Staatskapelle Berlin and Susanna Mälkki

Festtage­konzert Staatskapelle Berlin

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pierre Boulez, an influential composer and conductor closely associated with the Staatskapelle Berlin. The FESTTAGE concert will feature music by Alban Berg and Gustav Mahler, composers with whom Boulez had a special relationship, and Boulez's own "Notations" for large orchestra, a piece familiar to the Staatskapelle.

Staatskapelle Berlin: Gastspiel in Wien

Staatskapelle Berlin: Gastspiel in Wien

STAATSKAPELLE BERLIN & FINNEGAN DOWNIE DEAR

From January 2025, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden will present György Kurtág’s only opera Fin de partie, based on Samuel Beckett’s Endgame. During the run of performances, the Staatskapelle and a group of vocal soloists bring Kurtág’s 1990 Beckett homage What Is the Word to the Pierre Boulez Saal, continuing the annual tradition of the orchestra’s guest concerts. Kurtág’s fascinating score is framed by works of Béla Bartók and Franz Schubert. Young British conductor Finnegan Downie Dear, who led the Staatskapelle’s previous Pierre Boulez Saal appearance, returns to the podium. Presented by the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in cooperation with the Pierre Boulez Saal. Tickets are available exclusively from the Staatsoper Unter den Linden: staatsoper-berlin.de

BERLIN STAATSKAPELLE STRING QUARTET & MOJCA ERDMANN

When Felix Mendelssohn’s sister Fanny died unexpectedly in 1847, the composer confessed to feeling “the greatest emptiness and barrenness in my mind and heart.” He poured his grief into his F-minor String Quartet, which was to remain the last quartet he completed before passing away himself just a few months later. The Berlin Staatskapelle String Quartet combines this instrumental requiem with Gustav Mahler’s Rückert Songs—works that also talk about love and leave-taking—in an arrangement by Swiss composer David Philip Hefti, with Mojca Erdmann as the soloist. The songs will be interspersed with the individual movements of Hefti’s Sixth String Quartet, Fünf Szenen für Gustav. Schubert’s youthful G-minor Quartet, written when the composer was just 18 years old, completes the program.

The Famous Duke The BigBand of the Deutsche Oper Berlin pays homage to Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington’s name is almost synonymous with the sound of the big band era. The Deutsche Oper Berlin’s Big Band pays him homage to mark his 125th anniversary: as well as his greatest hits, they will also play the world premiere of the Manfred Honetschläger’s suite The Famous Duke.

Bruckner's works for the liturgical Gebrauch Mass No. 1 in D minor and further compositions

2024 is Bruckner year. This makes the classical world think first and foremost of his symphonies and his monumental religious works. By contrast, his works for liturgical use are much less well-known. The RIAS Kammerchor embarks on a voyage of discovery together with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and, in addition to a number of shorter works, presents the Mass No 1 in D minor – with the aim of rediscovering the sonic experience of the period in which it was written by using a markedly slimmed-down cast.