Classical Concerts in

Berlin

Kammerkonzert der Orchesterakademie DSO

Graduates from music academies possess excellent technical skills, high motivation, and artistic curiosity, making them suitable for orchestral positions. However, orchestral musicians also need to integrate their musicality into the collective, prepare efficiently for new repertoires, and become part of a group. The Ferenc-Fricsay-Academy of the DSO addresses these needs by providing two-year practical training for ten young musicians, involving them in various activities like recordings, concerts, and workshops, and intensive chamber music training for enhancing communication skills.

Rundfunkchor Berlin: A-cappella-Konzert

More information will follow shortly. Photo © Peter Adamik for Rundfunkchor Berlin

Guest performance 11th International Accordion Festival

Femmes de Légende 16. Benefizkonzert Zonta Club Berlin

The Zonta Club Berlin invites you to an entertaining evening with pianist Yelyzaveta Rodionova, featuring works by female composers Cécile Chaminade, Lili Boulanger, and Mel Bonis, including "Femmes de Légende." The second half is dedicated to Clara and Robert Schumann. A reception with buffet follows.

The Magic Flute

About the work It’s the most performed opera in the German-speaking region, an unusual – and masterly – blend of Viennese folk theatre and fairy tale, mythology and freemasonry mystique: Mozart’s THE MAGIC FLUTE remains a puzzle to this day. Did Mozart and his librettist Schikaneder switch horses from the Queen of the Night to Sarastro half way through? Is the message not one of distrust towards a supposedly infallible priesthood and its simplistic good-versus-evil ideology? Are some Mozart experts right when they talk of a disconnect between text and music? Whatever the answer, it’s the music that allows us to relate to the story’s contradictions. Far from denouncing the characters, it confers an existentiality on their conflicts. Tamino is rescued from a dragon by three mysterious women, who show him a picture of Pamina, daughter of the Queen of the Night, who has been kidnapped by Sarastro, high priest of the Temple of the Sun. Besotted with the picture, Tamino is instructed by the Queen to team up with Papageno to rescue her. For a talisman he is given a magic flute, Papageno some magic bells. When they fail to steal Pamina back, the three of them are subjected to a series of perilous ordeals. Firstly, the men must prove they can keep silent. With Tamino not speaking to her, Pamina is about to stab herself but is saved by the three boy spirits, who lead her to Tamino. The pair then pass the remaining ordeals by fire and water. Meanwhile Papageno has acquired a lady friend, with whom he dreams of living happily ever after. Tamino and Pamina are inducted into the brotherhood of the Enlightened and embrace the ideals of nature, wisdom and reason. About the production The Günter Krämer production focuses on the antithesis between two worlds, represented in THE MAGIC FLUTE by sun versus moon and dark versus light but also by the oppositions of nature versus culture and male versus female. These double-sided coins are visualised on stage as the contrast between black ...

Klang der Stille

Florian Illies, known for his chronicle of German sentiment, has recently captivated audiences with compilations on 1913 and love during times of hate. His latest work delves into German Romanticism, portraying Caspar David Friedrich as a painter of devout introspection on the edge of abstraction. The symphony concert "Sound of Silence" complements this, showing Friedrich wasn't alone in his artistic journey.

Die Königsklasse der Kammermusik

Amsterdam Sinfonietta

Led by Candida Thompson, Amsterdam Sinfonietta brings together 23 gifted chamber musicians, embodying ensemble-playing at the highest level. Nostalgia for Italy runs through this evening: „The sun shines in all its splendour… at last, I feel a magical change within me,“ Tchaikovsky wrote while visiting the Italian city of Florence. „Souvenir de Florence“ is a tribute to the city he adored, music brimming over with love and joy. The young pianist Bruce Liu, who won first prize at the Chopin Competition in 2021, makes his debut with Amsterdam Sinfonietta, performing works by Chopin – his second piano concerto and the virtuosic Polonaise brillante – both in versions for piano and string orchestra.

Nach den Sternen greifen

Looking at the stars is special, evoking a sense of vastness and wonder. The phrase "reaching for the stars" signifies ambition and courage to try new things, be creative, dream, and find friendship. This concert explores the stars' significance, blending storytelling, poetry, art, and music to bring their magic closer.

Nach den Sternen greifen

Looking at the stars is special, evoking a sense of vastness and wonder. The phrase "reaching for the stars" signifies ambition and courage to try new things, be creative, dream, and find friendship. This concert explores the stars' significance, blending storytelling, poetry, art, and music to bring their magic closer.

Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg

About the work Repelled by the dispassion of the Wartburg society of minnesingers, Tannhäuser, a singer-knight, removes to the interior of the Venusberg in search of fulfilment. Eventually his longing for Elisabeth leads him to leave again. Back at the Wartburg castle, Tannhäuser takes part in a singing contest whose theme is the nature of love, but when he sings that love is ideally about sensual satisfaction, he is cast out and sent to Rome to seek papal absolution. He returns from Rome without the hoped-for indulgence and resolves to return to the Venusberg. Then a miracle occurs and he finds redemption after all. Of all Richard Wagner’s operas, this is arguably the one most closely associated with the composer’s own biography and his conception of himself as an artist. The tale of the song contest in the Wartburg castle contains all the themes common to Romantic conflict in art: the quest for social acceptance on the one hand pitted against a questioning of conventions on the other; the search for sensual fulfilment – and its irreconcilability with an idealised, de-sexualised concept of womanhood; and not least the conflict between self-expression in life as in art and the guilt engendered by this egomania. About the production In her production for the Deutsche Oper Berlin Kristen Harms focuses on the complicated relationship between Tannhäuser and Elisabeth, a young Thuringian noblewoman, who represents the ideal of pure, pristine love. Harms sees TANNHÄUSER as “a tale of two people, each with two souls in their breast”. This accounts for her casting of a single singer to play both Elisabeth and Venus, who fuse at the end of the opera into a single person, one who has found redemption. As for Tannhäuser, Harms presents him and his mild-mannered friend Wolfram von Eschenbach as two character sides of the same coin. By the same token the Venusberg, Tannhäuser’s abode at the start of the opera, is deemed by Harms to be “not a den of vice but a realm in which ...

Vogler Quartett

Individuality finding harmonious expression in an ensemble – this is the quintessence of the Vogler Quartet, which has been pursuing a unique global career with an unchanged line-up since its formation in 1985. With an intelligent approach to chamber music, outstanding playing technique and interpretive sensitivity, Tim Vogler, Frank Reinecke, Stefan Fehlandt and Stephan Forck have created an unmistakable string quartet sound which consistently offers new insights into the genre. The group has had a concert series at the Konzerthaus Berlin since 1993.

ACADEMY CONCERT

In the popular series of Academy Concerts, students of the Barenboim-­Said Akademie introduce themselves to their audiences as part of their curriculum. Once again, the series includes a number of performances of the Akademie’s orchestra.

Guest performance

Passio

Ein Passionskonzert mit der »Passio« von Arvo Pärt im Zentrum.

Măcelaru & Faust

For Isabelle Faust only the art matters, not the trappings. She plays with aplomb, focus, deep feeling—that’s how the violinist enthrals the audience, particularly with Shostakovich’s Second Violin Concerto, which, seriously ill in 1967, he »squeezed out note by note, with difficulty«. Sharply reduced, introverted music that concentrates completely on the violin. Music that inquires into where we are going and why.

Springtime Singing

Walking barefoot, enjoying the sun, playing outside in the evening ... not yet. Not quite yet. But very soon. Winter really will soon be over at the beginning of April. Let's see if we can speed things up a bit with the right music. The small chorus of the children's chorus and the generational chorus invite you to a spring sing-along in the foyer, where everyone will have the opportunity to sing along.

Nach den Sternen greifen

Looking at the stars is special, evoking a sense of vastness and wonder. The phrase "reaching for the stars" signifies ambition and courage to try new things, be creative, dream, and find friendship. This concert explores the stars' significance, blending storytelling, poetry, art, and music to bring their magic closer.

Guest performance Family Concert: The Female Pied Piper of Hameln (In German Language)

Nach den Sternen greifen

Looking at the stars is special, evoking a sense of vastness and wonder. The phrase "reaching for the stars" signifies ambition and courage to try new things, be creative, dream, and find friendship. This concert explores the stars' significance, blending storytelling, poetry, art, and music to bring their magic closer.

FABIAN MÜLLER

When Fabian Müller made his Pierre Boulez Saal debut in January 2022, his memorable performance of Beethoven’s monumental “Hammerklavier” Sonata confirmed his reputation as one of the outstanding pianists of his generation. Now the ARD Competition winner, who was born in 1990 in Beethoven’s hometown of Bonn, takes on the challenge of presenting all the composer’s sonatas as a complete cycle. Dubbed the “New Testament” of piano music by Hans von Bülow— Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier was known as the “Old Testament”—the 32 works will be heard over the course of eight Sunday-afternoon concerts. Completing the individual programs are short pieces newly composed by Müller himself, in which he expresses his reflexions on Beethoven’s sonatas.

