle Haïm in conversation with Catherine Milliken Watch interview

18 Jun 2011free

Peter Eötvös in conversation with Sarah Willis

In previous centuries it was quite natural that a conductor would sometimes perform his own compositions, and vice versa: that a composer would be responsible for conducting the premieres of his own works. There is now a division of labour between musicians who compose and conduct, but this...

Peter Eötvös in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

12 Jun 2011free

Simon Halsey on Mahler, Bach, Stravinsky

It was not Gustav Mahler’s destiny to become a composer of opera. But listening to his early work Das klagende Lied gives us an idea of just how a stage work from Mahler’s pen might have sounded – a fairy-tale of enormous dimensions, which has been performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker and...

Simon Halsey on Mahler, Bach, Stravinsky Watch interview

02 Jun 2011free

Sir Simon Rattle on the Berliner Philharmoniker’s 2011/2012 season

Our video documents the annual press conference of the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2011, with chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle presenting the upcoming season. From August 2011, he himself continued his Mahler cycle which he had started in the 2010/2011 season, and he also had two opera highlights...

Sir Simon Rattle on the Berliner Philharmoniker’s 2011/2012 season Watch interview

28 May 2011free

Stanisław Skrowaczewski – a life in music

After 25 years, the 87-year-old Stanisław Skrowaczewski stood once again at the desk of the Berliner Philharmoniker at the end of May 2011 – and celebrated an “overwhelming success met by standing ovations” (Berliner Zeitung). The renowned Bruckner expert included the composer’s Third Symphony...

Stanisław Skrowaczewski – a life in music Watch interview

22 May 2011free

Yutaka Sado on the fulfilment of his musical dream

Seldom had quite so many Japanese television teams and journalists been seen in the Philharmonie as at the end of May 2011. The concentrated media interest was all for one of the country’s best-known musicians: Yutaka Sado, who even as a child had dreamed of conducting the Berliner...

Yutaka Sado on the fulfilment of his musical dream Watch interview

15 May 2011free

Claudio Abbado, Maurizio Pollini and Anna Prohaska on old and new musical friendships

Claudio Abbado and Maurizio Pollini have been performing together for half a century: a unique friendship among artists that continues to reveal new facets. As happened in the middle of May 2011, when the two musicians performed their first joint interpretation of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17...

Claudio Abbado, Maurizio Pollini and Anna Prohaska on old and new musical friendships Watch interview

07 May 2011free

Christian Thielemann, Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson on Richard Strauss

It does not often happen that the Berliner Philharmoniker present a whole bouquet of works by a single composer in one concert. At the beginning of May 2011, however, they – together with conductor Christian Thielemann and the singers Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson – devoted themselves...

Christian Thielemann, Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson on Richard Strauss Watch interview

07 May 2011free

Thomas Hampson on classical music in digital media

How will new media change classical music? What possibilities will digital communication offer to gain new audiences for symphony concerts, operas and recitals? For many years now, the internationally acclaimed baritone Thomas Hampson has been involved in these issues. In our video, he talked...

Thomas Hampson on classical music in digital media Watch interview

26 Apr 2011free

Benefit concert for the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster

One choir, two orchestras, two readers and one conductor: a wealth of artists came together in the Philharmonie at the end of April 2011 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the nuclear reactor disaster in Chernobyl which was again in the headlines following events in the Fukushima reactor in...

Benefit concert for the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster Watch interview

07 Apr 2011free

Sir Simon Rattle on performing Mahler’s symphonies (Part 2)

Among other things, the second part of the interview with Sir Simon Rattle about the performance of the complete Mahler symphonies looks at Sir Simon’s first encounters with these works in his youth. Another important theme is the programmatic approach of this cycle – the coupling of the...

Sir Simon Rattle on performing Mahler’s symphonies (Part 2) Watch interview

03 Apr 2011free

Alan Gilbert on his work as a conductor and musician

When artists cancel an appearance, it is normally for unfortunate reasons. Not so in the case of Gustavo Dudamel, who was to conduct the Berliner Philharmoniker on 1 April 2011, but had to cancel due to a happy event: the birth of his son two days before. Instead, Alan Gilbert conducted with the...

