ConcertPulse
Guest performance
Philharmonie Berlin, Chamber Music Hall (Berlin)
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Off to Italy! If not in person, you can at least escape the grey of Berlin for a while with the Konzerthausorchester, Joana Mallwitz and our former artist in residence violist Antoine Tamestit. First, Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi will take you through picturesque Ligurian villages. The 21-year-old Felix Mendelssohn also fell in love with the southern landscape: ‘There is music in it, it sounds and resounds from all sides.’ He wrote to his sister Fanny: ‘In general, composing is now fresh again. The ‘Italian Symphony’ is making great progress; it will be the funniest piece I have written.’ However, the first version was only completed with great effort in the Berlin winter of 1832 - you would never know that from listening! Hector Berlioz travelled through the Abruzzo mountains. Impressions from this tour and inspiration from Byron's poem ‘Childe Harold's Pilgrimage’ resulted in a stylistically unique symphony in which the solo viola seems to embody the thematically rather static traveller, while the orchestra seems to embody the romantic, roaring world, including a serenade to the lover and a description of a robbers' camp.
Off to Italy! If not in person, you can at least escape the grey of Berlin for a while with the Konzerthausorchester, Joana Mallwitz and our former artist in residence violist Antoine Tamestit. First, Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi will take you through picturesque Ligurian villages. The 21-year-old Felix Mendelssohn also fell in love with the southern landscape: ‘There is music in it, it sounds and resounds from all sides.’ He wrote to his sister Fanny: ‘In general, composing is now fresh again. The ‘Italian Symphony’ is making great progress; it will be the funniest piece I have written.’ However, the first version was only completed with great effort in the Berlin winter of 1832 - you would never know that from listening! Hector Berlioz travelled through the Abruzzo mountains. Impressions from this tour and inspiration from Byron's poem ‘Childe Harold's Pilgrimage’ resulted in a stylistically unique symphony in which the solo viola seems to embody the thematically rather static traveller, while the orchestra seems to embody the romantic, roaring world, including a serenade to the lover and a description of a robbers' camp.
Our Artist in Residence, cellist Sheku, and his sister, pianist Isata, are the best-known of the musically highly gifted seven children of the British Kanneh-Mason family. Somebody who has grown up playing instruments together like these two will be more familiar with the other person's playing than almost anyone else - an excellent prerequisite for a top-class duo recital! In Francis Poulenc's cello sonata from 1948, “romanticism, neoclassicism and modernism join hands”. This is followed by the first of Gabriel Fauré's two cello sonatas. It was composed in 1917 during the highly productive late phase of the 72-year-old composer and director of the Paris Conservatoire, whom Debussy called “maître de charme” and whom d'Indy envied for his compositional freshness even a few years later. This is followed by a short piece by British composer, violinist and Menuhin pupil Natalie Klouda (*1984) and Felix Mendelssohn's first cello sonata, which Robert Schumann (presciently?) described as “the purest music...suitable for the finest family circles”.
He has played for three American presidents, the Supreme Court of the United States and has performed at the World Economic Forum—though thus far, at least, superstar Joshua Bell has not been invited to conduct the renowned political gathering. In Berlin, he’ll work as »playing conductor« with the 100-member DSO for the first time. Just one practical problem: what will he do with the Stradivarius violin, which is worth millions? »When I’m conducting, I keep the violin in one hand and conduct with my bow,« he laughs.
Diverse tonal colours, intense emotions: These qualities characterise the music of the Romantic period. This concert with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra shows just how broad an expressive spectrum could be encompassed by works from this period. Franz Schubert is featured, with his lyrical and intriguing “Unfinished” Symphony and melancholy “Lacrimoso son io”; also on the programme are Mendelssohn's liltingly lively “Scottish”’ Symphony and Richard Wagner's Siegfried Idyll: a tender declaration of love to his wife Cosima. Raphaël Pichon, best-known for his refreshing approach to early music, conducts.
Racism is not an opinion, racism is a crime! ›The Passion of Octavius Catto‹ by Uri Caine recounts the story of the civil rights activist murdered in 1871 in a masterpiece that ranges from gospel and jazz to classical and avantgarde. A concert with a powerful message. The DSO speaks out against the far-right!
Since 2010, ensembles of the Staatskapelle have been performing in the Bode Museum. The concerts, lasting just over an hour, take place in the Gobelin Hall and feature music from past centuries. Visitors can combine the concerts with other museum activities, such as an exhibition visit or a meal at the museum café.
In addition to the eternally young classic of the narrow string octet literature by 16-year-old Felix Mendelssohn, the eight KHO string players, led by our first concertmaster Suyeon Kim, will perform a work by 19-year-old George Enescu, a The contemporary of Béla Bartók composed a key work in his own individual style: folk melodies from his native Romania meet Brahmsian Romanticism and Parisian fin de siècle.
For the 2025 Waldbühne Concert, Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra welcome back celebrated pianist Lang Lang. Last heard with the orchestra in 2022, he now performs Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Beethoven’s “Eroica,” one of the most celebrated symphonies of the Classical and Romantic repertoire, completes the program. Secure your tickets now for what promises to be another unforgettable performance!