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March 2, 2025

Camille Thomas / Günther Groissböck / Boris Kusnezow / Klangrausch

Sun, Mar 2, 2025, 19:30

Elbphilharmonie, Kleiner Saal (Hamburg)

Günther Groissböck (Bass), Camille Thomas (Cello), Boris Kusnezow (Piano), Indira Koch (Violin), Sophia Reuter (Viola), Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt (Cello)

In the second part of the chamber music festival by and with the musicians of the Gropius Quartet and the string trio Klangrausch, the latter will perform chamber music highlights together with illustrious guests. From Dvořák’s famous Terzetto to Schubert’s Erlkönig with vocal star Günther Groissböck, Gustav Mahler’s marvellous piano quartet and Arensky’s quartet with two cellos with Camille Thomas. An evening that is certainly unique in this mix.

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

March 4, 2025

Gastspiel in Hamburg

Tue, Mar 4, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg)

Gewandhausorchester (Orchestra), Andris Nelsons (Conductor), Christiane Karg (Soprano)

Info & Ticket (www.gewandhausorchester.de)

March 5, 2025

Gastspiel in Hamburg

Wed, Mar 5, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg)

Gewandhausorchester (Orchestra), Andris Nelsons (Conductor), Lucas & Arthur Jussen (Piano)

Info & Ticket (www.gewandhausorchester.de)

March 9, 2025

Klassische Philharmonie Bonn / Silke Aichhorn / Ervis Gega

Sun, Mar 9, 2025, 11:00

Laeiszhalle, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Klassische Philharmonie Bonn, Silke Aichhorn (Harp), Ervis Gega (Violin), Ervis Gega (Director)

Accompanied by delicate harp sounds and soft strings, this evening is a feast for the senses: in an intimate atmosphere, floating light accents conjure up points of inspiration on the stage. The light from the lanterns creates a warmth that creates a connection between the artists and the audience. The music of great composers tells stories that touch the heart and soul. With its lively and clear melodies, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s serenade »Eine kleine Nachtmusik« is one of the most famous compositions in classical music. George Frideric Handel’s Harp Concerto in B flat major enchants with its elegant lightness and subtle nuances that make the harp shine as a solo instrument. Gustav Mahler’s Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony is a deeply emotional piece that is considered a musical love poem and makes time stand still with its tenderness. Finally, Antonín Dvořák’s String Serenade in E major exudes a touch of romanticism, full of Bohemian folk melodies and swinging elegance.

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse / Sol Gabetta / Tarmo Peltokoski

Sun, Mar 9, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, Sol Gabetta (Cello), Tarmo Peltokoski (Conductor)

»I wouldn’t have become a conductor if I hadn’t discovered the music of Wagner,« admits Tarmo Peltokoski, the 24-year-old rising star who will be Music Director of the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse from September 2024. At his ProArte debut, the Finn, who has been hailed as the »talent of the century«, also conducts a programme that certainly has something to do with Wagner – without a single one of his works being performed. Whether Claude Debussy’s shimmering »Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune«, Ernest Bloch’s oriental-influenced cello rhapsody »Schelomo« – a feast for star cellist Sol Gabetta – or the powerful First Symphony by Wagner fan Gustav Mahler: each of these works deals with Richard Wagner in its own way. A home game »around the corner« for Tarmo Peltokoski.

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

March 25, 2025

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra / Nina Stemme / Ryan Bancroft

Tue, Mar 25, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Nina Stemme (Soprano), Ryan Bancroft (Conductor)

