Concerts with works by

Arnold Schönberg

Daniel Harding conducts Holst’s “Planets”

With Gustav Holst’s atmospheric 1916 orchestral suite The Planets, Daniel Harding embarks on a cosmic musical journey through our solar system. Each of the seven planets has its own musical character, from rugged Mars to mystical Neptune. Holst was greatly inspired by Arnold Schoenberg’s Five Orchestral Pieces, which oscillate intriguingly between late Romanticism and Modernism. Completing the programme, Brett Dean’s Komarov’s Fall was commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2006 as a musical “asteroid” to Holst’s Planets.

Orgelstunde

Jeremy Joseph, who took over this organ lesson at short notice for his teacher Martin Haselböck, who was ill, is no stranger to Berlin audiences: six years ago, he was already a duo partner for Gottlieb Wallisch in the Great Hall of the Konzerthaus Berlin, with whom he performed a brilliant program Organ & Piano. In this solo program, he spans an arc from Johann Sebastian Bach and Max Reger - each represented with major works - to Arnold Schoenberg as a “modern classic”, whose variations on a theme by Johann Sebastian Bach are now also part of the standard repertoire.

Daniel Harding conducts Holst’s “Planets”

With Gustav Holst’s atmospheric 1916 orchestral suite The Planets, Daniel Harding embarks on a cosmic musical journey through our solar system. Each of the seven planets has its own musical character, from rugged Mars to mystical Neptune. Holst was greatly inspired by Arnold Schoenberg’s Five Orchestral Pieces, which oscillate intriguingly between late Romanticism and Modernism. Completing the programme, Brett Dean’s Komarov’s Fall was commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2006 as a musical “asteroid” to Holst’s Planets.

Watch This Space | Kirill Gerstein & HK Gruber

The Austrian composer, conductor, and singer HK Gruber and the Russian-American pianist Kirill Gerstein combine their wonderfully free-spirited forces for a program that harks back to Berlin in the 1920s, when the First World War was over, the lights were dim, and cabaret was all the rage. Gruber (who, incidentally, is a descendant of Franz Xaver Gruber, the composer of Silent Night) is undisputedly one of the greatest living interpreters of this style. His artistic role models are Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler, whom he credits for making his career as a composer possible. As for Gerstein, he illuminates Bertolt Brecht’s infectious melodies and sometimes caustic texts with his lively, dance-like piano playing.

Jonathan Nott

»Sweet melancholy is the true nature of true love.« This quote by Novalis is an excellent reflection of our relationship with Jonathan Nott: since the turn of the millennium, he held the musical reins together from the podium for 16 years as our Chief Conductor in over 650 always original concerts both in Bamberg and on tour. On his departure, he said somewhat melancholically: »When we all – orchestra and conductor – achieve a result together, then we are influenced by each other. And even if we never see each other again: All the musicians of the Bamberg Symphony are a part of my life.« Fortunately, he has been returning regularly as a guest ever since – and this year’s programme is the start of a concert series with him over the next few seasons, which will also take us to places that were the centres of the chosen musical period. It once again bears his unmistakably individual and highly dedicated handwriting: After all, the English maestro honed our musical profile for musical modernism particularly intensively and lastingly during his time. Now it’s a concentration on two related works that were premiered together in Vienna 120 years ago – with each of the two composers conducting their own piece: Zemlinsky conducted his orchestral fantasy »The Mermaid« based on the well-known fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. His former student, then brother-in-law and friend Schönberg performed his tone poem »Pelléas et Mélisande«, based on Maeterlinck’s wonderful drama – which Jonathan Nott has long held dear to his heart. There is no doubt, therefore, that he will be a safe guide through these two works, revelling in late Romanticism.

Jonathan Nott

»Sweet melancholy is the true nature of true love.« This quote by Novalis is an excellent reflection of our relationship with Jonathan Nott: since the turn of the millennium, he held the musical reins together from the podium for 16 years as our Chief Conductor in over 650 always original concerts both in Bamberg and on tour. On his departure, he said somewhat melancholically: »When we all – orchestra and conductor – achieve a result together, then we are influenced by each other. And even if we never see each other again: All the musicians of the Bamberg Symphony are a part of my life.« Fortunately, he has been returning regularly as a guest ever since – and this year’s programme is the start of a concert series with him over the next few seasons, which will also take us to places that were the centres of the chosen musical period. It once again bears his unmistakably individual and highly dedicated handwriting: After all, the English maestro honed our musical profile for musical modernism particularly intensively and lastingly during his time. Now it’s a concentration on two related works that were premiered together in Vienna 120 years ago – with each of the two composers conducting their own piece: Zemlinsky conducted his orchestral fantasy »The Mermaid« based on the well-known fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. His former student, then brother-in-law and friend Schönberg performed his tone poem »Pelléas et Mélisande«, based on Maeterlinck’s wonderful drama – which Jonathan Nott has long held dear to his heart. There is no doubt, therefore, that he will be a safe guide through these two works, revelling in late Romanticism.

