From its beginnings to today: Highlights in the Digital Concert Hall

It all began with a bold vision: was it possible to make the concerts of the Berliner Philharmoniker accessible in their entirety to a worldwide audience? True to its tradition, the orchestra also took this task into its own hands. When the internet was still a relatively new development, the Berliner Philharmoniker launched the Digital Concert Hall – and became pioneers of video streaming in the field of classical music. Whereas before, only selected events of the orchestra were broadcast on television, since 2009, the Digital Concert Hall has been documenting the work of the Berliner Philharmoniker with its renowned guests – always in the best possible video and sound quality.

The first concert for the Digital Concert Hall archive was recorded in August 2008. This special performance of Johannes Brahms’s Third Symphony with Simon Rattle is of course a must for our playlist. The following January, there was the first live broadcast of a concert. Chief conductor Kirill Petrenko is also very enthusiastic about the Digital Concert Hall – among other things, interviews with him can be seen exclusively here. When the coronavirus pandemic broke out at the beginning of Kirill Petrenko’s tenure, the live broadcasts enabled him and the orchestra to maintain contact with the audience. The 2020 Europakonzert with Arvo Pärt’s Fratres, which was held in an empty Philharmonie Berlin, was one of the most moving events of this period. Sergei Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, which are included in our selection, were performed by Kirill Petrenko in February 2020 before a delighted audience – both in the auditorium and online – shortly before the concert hall closed.