Author: Andrea Kerner

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

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s incidental music to the famous Shakespeare comedy about the trials and tribulations of a midsummer’s night has lost none of its wit, originality and freshness in the 180 years since it was first performed in Berlin – when the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Pablos Heras-Casado take on the work, magic will not only be cast in the forest! After a series of guest performances in May, Midsummer Night’s Dream will be heard in Berlin at the end of June – as a prelude to the Nordic Ligths Festival!

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
with Max Urlacher, actor / Pablo Heras-Casado, conductor / RIAS Chamber Choir / Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: A Midsommer Night’s Dream op. 61
F. Schubert: Symphony no. 6 in C major D. 589
03 May 2023, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
04 May 2023, Musikverein Wien
06 May 2023, Staatstheater Wiesbaden
07 May 2023, Konzerthaus Freiburg
10 May 2023, Kölner Philharmonie
30 June 2023, Philharmonie Berlin

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe is regarded by audiences and the press, as well as soloists and conductors, as a guarantor of incomparable musical experiences. The experience of making music together reliably leads to the regular return of renowned artists – like a visit to old friends. From 17 April 2023, the COE will tour with Robin Ticciati and Lisa Batiashvili, and devote itself to love – spring fever not excluded!

SPRING TOUR
Lisa Batiashvili, violin / Robin Ticciati, conductor
L. van Beethoven: Violinconcrto in D major op. 61 / Egmont op. 84: inter act music I
J. Widmann: Liebeslied for eight instruments
L. van Beethoven: Egmont op. 84: inter act music II
H. Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette, Dramatic Symphony op. 17: love scene
L. van Beethoven: Egmont op. 84: Music, signifying Clärchen’s death / Egmont in F minor op. 84: overture
17 April 2023, Auditorium Bordaux
19 April 2023, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
20 April 2023, Berliner Philharmonie, Kammermusiksaal
22 April 2023, Schloss Esterházy,
Eisenstadt 24 April 2023, Festspielhaus Bregenz

Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico are delighting baroque fans around the globe: after their successful European tour with Fatma Said, the Labeque sisters and Kristian Bezuidenhout, the orchestra will travel to the Tongyeong International Music Festival, the “Salzburg of Asia”, in South Korea in April. Dedicated to the memory of the German-Korean composer Isang Yun, the festival not only presents its own festival orchestra each spring, but also invites selected European artists to create a programme that is as diverse and multi-perspective as possible. Il Giardino Armonico is represented with two programmes, including one with the Korean-American singer Kangmin Justin Kim.

BAROQUE & THE 20TH CENTURY
Giovanni Antonini, recorder & conductor / Il Giardino Armonico
With works by A. Vivaldi, Isang Yun and others
07 April 2023, Tongyeong International Music Festival

HÄNDEL & CO.
With overtures and arias by G. F. Handel and other baroque composers
Kangmin Justin Kim, countertenor / Giovanni Antonini, conductor / Il Giardino Armonico
08 April 2023, Tongyeong International Music Festival

A performance combining 16th and 17th century music, dance and visual art. Laurence Dreyfus and the Ensemble Phantasm, choreographer Sommer Ulrickson and visual artist Alexander Polzin transform the stage of the Pierre Boulez Hall into a laboratory for communication between people and artistic disciplines. The piece will premiere on 23 March, with further performances on 24 and 25 March.

Thursday, 23 & Friday, 24 & Saturday, 25 March 2023, Pierre Boulez Saal
The Art of Being Human
With Works by William Byrd, John Dowland, William Lawes, Henry Purcell and others. Laurence Dreyfus, Treble Viol and Musical Direction / Alexander Polzin, Visual Concept / Sommer Ulrickson, Choreography / Dance: Saeed Hani Moeller, Sami Similae, Yamila Khodr, Camille Jackson, Rodolfo Piazza

Figure theatre and chamber music as one: actress Janna Mohr and composer Helena Winkelman recreate Grillparzer’s novella with the franz ensemble and tell the bizarre life story of a tragic clown who goes to ruin because of his idealism, which is as noble as it is impractical. Sounds, music stands, instrument parts and shadows take on a life of their own and grow together to form the backdrop of a turbulent folk festival. There, Grillparzer’s “anthropological ravenous hunger” ignites at the sight of an old boy smiling and absorbed in his terrible violin playing. The play is a playful love story and a social study at the same time – which is reflected in the music, which borrows a lot from old Viennese songs and dances. On the one hand, it brings Grillparzer’s time (and thus also Schubert’s) to life and, on the other, allows for maximum contrast with the newly composed sounds, which are sometimes a flood of water, sometimes a lonely night walk, sometimes an agitated speech, sometimes a slap in the face scene. The concert evening will open with Beethoven’s Septet op. 20, which also bears unmistakable echoes of its creation in Vienna.

Friday, 12 March 2023, Tabaksquartier Bremen
Der arme Spielmann – world premiere by Helena Winkelman. A commissioned composition by the franz ensemble.
L. v. Beethoven: Septet in E flat major op. 20
Janna Mohr, play & concept / Sebastian Ryser, direction / franz ensemble

Sunday, 12 March 2023, Cinema at the Delphi (Berlin-Weissensee)
Der arme Spielmann – Berlin premiere by Helena Winkelman. A commissioned work by the franz ensemble
L. v. Beethoven: Septet in E flat major op. 20 J
anna Mohr, play & concept / Sebastian Ryser, direction / franz ensemble

The year 2023 has begun and we are looking forward to some special projects and concert programmes in the coming months:

Phantasm: world premiere The Art of Being Human
Il Giardino Armonico: from Europe to Korea
franz ensemble: world premiere of Der arme Spielmann
Building Bridges: A cooperation with C. Bechstein
Classics on the road: On the road with the Freiburger Barockorchester, Vox Luminis and others Classical music new and different with the Between Worlds Ensemble, CONTINUUM and CHAARTS

At the beginning of February, the new early music festival started in Berlin-Spandau: SPAM – Spandau Macht Alte Musik gathers top-class early music ensembles and soloists in the historic Zitadelle and the Nikolaikirche for a festival of diversity. Spirited dance movements, humorous programme music works and excerpts from carnival operas through to sacred motets and motets and moving Passion settings from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque.

On Friday evening, harpsichordist Elina Albach and CONTINUUM present their version of the St. John Passion for three musicians (harpsichord, tenor and percussion) – a “Sensational Good Friday Experience 2020!!!!!”, as kultura extra found.

The following evening, the Phantasm Viol Consort and tenor Nicholas Mulroy perform their programme Of Despair and Love – Music by William Byrd and Michael East.

Friday, 24 February 2023, St. Nikolai Church Spandau
St. John Passion in Trio
Elina Albach, harpsichord and organ / Benedikt Kristjánsson, tenor / Philipp Lamprecht, percussion

Saturday, 25 February 2023, Spandau Citadel, Italian Courts
Of Despair and Love
With works by William Byrd and Michael East
Nicholas Mulroy, tenor