Matinée of the Friends of the Berliner Philharmoniker e. V. The Queen of instruments

Matinee of the Friends of the Berliner Philharmoniker e. V. “Introduced: New Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker”

A welcome matineeEvery orchestra is a living organism and is constantly changing: With the Berliner Philharmoniker, too, familiar faces leave and retire year after year. New musicians come in their place - and many of them quickly become audience favourites. We would like to use the summer matinee to introduce you to some of these newcomers. Among them is first principal viola Diyang Mei, who has already made history by being the first Chinese to join the orchestra. He has lived in Germany since 2014, where he won the prestigious ARD Music Competition in 2018. You can also look forward to the new principal timpanist, the young Austrian Vincent Vogel, who inherited his teacher Rainer Seegers in this position in 2022: almost a Philharmoniker dynasty. A total of four new members will be available to answer questions at this welcome matinee. And, of course, they will also inspire you with their instrumental skills.

Matinée of the Friends of the Berliner Philharmoniker e. V. “Music must enchant” ‒ A Maurice Ravel matinée

A Maurice Ravel matinéeHe is perhaps the most popular French composers: Maurice Ravel. Who doesn't know his Bolero, which presents a huge upward curve based on a distinct drum rhythm? The music always stays in time, as precise as a clockwork, but with its constantly expanding instrumentation and growing dynamics, it can either put us in a trance or ecstasy. It was not only with this work that Ravel achieved a real stroke of genius. This composer also allows us to dream nostalgically of times gone by and the paradise of childhood. With him, we can also look to the future and into other genres, as Ravel was one of the first to make jazz acceptable in classical music. On his 150th birthday, which the music world will celebrate on 7 March 2025, we want to honour Maurice Ravel with a musical and literary matinee that will take you through his life and present some of his most original chamber music works.

The Queen of instruments

The Queen of instruments

The Queen of Instruments

There are not many instruments that are played simultaneously with hands and feet. The organ is one of them. It's not surprising that one has to use the whole body to make such a huge apparatus sound. Believe it or not, our organ in the Kulturpalast has a total of 4109 pipes! How to make them produce music, what a register is, what lies behind the strange word "manual," and much more will be learned at our school concert. Oh, and why is the organ actually in the concert hall and not in a church? 9:00 am: Classes 3 and 4 10:45 am: Classes 5 and 6

The Queen of Instruments

There are not many instruments that are played simultaneously with hands and feet. The organ is one of them. It's not surprising that one has to use the whole body to make such a huge apparatus sound. Believe it or not, our organ in the Kulturpalast has a total of 4109 pipes! How to make them produce music, what a register is, what lies behind the strange word "manual," and much more will be learned at our school concert. Oh, and why is the organ actually in the concert hall and not in a church? 9:00 am: Classes 3 and 4 10:45 am: Classes 5 and 6

“The 75th birthday” ‒ A matinee to celebrate the Friends of the Berliner Philharmoniker association

A matinee to celebrate the association's anniversary75 years ago, on 17 October 1949, our association was founded. Its aim was to build a new concert hall for the Berliner Philharmoniker, who had become homeless during World War II. The “Friends” formed a large citizens' initiative and, with their contributions and donation campaigns, made a significant impact on the opening of the Philharmonie, which was designed by Hans Scharoun, in 1963. But there was still a lot to do afterwards: The chamber music hall opened its doors in 1987, the orchestra received valuable instruments, and many major projects such as the Philharmoniker's Europakonzert were realised with our support. We want to celebrate this round birthday: with prominent guests and, of course, with great music played by members of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Afterwards, we will celebrate the anniversary together in the foyer.

Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker Piano recital with Alexander Melnikov

Was the world a better place in the Romantic era? Alexander Melnikov explores this question through his piano recital – following the theme of our Biennale entitled Paradise lost? On the threat to nature. With Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy, Melnikov leads you through idyllic landscapes and man-made chasms, reveals the poetry of Schumann’s Waldszenen, and shows atmospheric images of nature in Franz Liszt’s piano works. The forest appears here as a place of retreat – from the self and from encroaching industrialisation. By contrast, Alexander Scriabin prophesies the destruction of the world in the grand conflagration of Vers la flamme.

Artist in Residence Seong-Jin Cho and members of the Berliner Philharmoniker

Artist in Residence Seong-Jin Cho and members of the Berliner Philharmoniker unfold a panorama of Hungarian musical styles in this concert. Johannes Brahms was often inspired by Hungarian music in his works, for instance in the finale of his clarinet trio, which oscillates between deep emotion and serenity. The trio for violin, horn and piano, which the Hungarian György Ligeti wrote in homage to Brahms, is characterised by folk rhythms. The piano quintet by the young Béla Bartók, who would go on to revolutionise Hungarian music, is still very much rooted in the Romantic period. But even here – according to Seong-Jin Cho – you can sense “Bartók's musical future”.