Alan Gilbert on his work as a conductor and musician Watch interview

29 Mar 2011free

Christian Schneider (UNICEF) in conversation with Andreas Wittmann

As a result of numerous concert tours and personal contact, the Berliner Philharmoniker and chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle feel a close connection to the Japanese people. The musicians were therefore extremely saddened to heard about the impact of the tsunami in March 2011. In order to raise...

Christian Schneider (UNICEF) in conversation with Andreas Wittmann Watch interview

18 Mar 2011free

Bernard Haitink and Leif Ove Andsnes about making music in the name of Fukushima

In March 2011, a Berliner Philharmoniker concert marked the terrible events after the tsunami in Fukushima. The orchestra, conductor Bernard Haitink and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes dedicated the evening to the victims in Japan. In their memory, the musicians performed Witold Lutosławski’s Funeral...

Bernard Haitink and Leif Ove Andsnes about making music in the name of Fukushima Watch interview

06 Mar 2011free

Herbert Blomstedt on Hindemith’s “Nobilissima visione” and Bruckner’s Mass in F minor

Paul Hindemith’s ballet music Nobilissima visione is at once both archaically austere and sensuous. The work reflects Giotto’s medieval frescos depicting the life of Francis of Assisi, which Hindemith discovered for himself in Florence. At the beginning of March 2011, the Berliner Philharmoniker...

Herbert Blomstedt on Hindemith’s “Nobilissima visione” and Bruckner’s Mass in F minor Watch interview

18 Feb 2011free

Sir Simon Rattle on performing Mahler’s symphonies (Part 1)

On the occasion of the performance of the complete symphonies of Gustav Mahler, Sir Simon Rattle talks about the music and the characteristics of their interpretation. In addition, he explores the Mahler tradition of the Berliner Philharmoniker which took shape in particular under Claudio...

Sir Simon Rattle on performing Mahler’s symphonies (Part 1) Watch interview

12 Feb 2011free

Toshio Hosokawa on his career and the images in his music

In a highly individual manner, the Hiroshima born Toshio Hosokawa seeks to revitalize traditional forms of composition. Moment of Blossoming is the title of his horn concerto – a tribute to the mythically revered lotus flower of Hosokawa’s homeland. The work is a musical portrayal of the lotus...

Toshio Hosokawa on his career and the images in his music Watch interview

12 Feb 2011free

Stefan Dohr on Toshio Hosokawa and his Horn Concerto

Since 1993, Stefan Dohr has been a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker – as principal horn within the orchestra’s brass section, and also sometimes as the soloist in horn concertos, for example those by Mozart or Strauss. In February 2011, Dohr gave the premiere of Moment of Blossoming, a work...

Stefan Dohr on Toshio Hosokawa and his Horn Concerto Watch interview

05 Feb 2011free

Simon Halsey on Mahler’s Third Symphony

Almost everything in Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphony is out of the ordinary: its length, its instrumentation, its number of movements. There is however in particular a remarkable wealth of stylistic levels where both the grandiose and the simple, the other-wordly and the everyday cross paths. In...

Simon Halsey on Mahler’s Third Symphony Watch interview

15 Jan 2011free

Anders Hillborg on his composition “Cold Heat”

Anders Hillborg is one of the leading Swedish composers of our time, and is at home in many styles of music, from symphonic and choral music to film music and pop. Many renowned orchestras have entrusted him with commissions for compositions – including the Berliner Philharmoniker, who premiered...

Anders Hillborg on his composition “Cold Heat” Watch interview

15 Jan 2011free

David Zinman and Yo-Yo Ma on melancholy, life and death in Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto

You could almost say that Dmitri Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto was a present to himself. Given its premiere on his 60th birthday, the work seems to be a nuanced reflection on Shostakovich’s own life. Only the best cellists are able to hit the mark with the ever-shifting tone of this...

David Zinman and Yo-Yo Ma on melancholy, life and death in Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto Watch interview

22 Dec 2010free

Valery Gergiev in conversation with Wilfried Strehle

In this concert from 2010, Valery Gergiev conducts two of the most popular Russian works ever: In Sergei Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto – here with Denis Matsuev as the soloist – we hear an irresistible mixture of wistful dreaming and virtuoso bravura. Modest Mussorgski’s Pictures at an...

