Classical Concerts at

Philharmonie Berlin

Guest performance Walking Beauty

Guest performance

Lunch concert

You can simply go to a concert at the Philharmonie, spontaneously, during your lunch break – and with free admission: every Wednesday at 13:00 between September and June. The programme lasts 40 to 50 minutes: chamber music, piano works or a percussion duo – everything from Tchaikovsky to tango. Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Karajan Academy regularly perform, as well as guests from the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Berlin music conservatories. As can be expected at a lunch concert, catering is available from 12 noon until shortly before the concert begins.

Guest performance

Daniel Harding conducts Holst’s “Planets”

With Gustav Holst’s atmospheric 1916 orchestral suite The Planets, Daniel Harding embarks on a cosmic musical journey through our solar system. Each of the seven planets has its own musical character, from rugged Mars to mystical Neptune. Holst was greatly inspired by Arnold Schoenberg’s Five Orchestral Pieces, which oscillate intriguingly between late Romanticism and Modernism. Completing the programme, Brett Dean’s Komarov’s Fall was commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2006 as a musical “asteroid” to Holst’s Planets.

Guest performance

“Ausklang” (Finale) Daniel Harding conducts Holst’s “Planets”

Welcome to the second instalment of our new series Ausklang! Each time, you can experience a short programme with a single orchestral work – but one that has it all. This time it’s Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite The Planets: a musical journey through our solar system, conducted by Daniel Harding. Each of the seven planets has its own musical character, from rugged Mars to mystical Neptune. Unusual orchestral effects are employed, inspiring many subsequent film music composers. After the concert, we invite you to enjoy a free drink in the foyer.

Guest performance Viva el Tango

Guest performance Viva el Tango

Daniel Harding conducts Holst’s “Planets”

With Gustav Holst’s atmospheric 1916 orchestral suite The Planets, Daniel Harding embarks on a cosmic musical journey through our solar system. Each of the seven planets has its own musical character, from rugged Mars to mystical Neptune. Holst was greatly inspired by Arnold Schoenberg’s Five Orchestral Pieces, which oscillate intriguingly between late Romanticism and Modernism. Completing the programme, Brett Dean’s Komarov’s Fall was commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2006 as a musical “asteroid” to Holst’s Planets.

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Guest performance

Guest performance

Guest performance

Guest performance

Kavakos & Fujita

»Ecstatic screams from the audience, standing ovations« was how the Tagesspiegel described Mao Fujita’s DSO debut in April 2023. Fujita’s god is Mozart. One music track from his ›Mozart Reworked‹ CD made it all the way to the top on Apple Music’s ›Piano Chill Playlist‹; his recording of all the piano sonatas has been enthusiastically received by the critics. A real discovery.

Guest performance

Opera Arias, Zarzuelas and Latin American Songs

Memorial concert to mark 80 years of Auschwitz liberation

On this memorable day, works will be performed that reflect the music of the Holocaust in a special way: the string trio by Gideon Klein, composed in the Theresienstadt ghetto nine days before his deportation to Auschwitz, the String Quartet No. 5 from 1945 by the Polish-Jewish composer Mieczysław Weinberg. And for the first time, the new work “Aus Geigen Stimmen” by Berthold Tuercke. Its subtitle “with 53 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello and mixed choir for the rescued ‘Violins of Hope’ of Amnon Weinstein” refers to the rescued instruments that the Israeli violin maker Weinstein collected from Holocaust victims. These original instruments will be played in our concert!

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.

Lunch concert

You can simply go to a concert at the Philharmonie, spontaneously, during your lunch break – and with free admission: every Wednesday at 13:00 between September and June. The programme lasts 40 to 50 minutes: chamber music, piano works or a percussion duo – everything from Tchaikovsky to tango. Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Karajan Academy regularly perform, as well as guests from the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Berlin music conservatories. As can be expected at a lunch concert, catering is available from 12 noon until shortly before the concert begins.

Kirill Petrenko and Frank Peter Zimmermann

What Jean Sibelius is to Finland, Edward Elgar is to England: both composers gave their country its own national musical language. With his Lemminkäinen Suite, Sibelius transports us to the world of Finnish legends. He tells of the adventures of a young, high-spirited hero in music that is as impassioned as it is sincere. Edward Elgar’s violin concerto reflects the values of Victorian England – profound, romantic, noble. The violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, widely acclaimed for his selfless musicality, performs the concerto under the direction of Kirill Petrenko.

Carte blanche – Berlin, hör mal!

In the Karajan Akademie of the Berliner Philharmoniker, outstanding young musicians are prepared for artistic work in a world-class orchestra. The concert series Carte blanche – Berlin, hör mal! particularly highlights the Academy’s educational mission. Here, the young musicians step out of the orchestra to perform as soloists or in ensembles. They select the repertoire and design the programmes themselves – a true Carte blanche in every sense of the term.

Originalklang Jean Rondeau: “Sisyphus”

Jean Rondeau is not only a highly respected interpreter of harpsichord works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti, among others, but also a great jazz musician. So it comes as no surprise that he is passionate about improvisation – an art that is equally at home in both genres. Jean Rondeau presents an evening of improvisation designed to inspire through surprise: “In the absence of prior knowledge, the unexpected happens,” he explains.

Kirill Petrenko and Frank Peter Zimmermann

What Jean Sibelius is to Finland, Edward Elgar is to England: both composers gave their country its own national musical language. With his Lemminkäinen Suite, Sibelius transports us to the world of Finnish legends. He tells of the adventures of a young, high-spirited hero in music that is as impassioned as it is sincere. Edward Elgar’s violin concerto reflects the values of Victorian England – profound, romantic, noble. The violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, widely acclaimed for his selfless musicality, performs the concerto under the direction of Kirill Petrenko.

Guest performance Revolution of Love

Kirill Petrenko and Frank Peter Zimmermann

What Jean Sibelius is to Finland, Edward Elgar is to England: both composers gave their country its own national musical language. With his Lemminkäinen Suite, Sibelius transports us to the world of Finnish legends. He tells of the adventures of a young, high-spirited hero in music that is as impassioned as it is sincere. Edward Elgar’s violin concerto reflects the values of Victorian England – profound, romantic, noble. The violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, widely acclaimed for his selfless musicality, performs the concerto under the direction of Kirill Petrenko.

Guest performance Album Release: Hopes & Fears

Peace on Earth

Under the motto »Orchestra for Democracy«, the DSO invites the audience to two concerts that combine music and speech to make a powerful plea for human rights and the value of our democracy. Central works of classical modernism and late romanticism meet contemporary reflections and create a format that places the demands and reality of our society at the centre.

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Guest performance

Participants and programme to be announced

Guest performance

Participants and programme to be announced