Peace on Earth

Under the motto »Orchestra for Democracy«, the DSO invites the audience to two concerts that combine music and speech to make a powerful plea for human rights and the value of our democracy. Central works of classical modernism and late romanticism meet contemporary reflections and create a format that places the demands and reality of our society at the centre.

Peace on Earth

Under the motto »Orchestra for Democracy«, the DSO invites the audience to two concerts that combine music and speech to make a powerful plea for human rights and the value of our democracy. Central works of classical modernism and late romanticism meet contemporary reflections and create a format that places the demands and reality of our society at the centre.

Lied concert with Sarah Connolly

The highly acclaimed English mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly has held the title of Dame Sarah since 2017. Her opera career has been long and successful, spanning from the Baroque to contemporary repertoire. Among the many celebrated productions she has been involved in are Mozart's Titus at the English National Opera, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at La Scala in Milan, and Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.Alongside her opera career worldwide, art song has always been a central part of her artistry. Here we hear her in songs that truly showcase her versatility, by composers including Robert Schumann, Gustav Mahler, Barber, Eisler, and Britten.Magnus Svensson is the artistic director of the lied concert series. Alongside concert activities in the Nordic countries and the rest of Europe, he has also performed in Russia and the USA. Since 2012, he has also worked at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music on the re-publishing of older Swedish music.

THOMAS HAMPSON & WOLFRAM RIEGER

“No other composer has had a more profound influence on me and taught me more than Gustav Mahler,” says Thomas Hampson. Having won universal acclaim for his performances of Mahler’s songs, the baritone has also immersed himself in the composer’s life more thoroughly than almost any other singer. Joined by his longtime piano partner Wolfram Rieger, he takes the audience on a musical journey to Mahler’s eventful times that also includes works by his contemporaries Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Alexander Zemlinsky, Anton Webern, and Richard Strauss, as well as his personal companion and wife Alma Mahler.

Ticciati, Obonya, Gerstein · Schönberg, Beethoven

Ticciati, Obonya, Gerstein · Schönberg, Beethoven

Orchestre de Chambre de Paris © – SCHOENBERG

Maria Warenberg: Into the Night

For lovers of chamber music the Recital Hall is the venue of choice. You can hear the musicians breathe and you can practically touch them. This hall is also cherished by musicians for its beautiful acoustics and direct contact with the audience. In the Recital Hall you can hear the best musicians of our time. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Recital Hall for yourself!

Joyeux anniversaire, Monsieur Ravel!

The 8th Philharmonic Concert celebrates French composer Maurice Ravel's 150th birthday with his Piano Concerto in G major and the Boléro. Ravel's concerto is a virtuoso piece, while the Boléro evolves from a simple theme into an overwhelming sonic feast. The concert also features Schoenberg's Suite for "Pelléas et Mélisande," a work of overflowing expressivity. A pre-concert introduction starts 30 minutes prior in the Glocke's "Kleiner Saal."

Joyeux anniversaire, Monsieur Ravel!

The 8th Philharmonic Concert celebrates French composer Maurice Ravel's 150th birthday with his Piano Concerto in G major and the Boléro. Ravel's concerto is a virtuoso piece, while the Boléro evolves from a simple theme into an overwhelming sonic feast. The concert also features Schoenberg's Suite for "Pelléas et Mélisande," a work of overflowing expressivity. A pre-concert introduction starts 30 minutes prior in the Glocke's "Kleiner Saal."

Un survivant de Varsovie

The Orchestre National de Lille makes a vibrant plea against the scourge of antisemitism. Evoking the victims of the past, this programme reminds us that, in the words of Bertolt Brecht, ‘the belly is still fertile from which the foul beast sprang’.

Kam­mer­kon­zert VI

For more than six decades, the chamber concerts by musicians from the Staatskapelle have been a constant feature of the Staatsoper programme. This season, ensembles have come together to select music from different periods, styles and cultures under the theme of ‘playing together’. On eleven dates in the Apollosaal, which with its special atmosphere is an ideal venue for chamber music and communicative interaction between players and listeners, works from the Baroque to the present day will be performed in constellations that are both exciting and harmonious, in which tangible contrasts play just as important a role as a common resonance and the balancing of opposites.