Valery Gergiev in conversation with Wilfried Strehle Watch interview

11 Dec 2010free

Neeme Järvi in conversation with Stanley Dodds

Shostakovitch’s 14th Symphony is a highly unusual work. With frugal musical forces, it takes death as its theme. It forgoes all pathos yet is all the more haunting because of this. In contrast, this concert with Neeme Järvi also includes Richard Stauss’s Don Juan and Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da...

Neeme Järvi in conversation with Stanley Dodds Watch interview

05 Nov 2010free

Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1: An introduction by Sir Simon Rattle

Mahler was only in his mid-twenties when he wrote his First Symphony, which makes the masterful way in which he employs such vast orchestral forces all the more surprising. The second work of this concert with Simon Rattle contrasts this expression of freshness and new departures: the Symphonic...

Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1: An introduction by Sir Simon Rattle Watch interview

30 Oct 2010free

Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2: An introduction by Simon Halsey

In 1973, a student at the London Academy of Music persuaded his fellow students to perform Mahler’s Second Symphony under his direction. The acclaimed concert drew attention to the young conductor for the first time: Simon Rattle. In this recording from 2010, Rattle performs the work with the...

Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2: An introduction by Simon Halsey Watch interview

23 Oct 2010free

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Yefim Bronfman in conversation with Sarah Willis

It was somewhat of a sensation when in 2010 it was announced that the then just 35-year-old Yannick Nézet-Séguin was to be the next music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra.Shortly afterwards, he made his debut with the Berliner Phillharmoniker. Together with Yefim Bronfman, he performed...

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Yefim Bronfman in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

16 Oct 2010free

Baiba Skride and Andris Nelsons in conversation with Stanley Dodds

With two debuts in one evening, this concert from October 2010 had the up-and-coming generation of musicians at its heart. As the main work of the evening, Andris Nelsons conducted Dmitri Shostakovitch’s Eighth Symphony – according to one review, a “sensational concert” and a “brilliant debut”....

Baiba Skride and Andris Nelsons in conversation with Stanley Dodds Watch interview

09 Oct 2010free

Eivind Gullberg Jensen and Vadim Repin in conversation with Sarah Willis

With conductor Eivind Gullberg, Vadim Repin – described by Yehudi Menuhin as “the best, the most perfect violinist I have ever heard” – plays Sofia Gubaidulina’s Offertorium: a contemplative work which both conceptually and thematically looks back to Bach’s The Musical Offering. Sibelius’s...

Eivind Gullberg Jensen and Vadim Repin in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

02 Oct 2010free

Magdalena Kožená in conversation with Jonathan Kelly

One well-known work and one discovery define this concert of Czech music. Tomáš Netopil conducts Antonín Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony whose frequently sombre and brittle expression grants us an authentic insight into the inner life of the composer. Plus three fragments from the surreal and magical...

Magdalena Kožená in conversation with Jonathan Kelly Watch interview

23 Sep 2010free

Giovanni Antonini in conversation with Raimar Orlovsky

This concert from 2010 features Bach’s splendid Orchestral Suite No. 1 for only the second time in the history of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Giovanni Antonini, one of the most prominent conductors of the Early music movement, takes the work as the starting point for a musical journey which...

Giovanni Antonini in conversation with Raimar Orlovsky Watch interview

18 Sep 2010free

Pierre Boulez in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

Pierre Boulez has set standards with his performances of the music of Stravinsky. In this concert from 2010, he pays double homage to his older colleague: firstly as the conductor of Stravinsky’s fairytale opera Le Rossignol, and secondly with his own composition ... explosante fixe ..., which...

Pierre Boulez in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

12 Sep 2010free

Winrich Hopp in conversation with Helge Grünewald

Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella is perhaps the most charming fusion of Baroque music and classical Modernism. Following this performance with Simon Rattle, one critic wrote that the conductor was “in his element, working with virtuosity as the Russian sharpens rhythms and raises energy levels”....

