»Music for 18 Musicians«

Music for Queen Mary

The Concertgebouw’s famous Main Hall is one of the best concert halls in the world, well-known for its exceptional acoustics and special atmosphere. In the Main Hall, you will feel history. Here, Gustav Mahler conducted his own compositions, as did Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. Sergei Rachmaninoff played his own piano concertos in the Main Hall. This is also where musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Yehudi Menuhin gave legendary performances. Right up to now, the Main Hall offers a stage to the world’s best orchestras and musicians. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Main Hall for yourself!

Classical music for Easter

Ultraschall – Festival for new Music

Vladimir Jurowski sees himself as a politically aware artist who intervenes and takes a stand on current events. The RSB’s concert at Ultraschall Berlin is therefore particularly characterised by current affairs.Olga Rayeva: On the seaMany of her compositions deal with the theme of the sea. This is no coincidence: her early childhood is deeply connected with two cities: Moscow, where there is no sea, and Mariupol, where her mother’s parents lived at the time. She was always very happy in Mariupol and dreamed her whole life of being back there one day, near the somewhat murky, green Sea of Azov. She would then walk along an alleyway in this southern city to the small theatre…Now neither the theatre nor the town itself exists.This is a personal tragedy for Olga. The events of the last few years have destroyed her to a large extent internally. And the only way for a composer to deal with trauma is to write music.Elnaz Seyedi: a mark of our breathElnaz Seyedi’s compositions are influenced by literature, architecture and the visual arts as well as her studies in computer science. The sounds often oscillate between rigour and delicacy. Her work “a mark of our breath” was premiered as part of the concert series ‘Miniatures of Time’ – a series of twelve short orchestral pieces commissioned by Westdeutscher Rundfunk from various composers. They all deal with issues of our time, such as sustainability or the coronavirus crisis. Elnaz Seyedi himself writes about a mark of our breath:“The composition was created in 2021 during a stay in Wendland. Inspired by the expansive view with three quarters of the sky, which is different in every weather and every time of day, but actually always spectacular, and a landscape with a rich spectrum of green and later in autumn of yellow. The piece begins in this peaceful landscape, which gradually breaks up from within. The human voices – played and sung simultaneously in the brass instruments – are on the one hand part of this landscape, enriching it with their very special colour. On the other hand, their flipside is the destruction of the seemingly original.”Farzia Fallah “Traces of a Burning Mass” for orchestraLike Seyedi, Farzia Fallah was also born in Iran. Her orchestral work, for which she received the Heidelberg Women Artists’ Prize, was written during the protests against the violent death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in autumn 2022: musical traces of a burning, angry, freedom-loving mass. The concert can be heard on the radio on the following dates:Deutschlandfunk Kultur: 18 January 2024, 8:03 pm rbbKultur: 12 March 2024, 11:03 pm About the festival:The “Ultraschall – Festival for New Music” presents recently created works in a music-historical context that goes back to the beginnings of the post-war avant-garde, a period that now spans more than 70 years.In recent years, more and more premieres and first performances have been presented at the festival, and some of the works are also commissioned by the festival, but the approach remains the same: to give space to current trends in contemporary music and at the same time to categorise these current productions in terms of music history.

Ultraschall – Festival for New Music

The concert will be broadcasted live on Deutschlandfunk Kultur at 8 pm.

MUSIC FOR A FUTURE WITHOUT GUARANTEES

How to deal with the uncertainty of the future? Together with the audience, singer Zola Mennenöh and composer Max Andrzejewski set out in search of musical answers. Inspired by the artist and researcher Lisa Nyberg, they use poetic song lyrics and chamber music with influences from new music and jazz to encourage openness, curiosity and hope in dealing with uncertainty. ‘Our times demand that we learn new skills,’ write Mennenöh and Andrzejewski - including ’actions that involve our body and our feelings and thus awaken self-efficacy and creative power.’ In contact with the audience, the result is a concert evening with chamber music, improvisation and spoken word that transcends formats and genres. The event will be held in English.

Film music – cinema for your ears

Music really brings a film to life! Whether contemplative moments, fast-paced chases or sad farewells – the right music completes the scenes. Music is used as a means to drive the plot forward and steer it in a certain direction. What composition techniques are there? What happens when the same music accompanies different images? Together with the orchestra, presenter and music lover Malte Arkona explores selected soundtracks in a humorous and informative way.

Alex Paxton / Music for Bosch People

»This is the most joyous sound I’ve heard in ages!« gushes a critic from »The New York Times« about Alex Paxton’s music. »Magic Sound Stuff« is what the British composer and jazz trombonist calls it himself. And that is exactly what you can look forward to at this relaxed, multimedia, after-work concert: magic sound stuff. Besides the jazz clubs of Europe, Alex Paxton is also taking major concert stages around the continent by storm, with his cool and – in the best sense of the word – over-the-top music. In 2023 alone he won several important prizes, including the Claussen Simon Composition Prize. As part of this accolade, he is writing a work for the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra for the second edition of »Elbphilharmonie Visions« in spring 2025. Before that though, the London-based artist is due to take to the stage himself. Accompanied by stirring live projections, he presents his acclaimed album »Music for Bosch People« with a quartet line-up – a grandiose mix of virtuoso chamber music, jazz improvisations and whirring gaming sounds. Alex Paxton is flying high as a music maker, but he also creates brightly coloured collages. He was a primary school teacher for many years and is just as interested in the music tob e heard on trash TV as he is in fiddly jazz stuff. Plenty of potential for a short artist talk over a relaxed after-work drink and getting to know Alex a little better. Please note: This event is part of the accompanying programme of »Elbphilharmonie Visions« – the festival for contemporary music in the Grand Hall of the Elbphilharmonie. The festival enters its next round in February 2025, with some superb orchestras, artist talks and some of the most exciting works of our time. Alex Paxton’s new composition for the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra celebrates its world premiere at the opening concert on 7 February 2025 under the direction of chief conductor Alan Gilbert.

Thank You For The Music: ABBA Symphonic

From "Mamma Mia" to "Dancing Queen": The stirring hits of the Swedish pop icons make hearts dance. The WDR Funkhausorchester brings back the glamor of the ABBA era and lets the band's biggest successes shine in a new symphonic light.

Thank You For The Music: ABBA Symphonic + Livestream

From "Mamma Mia" to "Dancing Queen": The stirring hits of the Swedish pop icons make hearts dance. The WDR Funkhausorchester brings back the glamor of the ABBA era and lets the band's biggest successes shine in a new symphonic light.