Live concerts

Photo: Monika Rittershaus

During his Berlin years, the adventurous exploration of contemporary music was as important to Simon Rattle as work on the traditional repertoire. This double focus also characterises this evening with Helmut Lachenmann’s My Melodies for eight horns, in which the solo instruments reveal many surprising tonal facets. The finale of the concert is Schumann’s Second Symphony, with an exuberance which repeatedly borders on mania.

Photo: Monika Rittershaus

The music of Gustav Mahler stands on the threshold of Modernism: sometimes sceptical, sometimes self-confident, and yet despite occasional nostalgic impulses, it is always decidedly innovative. Daniel Harding juxtaposes Mahler’s First Symphony with works by Alban Berg and Charles Ives, contemporaries whose musical language has similarities as well as major differences to Mahler. An exciting journey of discovery.

Photo: Monika Rittershaus

The 75-year-old Giuseppe Verdi once again reached a new artistic level with Otello. None of his other operas is as compelling or has such dramatic force, right up to the murderous finale. Following the performances at the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden, the Berliner Philharmoniker present their interpretation of this dark, expressive score to the Berlin public together with a cast of prominent singers and conductor Zubin Mehta.

Photo: Tom Wassenberg

Following its performance under the direction of Kirill Petrenko, the National Youth Orchestra of Germany is now making its second appearance at the Philharmonie to mark its 50th birthday – this time under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher. In the two works he conducts, two opposing worlds collide: the loud, vibrant, dynamic urban life of New York, portrayed musically by Edgard Varèse in his orchestral work Amériques, and the rural, contemplative world of the Bavarian mountains depicted by Richard Strauss in his Alpine symphony.

This year’s European Concert at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris is a powerful symbol of the German-French friendship. Daniel Harding, music director of the Orchestre de Paris, conducts eminent works by Wagner, Berlioz and Debussy which reveal the many links between the musical cultures of the two countries. The Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel appears as soloist with the Philharmoniker again for the first time in 18 years.

Photo: Monika Rittershaus

After many failures, Anton Bruckner finally achieved a triumph with his Seventh Symphony. Whether in New York, London or Amsterdam, people everywhere wanted to hear what to this day is still the composer’s most popular work, with its poignant Adagio movement. Bernard Haitink, one of the great Bruckner experts, conducts this performance. In addition, Paul Lewis makes his debut as soloist with the Berliner Philharmoniker in Mozart’s introverted, melancholy Piano Concerto No. 26.

Photo: Peter Adamik

Yefim Bronfman is a musician whose powerful, energetic playing and brilliant technique recall the great Russian pianistic tradition of the 20th century. At this concert he interprets Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto. The conductor is the charismatic Herbert Blomstedt, who will also conduct a work from his native Sweden: Wilhelm Stenhammar’s Second Symphony, a late Romantic discovery with fascinating Nordic timbres.

Photo: Julia Baier

In this concert with Paavo Järvi, we experience sensuously delicate tonal beauty, composed by two pioneers of Modernism. Anton Webern’s richly coloured arrangement of a ricercare by Bach is followed by Alban Berg’s Seven Early Songs (soloist: Hanna-Elisabeth Müller), which capture the tender mood of young love. Bruckner’s Second Symphony concludes the programme – an early work which already has unmistakable Brucknerian power.

Photo: Marco Borggreve

Joseph Haydn’s Second Cello Concerto is one of the most important works of Viennese Classicism. Its warm, melodious solo part is captivating, excitingly alternating between melancholy and cheerfulness. At this concert it is played by Bruno Delepelaire, first principal cellist of the Berliner Philharmoniker. At his debut with the Philharmoniker, Michael Sanderling also conducts Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony: a nightmarishly brutal panorama of the Second World War.

Photo: Thomas Brill

It is always exciting to hear the expressive range that can be achieved even with a small orchestra. That is demonstrated in this concert, at which Constantinos Carydis makes his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker. The programme is framed by Mozart’s Symphonies No. 34 and 38, in which tonal radiance is combined with delicate expressive nuances. We also hear works by Dimitri Shostakovich, including his Chamber Symphony op. 110a, which sensitively and movingly reflects the horror of war.

Photo: Monika Rittershaus

Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Concerto is a work that is performed with surprising infrequency. During this concert you can discover the work for yourself: its drama and passion, its boundless wealth of emotional nuances. The soloist is Daniil Trifonov, “perhaps the most exciting pianist to have emerged internationally in the last 30 years” (The Guardian). Andris Nelsons also conducts Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11, which impresses listeners with the vividness of a film score.

Photo: Holger Kettner

The Berliner Philharmoniker and conductor Tugan Sokhiev – music director of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater – distinguish themselves as storytellers at this outdoor concert. We hear Prokofiev’s humorous music for the film satire Lieutenant Kijé, travel to the Orient with Maurice Ravel’s shimmering, sensuous song cycle Shéhérazade (soloist: Marianne Crebassa) and witness the most famous love story of all time in Prokofiev’s ballet music Romeo and Juliet.