Winrich Hopp in conversation with Helge Grünewald Watch interview

04 Sep 2010free

Short documentary: “Schoenberg and his circle”

“Britain’s favourite musical son was back where he belonged,” was how The Independent described the three concerts given by Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker at the BBC “Proms” in the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2010. The intriguing programme ranged from the voluptuous sounds...

Short documentary: “Schoenberg and his circle” Watch interview

27 Aug 2010free

Sir Simon Rattle introduces Beethoven's Symphony No. 4

With this performance of Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony from 2010, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Simon Rattle started a performance of all of the composer’s symphonies, marking both the 150th anniversary of Mahler’s birthday on 7 July 2010 and the 100th of his death on 18 May 2011. What is of...

Sir Simon Rattle introduces Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 Watch interview

27 Aug 2010free

Sir Simon Rattle introduces Mahler's Symphony No. 1

With this performance of Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony from 2010, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Simon Rattle started a performance of all of the composer’s symphonies, marking both the 150th anniversary of Mahler’s birthday on 7 July 2010 and the 100th of his death on 18 May 2011. What is of...

Sir Simon Rattle introduces Mahler's Symphony No. 1 Watch interview

19 Jun 2010free

Tabea Zimmermann in conversation with Helge Grünewald (in German)

Béla Bartók’s virtuoso Viola Concerto makes a strong case for an often underrated instrument – especially when it is performed by the internationally acclaimed violist Tabea Zimmermann. “She plays the concerto with a tender cantabile as if it were by Mozart,” as one critic wrote. Conductor...

Tabea Zimmermann in conversation with Helge Grünewald (in German) Watch interview

10 Jun 2010free

Sir Simon Rattle and Wynton Marsalis in conversation with Catherine Milliken

It was a very special summit: the joint appearance of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by star trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, and the Berliner Philharmoniker with chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle. The occasion was the world premiere of Marsalis’s Swing Symphony, which demonstrated just how...

Sir Simon Rattle and Wynton Marsalis in conversation with Catherine Milliken Watch interview

04 Jun 2010free

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 6: An introduction by Herbert Blomstedt

Bruckner’s Sixth is performed far less than the composer’s other symphonies – unjustly so, as Herbert Blomstedt shows in this vivid performance from 2010. As one critic wrote, “The Philharmoniker follow him attentively, surrendering themselves to this smouldering music, with dazzling brass and a...

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 6: An introduction by Herbert Blomstedt Watch interview

22 May 2010free

Sir Simon Rattle in conversation with Harri Kuusisaari

This concert is the culmination of Simon Rattle’s celebrated Sibelius cycle from the 2009/10 season. The programme consists of symphonies nos. 5, 6 and 7, in which the qualities of the earlier works merge: the lyrical Nordic tone of the first two symphonies, and the experimental formal language...

Sir Simon Rattle in conversation with Harri Kuusisaari Watch interview

16 May 2010free

Works by Schubert, Schoenberg and Brahms: An introduction by Simon Halsey

In this concert from 2010, Claudio Abbado introduces the audience to some exquisite rarities. These include lieder by Franz Schubert in rarely heard orchestral arrangements, and Johannes Brahms’s cantata Rinaldo which gives us an idea of what an opera by this composer might have sounded like....

Works by Schubert, Schoenberg and Brahms: An introduction by Simon Halsey Watch interview

08 May 2010free

Renaud Capuçon in conversation with Matthew Hunter

György Ligeti’s Violin Concerto is a work of many faces, taking as its inspiration such diverse sources as African music and M. C. Escher’s “impossible reality” pictures. In this recording from 2010, this multi-faceted work is performed by Renaud Capuçon und David Robertson, framed by Liszt’s...

Renaud Capuçon in conversation with Matthew Hunter Watch interview

27 Apr 2010free

Alisa Weilerstein in conversation with Ludwig Quandt

Yo-Yo Ma highlighted her “passion, fearlessness and great musical intelligence” – high praise which the American cellist Alisa Weilerstein demonstrated to everyone she deserved when she made her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in April 2010 with Edward Elgar’s sonorous Cello Concerto. In...

