The Wedding of the Sun King

Chamber concert Ballhaus Wedding

The concert with members of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester and the Rundfunkchor Berlin illuminates a fascinating section of Jewish music and Jewish culture in the 1920s in Berlin.Era of the 1920s in Berlin. Until the National Socialists seized power in 1933, Berlin was considered one of the most culturally exciting cities in the world for about a decade. Right in the centre: Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht and their Dreigroschenoper. But the Jewish cantors Arno Nadel, Mark Warschawski and Joseph Achron also wrote Berlin music history in an endearing way. Ballrooms have had a great time in Berlin. Without the plush dance halls, the Golden Twenties would probably not have become the cult brand that it is today, and which even had an impact on the founding years of radio. The RSB opens up two of Berlin’s lovingly maintained ballrooms for selected chamber concerts: the Ballhaus Wedding and the Ballhaus Neukölln, today’s “Heimathafen”.Both mark stations on an imaginary line between the orchestra’s two radio houses during its 100-year history: the Haus des Rundfunks in Charlottenburg and the Funkhaus Nalepastraße in Oberschöneweide.

Iestyn Davies, Robin Ticciati and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe

Anyone who delves into George Frideric Handel’s vocal and instrumental music will find a wealth of treasures. Elegance, virtuosity, delicacy – all this can be discovered in an endlessly inventive world of musical expression. In a programme with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and conductor Robin Ticciati, you can experience some of Handel’s most beautiful arias and orchestral pieces from operas and other works. Iestyn Davies, one of the leading countertenors of our time, is the soloist. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a great admirer of Handel. His festive and exuberant “Haffner Symphony” concludes the programme.

»The Art of Being Human«

Human existence is a contradictory business. »The Art of Being Human« explores the complex impacts of this trite fact. The Grammy award-winning viola da gamba ensemble Phantasm thereby ensures a musical performance at the very highest level. Its members put their instrumental mastery into operation for an evening in which old sounds and contemporary dance blend into an inseparable unit and jointly try to fathom the darkest recesses of the human condition. Choreographer Sommer Ulrickson and allround visual artist Alexander Polzin create a multidisciplinary framework in which music and movement come together, connect with each other, hook into each other, collide and cross fertilise. Under the leadership of Laurence Dreyfus, Phantasm plays music of English masters, such as John Dowland, Henry Purcell and William Byrd. At the same time, the musicians interact in the most diverse way with the dancers, who move as partners and yet adversaries around sculptures by the Berlin artist Alexander Polzin. The result is a staged concert evening, which makes full use of the potential of this currently popular format!

›The Magic of Silence‹

On the occasion of Caspar David Friedrich’s 250th birthday – he was probably the most significant painter in the German Romantic era – he is the focus not only of a major Berlin exhibition, but also of a lecture-concert in the James Simon Gallery, architectural entry point to Museum Island. The evening is entitled ›The Magic of Silence‹, the title of a book on Friedrich that Florian Illies, its author, will shape jointly with clarinetist Bernhard Nusser, soprano Alessia Schumacher and pianist Dirk Wedmann. The programme consists of songs by Meyerbeer, Schubert, Schumann and Spohr that musically pick up on the Romantic spirit.

Pearls in Baroque: The French Connection of Purcell

The Image of Melancholy: John Dowland and Henry Purcell

The Sunday Morning Concert brings you wonderful and much-loved compositions, performed by top musicians from the Netherlands and abroad. Enjoy the most beautiful music in the morning! You can make your Sunday complete by enjoying a delicious post-concert lunch in restaurant LIER.The Royal Concertgebouw is one of the best concert halls in the world, famous for its exceptional acoustics and varied programme. Attend a concert and have an experience you will never forget. Come and enjoy inspiring music in the beautiful surroundings of the Main Hall or the intimate Recital Hall.

The Bach Choir and Orchestra of the Netherlands: Handel's Messiah

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!

The Bach Choir and Orchestra of the Netherlands: Handel's Messiah

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!

The Bach Choir and Orchestra of the Netherlands: Handel's Messiah

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!