The British Telegraph described Nina Stemme as undoubtedly »the greatest dramatic soprano of our time«, while German daily Die Welt recently paid tribute to her voice as »a soprano with a dark chestnut shimmer whose soft power is a true event«.The Swedish soprano can now be heard in Gustav Mahler’s highly emotional »Kindertotenlieder« at the Elbphilharmonie, accompanied by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of its new chief conductor, young high-flyer Ryan Bancroft. The poet Friedrich Rückert dealt with the death of two of his children in over 400 poems, five of which Mahler set to music. And they have it all: in highly expressive, almost operatic style, Mahler uses all the timbres of the orchestra to illustrate the texts. Tragic, dark and beautiful at the same time – as if made for Nina Stemme. Ryan Bancroft is one of the most exciting young conductors of our time: orchestras and audiences alike are thrilled by his presence: »Even the little finger of his right hand is expressive,« the Times wrote about him. For the first time, he is a guest on the Elbe with »his« Stockholm orchestra, and dedicates the second half of the concert to Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, which deals in powerful music with the unpredictability of fate.

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

April 2, 2025

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Klaus Mäkelä

Wed, Apr 2, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Klaus Mäkelä (Conductor)

There are few orchestras that can boast as long a Mahler tradition as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from Amsterdam. Even during Gustav Mahler’s lifetime, the orchestra regularly performed his symphonies and helped the composer achieve the fame he enjoys to this day. Klaus Mäkelä, who takes over as the orchestra’s chief conductor in 2027, continues this tradition with a performance of Mahler’s First Symphony. The composer wrote about his work: »It has become so overpowering – it flowed out of me like a mountain stream!« Also on the programme is Arnold Schönberg’s early work »Verklärte Nacht« for string orchestra, based on Richard Dehmel’s poem of the same name. Before Schönberg climbed to the top of the avant-garde and shocked the music world with his twelve-tone music, he wrote deeply Romantic pieces in his younger years, in which he endeavoured to unite the styles of Wagner and Brahms.

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

April 5, 2025

On Tour: Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Sat, Apr 5, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg)

Jakub Hrůša (Conductor), Konstantin Krimmel (Bariton)

»Mahler is a must!« That was absolutely clear to Jakub Hrůša when our journey together began in 2016 – as his late Romantic music is »genetically very close« to both him and ourselves. We have already performed five of his symphonies together in recent years. This programme includes the enchanting »Blumine« movement, which Mahler erased from his autobiographical first symphony and described himself as a »blissful infatuation«: he wrote it in 1884 as a young conductor when he had a crush on a soprano. However, his affection was not returned – and a year later, the »Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen« (»Songs of a Travelling Companion«) emerged from his emotional misery. Together with Konstantin Krimmel, we embark on the restless wanderings of the lovesick artist. After that we say: Not only Mahler is a must. For some time now, Jakub Hrůša has also been working more intensively on Bruckner, as he has recognised that only an orchestra that »really loves this music enough« will be able to make it work. He described the phase in which we immersed ourselves in the Symphony No. 4 in the 2018/2019 season as a »blissful experience with Bruckner« – and it was deepened even further: In the 2020 pandemic, we recorded our Chief Conductor’s personal take on all three versions of the work for a phenomenal and award-winning recording. In this programme, the »Romantic« is performed in the 1878/1880 version – first in Bamberg, as is traditional, of course. Then we will once again become »travelling companions« ourselves and present the works in two of the best halls in Europe: in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and (for the 10th time already!) in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie – where we have come to love and appreciate the inspiring acoustics.

Info & Ticket (www.bamberger-symphoniker.de)

April 9, 2025

Utopia / Alexandre Kantorow / Teodor Currentzis

Wed, Apr 9, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Utopia, N. N. (Soprano), Alexandre Kantorow (Piano), Teodor Currentzis (Conductor)

Few conductors of our time exude such charisma on stage as Teodor Currentzis. The Greek-Russian conductor lives and breathes music with every fibre of his sometimes eccentrically dressed body, regularly spurring his musicians on to outstanding performances. After his Russian-based ensemble MusicAeterna, Currentzis founded the project orchestra »Utopia« in 2022, made up of more than 100 musicians from 30 nations who otherwise play in European orchestras. An international all-star team, brought together by Currentzis himself and moulded into a musical unit. Even at the first performance at Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle, the cheers from the audience knew no bounds – »a little moment of magic«, NDR enthused. Now the ensemble returns to Hamburg for the third time, accompanied by French shooting-star pianist Alexandre Kantorow.