Alisa Weilerstein in conversation with Ludwig Quandt Watch interview

24 Apr 2010free

Pierre-Laurent Aimard in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

For Jiří Bělohlávek, the Berliner Philharmoniker were simply “the best orchestra in Europe”. In 2010, he made a guest appearance at the Philharmonie together with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard. In addition to a suite from Janáček’s opera From the House of the Dead and Brahms’ Fourth Symphony,...

Pierre-Laurent Aimard in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

17 Apr 2010free

András Schiff in conversation with Jonathan Kelly

In the words of one critic, András Schiff is “a magician of sound who breathes life into works, and who upholds the almost forgotten ideal of piano playing”. In this recording from 2010, he takes on the roles of both soloist and conductor in two austerely bleak D minor piano concertos by Bach...

András Schiff in conversation with Jonathan Kelly Watch interview

11 Apr 2010free

Peter Sellars in conversation with Simon Halsey

Sir Sir Simon Rattle left no doubt: For him the performance of the St. Matthew Passion, which he realised with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Rundfunkchor Berlin in early 2010, was “the most important thing we’ve ever done here”. Critics around the world agreed with him and praised both the...

Peter Sellars in conversation with Simon Halsey Watch interview

06 Mar 2010free

Neeme Järvi in conversation

They are the epitome of Scandinavian music: Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt suites, whose echoes of Norwegian folk music radiate an unmistakably Scandinavian flavour. But when it comes to style and form, the composer remained, in his own words “a German Romantic". In this concert, overtures by Brahms...

Neeme Järvi in conversation Watch interview

20 Feb 2010free

The Berliner Philharmoniker support UNICEF's Haiti emergency assistance – a round table discussion

Ludwig van Beethoven shows an unusual side of himself in his Fourth Piano Concerto: not bombastic or heroic, but pensive, sensitive, and delicate. The press reported on how Mitsuko Uchida impressively conveys this emotional world, “effortlessly, as if dreamed into the keyboard”. Simon Rattle...

The Berliner Philharmoniker support UNICEF's Haiti emergency assistance – a round table discussion Watch interview

14 Feb 2010free

“It's a Venture - an Adventure” – Mitsuko Uchida and the Beethoven Piano Concertos Part II

In his Fifth Piano Concerto, we experience Beethoven’s perhaps most pugnacious side. In 2010, Mitsuko Uchida and Simon Rattle presented this evidence of impassioned rebellion which even today has lost none of its freshness and vigour. More austere is Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony, whose ascetic...

“It's a Venture - an Adventure” – Mitsuko Uchida and the Beethoven Piano Concertos Part II Watch interview

10 Feb 2010free

“A Venture - an Adventure” – Mitsuko Uchida and the Beethoven Concertos Part I

With his second and third piano concertos, the young Beethoven established himself as a virtuoso performer and composer who struck a tone of unprecedented self-confidence in his music. Mitsuko Uchida and Simon Rattle present the works as part of their acclaimed cycle of Beethoven concertos in...

“A Venture - an Adventure” – Mitsuko Uchida and the Beethoven Concertos Part I Watch interview

04 Feb 2010free

Mitsuko Uchida in conversation with Gerhard Forck

Simon Rattle’s performance of the complete piano concertos of Beethoven was a highlight of the 2009/2010 season. The soloist was Mitsuko Uchida: a “queen of her instrument” (The New York Times) who has been charming Berliner Philharmoniker audiences since 1984 with her at once sensitive and...

Mitsuko Uchida in conversation with Gerhard Forck Watch interview

30 Jan 2010free

Works by Bach and Haydn: An introduction by Ton Koopman

Ton Koopman – one of the great interpreters of Early Music – admires Johann Sebastian Bach more than any other composer because in his music, “mind and emotion are in a fantastic balance”. And so Bach – in addition to Haydn’s Symphony No. 98 – is also the focus of this concert. We hear courtly...

Works by Bach and Haydn: An introduction by Ton Koopman Watch interview

23 Jan 2010free

Frank Peter Zimmermann in conversation with Christoph Streuli

It is actually astonishing that Brahms’s Violin Concerto is considered one of the most popular as it forgoes any play on the tension between soloist and orchestra; the effect is rather one of mutual support for each other. In 2010, Frank Peter Zimmermann presented the work “with warmth and...

