Author: Andrea Kerner

As part of this year’s Berlin Culture Summer Festival, the Babylon ORCHESTRA and the Sarahbanda, founded by Sarah Willis, set sail on two rafts on Monday, 14 June, immersing the audience on the shores between Holzmarkt 25 and Funkhaus Berlin in rousing Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Caribbean worlds of sound. At the landing stages Mercedes Benz Arena/East Side Gallery and Funkhaus Berlin on Nalepastrasse, the musicians enthralled a total of around 3,000 spectators, who danced, sang along and celebrated the Berlin summer despite looming storm clouds. Also on board was a team from the Abendschau from rbb, who were able to participate directly in the action on the Sarahbanda’s raft:

Abendschau from Monday, 14 August 2023, 7.30 p.m.
Abendschau from Monday, 14 August 2023, 9.45 p.m.

Sarah Willis was still a live guest on rbbkultur on Monday morning!

An event by conc.arts berlin, programme partner of the Berlin 2023 Cultural Summer Festival. The concerts took place within the framework of the Berlin 2023 Cultural Summer Festival, conceived and implemented by Kulturprojekte Berlin in cooperation with over 100 programme partner:inners on the initiative of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.

As part of this year’s Berlin Summer Festival of Culture, Babylon ORCHESTRA and Sarahbanda, founded by Sarah Willis, will set sail on two rafts and immerse the audience on the shores between Holzmarkt 25 and Funkhaus Berlin in rousing Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Caribbean worlds of sound. They will drop anchor at the landing stages Mercedes Benz Arena/East Side Gallery and Funkhaus Berlin on Nalepastrasse. The ensembles will play half-hour concerts at both stops, two at the East Side Gallery and one at the Funkhaus. Admission is free, registration is not required.

Monday, 14 August 2023
Pier at the Riedel shipping company at the East Side Gallery
18:00 – 18:30: Babylon ORCHESTRA
18:30 – 19 h: Sarahbanda
20:30 – 21 h: Babylon ORCHESTRA
21:00 – 21:30: Sarahbanda
Pier at the Funkhaus Berlin
19:30 – 20 h: Babylon ORCHESTRA
20:00 – 20:30: Sarahbanda
… and Spreeufer between Holzmarkt and Treptower Park.

An event by conc.arts berlin, programme partner of the Berlin 2023 Cultural Summer Festival. The concerts take place within the framework of the Kultursommerfestival Berlin 2023, which is conceived and implemented by Kulturprojekte Berlin in cooperation with over 100 programme partners on the initiative of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.

Sarah Willis and the Havana Lyceum Orchestra under the direction of José Antonio Mendez have formed a unique bond: “Basically, we’ve created this family that’s very similar to a youth orchestra family. We love and support one another,” the horn player describes this special relationship to Gramophone Magazine. In August, they celebrate music as a whole at various festivals, combining European art music with Cuban rhythms and South American compositions – guaranteed to get every foot tapping along!

02 – 04 August 2023, Rheingau Musikfestival
05 August 2023, Residenzfestspiele Darmstadt
06 August 2023, Concertgebouw Amsterdam
08 August 2023, Lucerne Festival
10 August 2023, Konzerthaus Berlin/Young Euro Classics

Three programmes with works by R. Egües, W. A. Mozart, J. Amado, C. Valdés, J. Fernández and others, as well as Cuban Dances for solo horn, strings and percussion.

Summer is here and the festival season is already in full swing. We are very much looking forward to being guests with our orchestras and ensembles at some particularly beautiful festivals and venues in the coming weeks:

At the Nordic Lights Festival in Berlin
With Kent Nagano at the Ravello Festival
With Freigeist Ensemble at the Rheingau Music Festival
With the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in Baden-Baden
With young pianists from Building Bridges in Evian
With Freiburg BarockConsort & Vox Luminis at the Salzburg Festival
With Il Giardino Armonico and Finnish Baroque Orchestra at Herrenchiemsee
With Europa Galante in Linz
With Sarah Willis and Havana Lyceum Orchestra at the Lucerne Festival and other great venues
With Sarahbanda & Babylon Orchestra on a raft along the river Spree

The Nordic Lights Festival brings together the four most important baroque orchestras in Northern Europe – Barokkanerne, Concerto Copenhagen, Drottningholms Barockensemble, Finnish Baroque Orchestra – and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra for an inspiring celebration of music in Berlin.

The festival will begin with a performance of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Philharmonie Berlin conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado. Following the performance, the four orchestras of the Nordic Baroque Scene and the FBO will continue their journey north together and present Edvard Grieg’s “From Holberg’s Time” as a string ensemble for one evening.

On the following evening, the five orchestras will present a diverse programme that not only demonstrates the musical richness of Northern and Central Europe, but also the almost unlimited interpretation possibilities for original sound instrumentation.