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

April 27, 2025

Symphoniker Hamburg / Han-Na Chang

Sun, Apr 27, 2025, 19:00

Laeiszhalle, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Symphoniker Hamburg, Han-Na Chang (Conductor)

Mozart's "little" G minor symphony, written at age 17, gained fame through Miloš Forman's 1984 film "Amadeus." Mozart valued it enough to request the score ten years later. Completed on October 5, 1773, after his third Italian trip, it's his first minor key symphony, inspired by Haydn's 39th symphony. Mahler's Fifth Symphony quotes Mozart's "Abduction from the Seraglio." Mahler struggled with the Fifth, revising it multiple times. The famous Adagietto, a love letter to his wife Alma, shouldn't be played too slowly.

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

May 7, 2025

Camilla Nylund / Helmut Deutsch / Song Recital

Wed, May 7, 2025, 19:30

Elbphilharmonie, Kleiner Saal (Hamburg)

Camilla Nylund (Soprano), Helmut Deutsch (Piano)

Camilla Nylund’s dramatic soprano has all it takes for the grand operas by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. But the Finn, who was recently hailed at the Elbphilharmonie for her »American Songbook« project, can also sing a couple of smaller numbers. This is particularly exciting when, with Helmut Deutsch, one of the most sought-after accompanists of all is at the piano. Alban Berg’s »Sieben frühe Lieder« (Seven Early Songs) are real gems and sound romantic in their own particular way – and tremendously sensitive. You can hear a lot of Gustav Mahler here! Especially as a composition pupil of Arnold Schönberg, the very young composer also makes forays to the limits of tonality here, however. Once older, he stubbornly held back many of his songs, but chose to release these seven. Obviously, he was particularly fond of them. With their warm, scintillating tenderness, which intensifies to a frenzy, they open up completely new horizons. There is perhaps no help for anyone who does not get goosebumps when the roses burst open in Theodor Storm’s »Nachtigall« (Nightingale)…

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Joshua Bell / Daniel Harding

Wed, May 7, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Joshua Bell (Violin), Daniel Harding (Conductor)

»I’m in love with Dvořák’s Violin Concerto and I don’t see that changing in the foreseeable future.« With this declaration of love, star violinist Joshua Bell takes the wind out of the sails of all those who think you only need to know the Bohemian composer’s – undeniably wonderful – Cello Concerto. In fact, the Violin Concerto offers everything you could wish for in a great evening at the Elbphilharmonie: melting melodies, highly virtuosic splendour, rousing dances. The Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia accompanies this enchanting work with Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony – a gathering of classical music masters!

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

May 17, 2025

Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Jaap van Zweden

Sat, May 17, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden (Conductor)

World-class finale: under the theme of »Zukunft« (Future), the Hamburg International Music Festival brings together the global players of classical music to conclude the season with exciting programmes. Included here is one of the most long-standing and prestigious orchestras in the USA: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Led by star conductor Jaap van Zweden, they fill the Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall with the visionary music of Gustav Mahler. Only a few composers have bestowed as many futuristic aspects to orchestral music as Mahler. A sought-after conductor with an international career himself, when composing, he intimately knew about the limits of the orchestra and could exhaust and repeatedly push them. In his magnificent and sombre Symphony No. 6, the most obvious sign of Mahler’s gift for innovation is a novel percussion effect: the famous hammer blow, which conjures up the apocalypse in the tragic final movement and thereby became the symbol of this entire work. This is, however, somewhat curtailed because the rest of the symphony is no less emotional, stirring and brilliant. A huge work of fiction in notes, captivating from the first to the last second!