Frank Peter Zimmermann in conversation with Christoph Streuli Watch interview

10 Jan 2010free

Hélène Grimaud and Tugan Sokhiev in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

Maurice Ravel’s G major Piano Concerto is a world in itself. Here there are echoes of jazz to be found as well as Stravinsky-like asperity and tender cantilenas. In 2009, Hélène Grimaud brought out the many facets of the work with consummate ease and sensitivity. Tugan Sokhiev, who made his...

Hélène Grimaud and Tugan Sokhiev in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

20 Dec 2009free

Donald Runnicles in conversation with Fergus McWilliam

It is Brahms of all people, the aloof North German, who has given us perhaps the most human of requiems. In contrast to the Catholic requiem mass, it is not the vision of the Last Judgement which forms the core of the work but succour for those in despair. In a special transatlantic...

Donald Runnicles in conversation with Fergus McWilliam Watch interview

12 Dec 2009free

Christian Thielemann interviewed by Sarah Willis

Brahms composed choral music throughout most of his life. It is not only this regularity but also the emotional depth and range of these works that allow us to sense how particularly important they were to the composer. In 2009, Christian Thielemann, the Rundfunkchor Berlin and the Berliner...

Christian Thielemann interviewed by Sarah Willis Watch interview

06 Dec 2009free

Leonidas Kavakos in conversation with Walter Küssner

The legendary violin professor Josef Gingold did not believe his ears the first time he heard a recording by Leonidas Kavakos. He could hardly imagine anyone being able to play so quickly and so perfectly without there being some sort of technical trickery used in the recording. However, for the...

Leonidas Kavakos in conversation with Walter Küssner Watch interview

07 Nov 2009free

John Carewe talking about Schoenberg's “Erwartung” (Expectation)

In this concert, Simon Rattle presents Arnold Schoenberg’s sensuous side: in his Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene and the monodrama Erwartung we hear nightmarish brutality and psychotic fear. Schoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 1 is quite different – music full of...

John Carewe talking about Schoenberg's “Erwartung” (Expectation) Watch interview

24 Oct 2009free

Iván Fischer in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

From a musical perspective, the lands of the old Habsburg monarchy boasted fertile soil: great achievements in the world of art music came from here and a fascinating folk music is just as at home here as is the fiery idiom of the gypsies. Iván Fischer shows the whole spectrum in an...

Iván Fischer in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

17 Oct 2009free

Janine Jansen and Daniel Harding in conversation with Sarah Willis

It is a mystery why Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto is not heard in the concert hall more often. Janine Jansen is one of the work’s most passionate champions and underlines here its outstanding qualities: its demonic virtuosity, refined textures and captivating atmosphere. Daniel Harding also...

Janine Jansen and Daniel Harding in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

10 Oct 2009free

Guy Braunstein and Semyon Bychkov in conversation with Terry Martin

For regular concert goers to Berlin’s Philharmonie he was a well-known face for many years: Guy Braunstein, who was the orchestra’s 1st concertmaster from 2000 to 2013. Here he is the soloist in Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a work characterised by Jewish folk music, with its shifts...

Guy Braunstein and Semyon Bychkov in conversation with Terry Martin Watch interview

04 Oct 2009free

Daniel Barenboim and Asher Fisch in conversation with Stanley Dodds

The subtle yet extravagant outpourings of beauty of his music have made Frédéric Chopin perhaps the most popular piano composer of all. In this recording from 2009, Daniel Barenboim is the soloist in both of Chopin’s piano concertos: critics praised the performance for the “magic of the...

Daniel Barenboim and Asher Fisch in conversation with Stanley Dodds Watch interview

19 Sep 2009free

Sofia Gubaidulina in conversation with Margarete Zander

It is rare to experience such a concentration of percussion instruments as there were in this concert with Gustavo Dudamel. In Sofia Gubaidulina's Glorious Percussion, no less than five percussionists demonstrate the multifaceted sounds and effects their intruments can produce. Dmitri...