Friday, 30 June 2023, Philharmonie Berlin – Live broadcasted by Deutschlandfunk Kultur Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, op. 61
Max Urlacher, actor / Pablo Heras-Casado, conductor / RIAS Kammerchor / Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
Edvard Grieg: “From Holberg’s time” Suite for string orchestra op. 40
Gottfried von der Goltz, musical director / Barokkanerne / Concerto Copenhagen / Drottingholms Barocksemble / Finnish Baroque Orchestra / Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

Saturday, 01 July 2023, Säälchen at the Holzmarkt
NORDIC LIGHTS FESTIVAL
Barokkanerne & Ragnhild Hemsing, Hardanger fiddle / Concerto Copenhagen & Jakob Bloch Jespersen, bass-baritone / Drottningholm Baroque Orchestra & Torbjörn Näsbom, nyckelharpa / Finnish Baroque Orchestra & Petri Kumela, baroque guitar / Freiburger Barockorchester
Traditional music from Sweden and Norway / Works by A. Vivaldi, F. Couperin, D. Buxtehude, J. H. Roman, J. Agrell, F. Berwald, L. Boccherini, C. Baguer, M. Marais, J. Haydn, A. Auvinen, A. I. Pettersen

The first summer festivals of the 2023/24 season start in June, including the Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival, Kissingen Sommer an Bach Festival Leipzig.

Potsdam’s theme this year is “Friendship” and explores possible influences that strong spiritual and emotional ties and common interests can have or have had on music. Among others, the Italian baroque orchestra Il Giardino Armonico and Giovanni Antonini are invited to follow the traces of the Bassano family in London in their programme IL VIAGGIO DI BASSANO. Shortly afterwards, the orchestra and soprano Anna Prohaska will be guests at the Kissinger Sommer with their long-running SERPENT & FIRE.

Fabio Biondi and his orchestra Europa Galante explore the many connections between the work of Antonio Vivaldi and various works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Händel on the occasion of this year’s Bach Festival Leipzig.

11 June 2023, Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival
IL VIAGGIO DI BASSANO
Giovanni Antonini, transverse flute & musical direction
Virtuoso Wind Music from Renaissance & Early Baroque
18 June 2023, Kissinger Summer
SERPENT & FIRE
Anna Proaska, soprano
Works by H. Purcell, G. F. Händel, J. A. Hasse a.o.

15 June 2023, Bach Festival Leipzig
CONCERTS AVEC PLUSIEURS INSTRUMENTS II
Fabio Biondi, violin & musical direction
Works by J. S. Bach & A. Vivaldi
17 June 2023, Bachfest Leipzig
CONCERTS AVEC PLUSIEURS INSTRUMENTS V
Fabio Biondi, musical direction / Roberta Invernizzi, soprano
Works by J. S. Bach, G. F. Händel & A. Vivaldi

“The COE is like a good CEO: it is an undisputed leader but uses its power with discretion and always in the service of music. It has been my privilege over the years to join the orchestra for many unforgettable concerts.” (Herbert Blomstedt)

Although still in her early twenties, Spanish violinist Maria Dueñas has already received an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, has been named one of the BBC New Generation Artists 2021-2023 and has been awarded the Princesa de Girona Art and Culture 2023 Prize. Maria Dueñas is also a successful composer: Her solo piano piece “Farewell” was awarded a prize in the “Of Foreign Lands and People” competition for young composers in 2016.

24 May 2023, Cologne Philharmonic Hall
25 May 2023, Dortmund Concert Hall
26 May 2023, Philharmonie Luxembourg
BERWALD/MENDELSSOHN
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
F. Berwald: Symphony No. 4 in E flat major “Naïve F.
F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, op. 56 “Scottish”

28 May 2023, Dresden Music Festival
MENDELSSOHN
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor / Maria Dueñas, violin
F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Konzert für Violine und Orchester e-Moll op. 64
F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, op. 56 “Scottish”

The legendary Kronos Quartet celebrates its 50th anniversary and is a guest at Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal for a week as part of the Quartet Summer. In addition to a concert of groundbreaking string quartet works of the 20th and 21st centuries, the quartet will also present a live musical documentation of its eventful history. In addition, a comprehensive education programme with up-and-coming string quartets will accompany the residency.

16 May 2023, Pierre Boulez Hall
A THOUSAND THOUGHTS – A Live Documentary with the Kronos Quartet
Sam Green, Speaker / Kronos Quartet

20 May 2023, Pierre Boulez Saal
BLACK ANGELS
Kronos Quartet
Works for string quartets by F. Ali-Sade, S. Gubaidulina, M. Gordon, T. Riley & G. Crumb

21 May 2023, Pierre Boulez Saal
OPEN DAY
Kronos Quartet / students of the Barenboim-Said Akademie, Hochschule für Musik „Hanns Eisler“ and Berliner Universität der Künste
Works for string quartet of different composers

The 2023/24 season is gradually drawing to a close. All the more reason to look forward to the next few weeks, when some of our orchestras and ensembles will be performing in major concert halls and at renowned festivals in Europe:

Freiburg Baroque Orchestra travels to Switzerland with Mozart
Kronos Quartet comes to Berlin for a week
Building Bridges: Young Pianists Present Themselves
Nordic Lights Festival: Musical Midsummer Night in Berlin
Il Giardino Armonico as guest in Potsdam and Bad Kissingen
Europa Galante at the Bach Festival Leipzig
Babylon Orchestra brings the Mediterranean to Ludwigsburg
Chamber Orchestra of Europe on tour with Herbert Blomstedt
In Eichstätt and Aldeburgh: Phantasm Viol Consort
Avi Avital and the Between Worlds Ensemble in Ravensburg