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

May 18, 2025

Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Jaap van Zweden

Sun, May 18, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden (Conductor)

It has been an incredible 40 years since the Chicago Symphony Orchestra last performed in a ProArte concert. It is therefore high time to present America’s finest orchestra, one of the most traditional orchestras in the USA, to the ProArte audience at the Elbphilharmonie. As proven Mahler specialists, the musicians from Chicago make a substantial contribution to our season focus: according to Jaap van Zweden, Mahler’s 7th Symphony lies »exactly on the border between dream and reality« and is therefore one of the most demanding works – for conductor and orchestra alike. The path leads through night to light of the jubilant finale of the symphony, which the busy court opera director Mahler once again put to paper in his summer retreat on Lake Wörthersee. »At the first stroke of the oar, the theme [...] of the introduction to the first movement came to mind.«

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

May 27, 2025

Budapest Festival Orchestra / Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Chor / Iván Fischer

Tue, May 27, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Budapest Festival Orchestra, Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Chor Hamburg, Christiane Karg (Soprano), Anna Lucia Richter (Mezzo-Soprano), Iván Fischer (Conductor)

»Resurrect, yes resurrect, you will!« It is at the end of Mahler’s Second Symphony that the choir vocalises the religiously and philosophically motivated central message of the work with poignant optimism. Performances of the monumental »Resurrection Symphony« remain an impressive event to this day – not only in Hamburg of course, where the composer once had the inspiration for the choral finale in the »Michel« church. How fitting that the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Choir, a Hamburg-based orchestra, should now be performing the finale. The manuscript of the work, which lasts around one and a half hours, was auctioned off several years ago for 5.3 million euros. Fortunately, the live experience of hearing the work is a little more affordable – and priceless at the same time. »Resurrect, yes resurrect, you will!« It is at the end of Mahler’s Second Symphony that the choir vocalises the religiously and philosophically motivated central message of the work with poignant optimism. Performances of the monumental »Resurrection Symphony« remain an impressive event to this day – not only in Hamburg of course, where the composer once had the inspiration for the choral finale in the »Michel« church. How fitting that the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Choir, a Hamburg-based orchestra, should now be performing the finale. The manuscript of the work, which lasts around one and a half hours, was auctioned off several years ago for 5.3 million euros. Fortunately, the live experience of hearing the work is a little more affordable – and priceless at the same time.

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

June 15, 2025

Symphoniker Hamburg / Andris Poga

Sun, Jun 15, 2025, 19:00

Laeiszhalle, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Symphoniker Hamburg, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner (Mezzo-Soprano), N. N. (Tenor), Andris Poga (Conductor)

Luciano Berio, a prominent 20th-century Italian composer, had a unique relationship with tradition, creating numerous arrangements and transcriptions of various composers. In his 1989 work "Rendering," based on Schubert's unfinished Symphony No. 10, his arranging and composing skills merge. Berio likened his restoration approach to that of frescoes, reviving old colors without hiding time's damage. 1907 was a devastating year for Mahler, marked by his daughter's death, a heart condition diagnosis, anti-Semitic attacks, and his resignation from the Vienna Court Opera. Seeking solace, he found "The Chinese Flute," which inspired "Das Lied von der Erde," his personal farewell to the world, with the final song, "Der Abschied," being the longest.

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

June 29, 2025

Mahler: Symphony No. 3

Sun, Jun 29, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Norddeutsche Orchesterakademie, Frauenchor der Norddeutschen Orchesterakademie, Marta Herman (Alto), Kiril Stankow (Conductor)

Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphony is more than just music. It is an event. »For me, symphony means building a world with all the means of available technology,« said Mahler, and with his Third, he has moulded this aspiration into monumental music that breaks all boundaries. It tells a late Romantic story of creation: nature awakens from its icy torpor, flowers sway in the wind, animals dance in the forest, brass bands herald the arrival of summer, angels sing »Bim Bam«. But death lurks everywhere. At the end, in one of the most poignant finales in music history, the human soul soars to heavenly heights.

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)