Sofia Gubaidulina in conversation with Margarete Zander Watch interview

13 Sep 2009free

Angela Denoke and Lars Vogt in conversation with Helge Grünewald

Dmitri Shostakovich himself complained that his Fourth Symphony suffered from “grandiosomania” – certainly too harsh a judgement, for its power and greatness is flawed, slipping again and again into the surreal. Simon Rattle fully explored the many layers of the work in September 2009. He also...

Angela Denoke and Lars Vogt in conversation with Helge Grünewald Watch interview

09 Sep 2009free

Simon Halsey talking about Haydn's “The Seasons”

According to Sir Simon Rattle himself, there are few other composers with whom he has a closer relationship than with Haydn – it was “love at first sight” when he encountered these works as a young musician. In 2009, Rattle conducted Haydn’s oratorio The Seasons: a work which entrances through...

Simon Halsey talking about Haydn's “The Seasons” Watch interview

28 Aug 2009free

Sir Simon Rattle in conversation with Claus Spahn

Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique bombarded audiences in 1830 with completely unknown effects and contrasts. “Compared to the Witches Sabbath,” as one critic wrote at the time, “Weber’s Wolf’s Glen is a lullaby”. Simon Rattle presented this seminal work to inaugurate the 2009/2010 season in a...

Sir Simon Rattle in conversation with Claus Spahn Watch interview

13 Jun 2009free

Emmanuel Pahud in conversation with Lydia Rilling

“If Haydn were alive today,” says Daniel Barenboim, “he might compose like Elliott Carter did in his last years.” To prove his theory, Barenboim conducted two of Carter’s late concertos of finely chiselled beauty in 2009, with flutist Emmanuel Pahud and pianist Nicolas Hodges as soloists. The...

Emmanuel Pahud in conversation with Lydia Rilling Watch interview

06 Jun 2009free

Pierre Boulez and Pierre-Laurent Aimard in conversation with Christoph Franke

Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand is one of the most fascinating works ever written. Its intensity and virtuosity make the listener forget the unusual scoring and strikingly combine darkness and jazzy energy. Pierre Boulez and Pierre-Laurent Aimard are the prominent interpreters in this...

Pierre Boulez and Pierre-Laurent Aimard in conversation with Christoph Franke Watch interview

28 May 2009free

Siegfried Matthus in conversation with Tobias Möller (in German only)

The dramatic events in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung occur in various dimensions: from an intimate battle of words to a global conflagration that engulfs everything. In this concert, Simon Rattle presents the highlights of the work, with Katarina Dalayman as Brünnhilde. There is also a premiere by...

Siegfried Matthus in conversation with Tobias Möller (in German only) Watch interview

24 May 2009free

Simon Halsey talks about Schubert, Mahler, Debussy and Claudio Abbado

In this concert from 2009, Claudio Abbado conducted works by composers with whom he was closely associated, including Schubert’s Rosamunde music, which captivates with its songlike simplicity and dreamy atmosphere. Much more expansive but equally delicate is Debussy’s La Mer, while Gustav Mahler...

Simon Halsey talks about Schubert, Mahler, Debussy and Claudio Abbado Watch interview

17 May 2009free

Seiji Ozawa in conversation with Fergus McWilliam

For many, the oratorio Elijah is the pinnacle of Mendelssohn’s oeuvre. Not only because of the rousing choruses and stunningly beautiful arias, but above all the dramatic power of the work, which is occasionally referred to as “Mendelssohn’s unwritten opera”. In this recording, Seiji Ozawa...

Seiji Ozawa in conversation with Fergus McWilliam Watch interview

10 May 2009free

Kirill Petrenko and Lars Vogt in conversation with Sarah Willis

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...

Kirill Petrenko and Lars Vogt in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

25 Apr 2009free

Interview with Peter Eötvös

Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Requiem for a Young Poet from 1969 is a heart-wrenching and unconventional mass for the dead. Written for two speakers, vocalists, chorus, orchestra and tape, it reveals a powerful, multifaceted panorama of the half century that comprised Zimmermann’s life before he...

Interview with Peter Eötvös Watch interview

19 Apr 2009free

Alan Gilbert in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud

Of the few important cello concertos in the repertoire, Antonín Dvořák’s contribution to the genre stands out because of its inexhaustible melodic richness and mellow late Romantic tone. Steven Isserlis – “Britain’s greatest cellist” (The Telegraph) – performs the concerto with Alan Gilbert, who...