Lohengrin

About the work King Henry I, “the Fowler”, is in Brabant to hold the Assizes and assert the nobles’ duty to provide militias to assist in military campaigns. Since the death of the Duke of Brabant, however, the succession has been a source of conflict. His children, Gottfried and Elsa, are wards of Count Telramund, but Gottfried has vanished and Telramund suspects Elsa of having killed him. A duel between her accuser and Elsa’s champion is organised to decide the issue. At the last moment a knight appears in a boat drawn by a swan, ready to defend Elsa’s honour. He is also prepared to take her as his wife on condition that she never ask him his name or where he hails from. Elsa agrees and the knight defeats Telramund. It was Ortrud, wife of Telramund and daughter of Radbod, the last Frisian prince, who poisoned her husband’s opinion of Elsa, with a view to regaining the position she had once held. Now she sets about blocking Elsa’s marriage to the stranger and sowing mistrust in her mind. But Elsa remains steadfast and refuses to ask her husband-to-be where he comes from. But once in their bridal chamber, she regrets that she doesn’t know his identity and expresses her desire to be able to speak his name. Swearing to keep his secret, she asks the forbidden question. Telramund bursts into the room with his noblemen and is promptly killed by the knight, who then formally reproaches Elsa for breaking her oath. He announces that he is Lohengrin, a knight of the Holy Grail and son of Parsifal, and now has to leave, since his secret has been revealed. Ortrud is convinced that she has got what she wanted, but then Gottfried, Elsa’s absent brother, turns up, having been kidnapped by Ortrud and turned into …a swan. Lohengrin appoints Gottfried as heir to the throne and the swan bears Lohengrin away again. Elsa dies of a broken heart. For a considerable period LOHENGRIN remained Wagner’s best received opera worldwide. That the opera has been the subject of so many different ...

Musik in der Sophienkirche: Orgelkonzert Dominik Sustek

Dominik Susteck, a distinguished composer and improviser, known for his innovative organ interpretations, will perform at Sophienkirche. His program features his compositions alongside works by Bruhns, Bach, and Messiaen, blending rich baroque organ tradition with experimental sounds. A video transmission will showcase the organist's captivating performance.

Musik in der Sophienkirche: Orgelkonzert Dominik Susteck

Dominik Susteck, a distinguished composer and improviser, known for his innovative organ interpretations, will perform at Sophienkirche. His program features his compositions alongside works by Bruhns, Bach, and Messiaen, blending rich baroque organ tradition with experimental sounds. A video transmission will showcase the organist's captivating performance.

Guest performance ‟Passionate Tango liveˮ

Guest performance Gospel, Pop and Rock

CD Release Concert "Europolis"

AKADEMIE FORUM: OMRI BOEHM & RULA HARDAL

Is It Too Early to Think of Peace?Talk and Discussion Can Israelis and Palestinians speak of peace in the current moment? It seems obvious that Oslo-style two-state politics has run its course, and that the horrific violence unfolding in the region is evidence of this failure. But as the old Oslo paradigm is dying, can a new paradigm be born—do we have an alternative vision? And who is willing to have that conversation? Rula Hardal and Omri Boehm argue that it is not only possible but necessary and urgent to think of solutions that break the narrow two-state/one-state dichotomy and to discuss the political, legal, and historical aspects that confront (con-)federative thinking today. Rula Hardal was born in 1974 in Peqi’in; Omri Boehm was born in 1979 in Gilon. Both have Israeli and German citizenship. Hardal conducts research at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and has been co-director of the Israeli-Palestinian organization “A Land for All – Two States, One Homeland” since 2023. She spent ten years in Germany, where she received her doctorate from the University of Hanover. Omri Boehm is Professor of Philosophy at The New School for Social Research in New York. He is the author of Haifa Republic and Radical Universalism, among other books. Presented in English Featuring a musical performance by Mohammed Al Sheikh, student of the Barenboim-Said Akademie

Next Generation II Kammerkonzert 7

Musicians of the Komische Oper Berlin present intensive listening experiences in special locations as part of their chamber concerts. From the festive ambience of the Schiller Theater to the monumental vastness of the old hangar at Tempelhof Airport, with new sound worlds at the Kindl site to enchanting experiences in a tent.

Hommage an Heifetz

Guest performance