Benjamin Appl and James Baillieu: Forbidden Fruit

For lovers of chamber music the Recital Hall is the venue of choice. You can hear the musicians breathe and you can practically touch them. This hall is also cherished by musicians for its beautiful acoustics and direct contact with the audience. In the Recital Hall you can hear the best musicians of our time. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Recital Hall for yourself!

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Klaus Mäkelä

There are few orchestras that can boast as long a Mahler tradition as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from Amsterdam. Even during Gustav Mahler’s lifetime, the orchestra regularly performed his symphonies and helped the composer achieve the fame he enjoys to this day. Klaus Mäkelä, who takes over as the orchestra’s chief conductor in 2027, continues this tradition with a performance of Mahler’s First Symphony. The composer wrote about his work: »It has become so overpowering – it flowed out of me like a mountain stream!« Also on the programme is Arnold Schönberg’s early work »Verklärte Nacht« for string orchestra, based on Richard Dehmel’s poem of the same name. Before Schönberg climbed to the top of the avant-garde and shocked the music world with his twelve-tone music, he wrote deeply Romantic pieces in his younger years, in which he endeavoured to unite the styles of Wagner and Brahms.

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.

Belcea Quartet

Belcea Quartet

Claron McFadden & Claire Chevallier: American-French Connection

For lovers of chamber music the Recital Hall is the venue of choice. You can hear the musicians breathe and you can practically touch them. This hall is also cherished by musicians for its beautiful acoustics and direct contact with the audience. In the Recital Hall you can hear the best musicians of our time. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Recital Hall for yourself!

QUATUOR DIOTIMA

In honor of Kaija Saariaho, the leading Finnish composer of the 20th and 21st centuries who died in June 2023, Quatuor Diotima has chosen her Second String Quartet Terra Memoria as the centerpiece of its program. Written in 2006, the work is dedicated “to those departed” and their memory. The four musicians also perform music by Benjamin Britten and Arnold Schoenberg.

Shani, Argerich · Beethoven, Schönberg

Shani, Argerich · Beethoven, Schönberg

Chamber concert: String sextet

Remarkable leaps and bounds for the chamber music playing that our orchestra members love: Borodin was actually a full-time chemist and physician, but his passion for music constantly rekindled, including from 1859 in Heidelberg – where he composed his romantic string sextet in D minor. Some time later, he returned to Russia and the work was lost. It did not turn up for almost 100 years until it was finally discovered in an antiquarian bookshop. And it may still be missing something, as it consists of just two movements – one of which seems to shimmer like Mendelssohn’s »Midsummer Night’s Dream« and the other is laced with folk songs from Borodin's homeland. Dvořák’s sextet, premiered in 1879, also bubbles along folkloristically, which has to do with its chronological proximity to his famous »Slavonic Dances« and emphasises his image as a »Bohemian musician«. Although this was only one aspect of his multifaceted personality, Dvořák loved the cheerful and colourful environment around him, where people liked to celebrate festivals. His work quickly became one of the classics of the genre – and also inspired Schönberg to write his string sextet »Verklärte Nacht« in 1899. It is based on a poem by Richard Dehmel, saying: »There is a glow around everything, you drift with me across a cold sea, but a warmth of your own flickers from you into me, from me into you.« Schönberg found a poetic voice here that reflected his aesthetic stance – and an impressive love story that defied the moral standards of the time. He created a late romantic musical world for this – and the composition is one of his most popular pieces of chamber music today.

Im Klang: Pelleas and Melisande

Belcea Quartet

Beethoven's five late string quartets are a listening adventure like no other. One of the most performed and beloved is No. 14, with opus number 131. Here, it seems as if Beethoven is searching for the freedom of thought and soul through his music. Perhaps that's also why this music speaks so strongly to us, with its warmth, imagination, and intensity, transcending all historical barriers. And the slow, dense first movement is among the most beautiful ever created for a string quartet.The Belcea Quartet is one of the world's most prominent string quartets. The quartet has performed at Konserthuset Stockholm on several occasions previously, including in a series of concerts featuring all of Beethoven's string quartets.Here, instead, the quartet combines Beethoven with Arnold Schönberg, whom many associate with twelve-tone music. But Schönberg was a great romantic, and the string quartet we hear here, the first of four numbered ones, was his first truly major composition. It is music brimming with wild energy and swelling late romanticism, composed in 1905 in Vienna, a city that had a significant influence on Schönberg with its vibrant art scene and Freud's psychological investigations.