Alan Gilbert in conversation with Emmanuel Pahud Watch interview

22 Mar 2009free

Nikolaus Harnoncourt talks about Haydn’s “Orlando Paladino”

Nikolaus Harnoncourt called Haydn’s Orlando paladino a “totally mad, modern opera” and praised the “combination of pathos and irony, of real feelings and completely overwrought wooing”, which is “carried to extremes in Haydn’s inspired interpretation”. In this recording from 2009, Harnoncourt...

Nikolaus Harnoncourt talks about Haydn’s “Orlando Paladino” Watch interview

14 Mar 2009free

Michael Boder in conversation with Fergus McWilliam

Michael Boder conducts an original and varied programme in this concert from 2009. Elliott Carter’s dazzling Celebration of Some 100 x 150 Notes is followed by Schumann’s sonorous, high-spirited Rhenish Symphony and Witold Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra, one of the composer’s most striking...

Michael Boder in conversation with Fergus McWilliam Watch interview

07 Mar 2009free

Gustavo Dudamel in conversation with Edicson Ruiz

He is a “spitfire” – but one with “profound musical understanding and flawless conducting skill”. That is what the press wrote about Gustavo Dudamel when he conducted the Berliner Philharmoniker for the first time in the Philharmonie in March 2009. The diverse Russian programme was also...

Gustavo Dudamel in conversation with Edicson Ruiz Watch interview

01 Mar 2009free

Heinz Holliger in conversation with Götz Teutsch

Heinz Holliger can look back on an impressive career not only as an oboist and composer but also as a conductor. In this concert from 2009, he offers an exciting double portrait of Robert Schumann and Bernd Alois Zimmermann. Both were able to combine innovation and musical exuberance, as...

Heinz Holliger in conversation with Götz Teutsch Watch interview

13 Feb 2009free

Mitsuko Uchida in conversation with Sarah Willis

Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto is the first important work of its genre in the Romantic period: a lyrical journey through psychological landscapes, abounding with lovely melodies. It is sensitively interpreted by Mitsuko Uchida and Simon Rattle in this recording from 2009. Also on the...

Mitsuko Uchida in conversation with Sarah Willis Watch interview

08 Feb 2009free

Simon Halsey talks about Schumann’s “Paradise and the Peri”

Robert Schumann’s Paradise and the Peri is one of the works that Simon Rattle would take with him to the proverbial “desert island”. It is music full of inspiration and beauty; in addition, there is probably no other choral work that exudes the spirit of German Romanticism as intensely. In this...

Simon Halsey talks about Schumann’s “Paradise and the Peri” Watch interview

11 Jan 2009free

Zubin Mehta in conversation with Tobias Möller

According to the press, it was a “triumphant return” when Murray Perahia interpreted Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2009, after an eleven-year absence. Conductor Zubin Mehta also presented Richard Strauss’s Symphonia domestica: one of the composer’s most...

Zubin Mehta in conversation with Tobias Möller Watch interview

12 Nov 1989free

Daniel Barenboim on the concert for people from the GDR

The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989, thus ending the decades-long division of Europe and the world. It was an event of both political and emotional significance which the Berliner Philharmoniker celebrated three days later with a concert which itself is now considered a historic event....

Daniel Barenboim on the concert for people from the GDR Watch interview

30 Oct 1986free

30 years of Suntory Hall – Memories of musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker

Suntory Hall in Tokyo is one of the best concert halls in the world – and after many guest appearances has become almost a second home for the Berliner Philharmoniker. This recording from 1986 documents the orchestra’s first in Suntory Hall, just a few weeks after it opened. Seiji Ozawa...

30 years of Suntory Hall – Memories of musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker Watch interview

02 Feb 1968free

Sir Simon Rattle about Herbert von Karajan

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Herbert von Karajan: A triad which is virtually the epitome of classical music. The present performance is based on concerts given in the Berlin Philharmonie on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day 1968 with the soloists Gundula Janowitz,...

Sir Simon Rattle about Herbert von Karajan Watch interview