Founded in 1983 by members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Scharoun Ensemble is one of Germany’s leading chamber-music organizations. With its wide repertoire, ranging from composers of the Baroque period by way of Classical and Romantic chamber music to contemporary works, the Scharoun Ensemble has been inspiring audiences in Europe and overseas for more than a quarter of a century. Innovative programming, a refined tonal culture and spirited interpretations are hallmarks of the ensemble, which performs in a variety of instrumental combinations.
The permanent core of the Scharoun Ensemble is a classical octet (clarinet, bassoon, horn, two violins, viola, cello and double bass), made up of members of the Berlin Philharmonic except from Wolfram Brandl, who is first concertmaster of the Staatskapelle Berlin and Claudio Bohorquez, internationally performing solo- and chamber music-cellist.
Dates upon request VOCAL PROGRAMM Christiane Karg, soprano
Alban Berg: “Seven Early Songs” for soprano and small orchestra (arrang. by R. de Leeuw) Brett Dean: “Ich lausche und ich höre” for soprano and octet Sofia Gubaidulina: Hommage à T.S. Elliot for soprano and octet Gustav Mahler: “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen” for chamber orchestra (arrang. by A. Schoenberg)
Concerto Copenhagen (CoCo) combines artistic authenticity and innovation through original and uncompromising interpretations that breathe new life into music, making it relevant for a modern audience. Since 1999, the collaboration between CoCo and Lars Ulrik Mortensen has led to an exciting artistic and musical journey, highly praised by audiences and critics worldwide. With a unique repertoire that blends well-known European music with lesser-known works of Scandinavian origin, as well as new compositions, CoCo celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2021.
„As conductor of his ensemble Concerto Copenhagen, which he has led to the forefront of the international scene, he (Lars Ulrik Mortensen) also delivers exemplary work in the theologically grounded articulateness of sound.”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 9 November 2025
“During the Adagio, I even had the feeling that the composer was perched on the conductor’s shoulder to congratulate him!”
Dates upon request QUEEN KRISTINA Concerto Copenhagen / Lars Ulrik Mortensen, conductor
The project traces the extraordinary life of Queen Kristina of Sweden (1626–1689), a brilliant and unconventional monarch who abdicated her throne at just 28 to pursue intellectual and spiritual freedom. Her journey led her from Stockholm through Innsbruck to Rome, where she converted to Catholicism and became a celebrated patron of the arts.
Works by A. Düben, W. Young, A. Stradella, B. Pasquini, A. Corelli, A. Scarlatti, C. Gesualdo, J. H. Kapsberger, A. Stradella
Dates upon request SIX NEW BRANDENBURG COCNERTOS Concerto Copenhagen / Antoine Torunczyk, oboe / Lars Ulrik Mortensen, conductor
Concerto Copenhagen presents J. S. Bach’s six organ trio sonatas in a newly imagined orchestral version inspired by the Brandenburg Concertos. In close collaboration with CoCo’s musicians and artistic director Lars Ulrik Mortensen, oboist Antoine Torunczyk has re-orchestrated the works for an ensemble featuring instruments such as flute, recorder, oboe d’amore, oboe da caccia, viola d’amore, natural horn, violoncello da spalla, and bassoon. The result is a captivating sound world in which Bach’s music feels both familiar and refreshingly new. This program celebrates the composer’s creative spirit, revealing his genius through a vibrant and colorful lens.
J. S. Bach: Concerto VII (after trio-sonata no. 1, BWV 525) J. S. Bach: Concerto IX (after trio-sonata no. 3, BWV 527) J. S. Bach: Concerto XII (after trio-sonata no. 6, BWV 530) J. S. Bach: Concerto X (after trio-sonata no. 4, BWV 528) J. S. Bach: Concerto VIII (after trio-sonata no. 2, BWV 526) J. S. Bach: Concerto XI (after trio-sonata no. 5, BWV 529)
Dates upon request PÄRT AND HÄNDEL Concerto Copenhagen / Tõnu Kaljuste, musical direction / Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
To mark Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday, Concerto Copenhagen and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, conducted by Grammy Award-winner Tõnu Kaljuste, come together to combine works by the celebrated composer with pieces by one of his great inspirations, George Frideric Handel. Performing Pärt’s music on period instruments promises a unique sonic experience – especially in combination with the voices of a choir renowned for its outstanding interpretations of this repertoire.
A. Pärt: Silouan’s Song / Festina Lente für Orchester Trisagion / Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten für Orchester Stabat Mater / Berliner Messe für Chor und Orchester G. F. Händel: Concerto grosso op. 6 no. 5 for orchestra / Dixit Dominus for soloists, choir and orchestra
The Oberon Trio was founded in 2006. Shortly after the ensemble’s premier concert, the Flensburger Tageblatt already credited the Oberon Trio with “enormous interpretive abilities, which testify to the enchanting ripeness and stylistic command of this new ensemble.” Meanwhile, Oberon Trio has given performances at the Berliner Philharmonie, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Konzerthaus Dortmund and Esterházy Palace, among others, as well as in Italy, Bulgaria, Israel, India, Egypt and the Ukraine. Its three members are committed to offering performances of lesser-known compositions alongside with established masterpieces. Their repertoire extends from piano trios by CPE Bach and Joseph Haydn, the pioneers of the medium, to those by Jörg Widmann and Charlotte Bray, whose trios were recorded by the ensemble for the first time. Oberon Trio also collaborates regularly with chamber music partners such as Tabea Zimmermann, Ian Bostridge, Christoph Prégardien and Shirley Brill.
A special passion of the Oberon Trio is the establishment of greater intimacy between the performers and the public. Through moderated concerts and by publishing their own programme notes of performed works among other approaches, they provide listeners with an insight into their working process and the background of their interpretations.
On November 19, 2022, the Oberon Trio invited to the TRIOGIPFEL E.T.A.200. Together with the Amatis Trio, the Morgenstern Trio and the actress Stella Maria Adorf, the ensemble celebrated the poet, composer and caricaturist E.T.A. Hoffmann, whose death anniversary in 2022 was the 200th.
„Sehr fein, leicht und voller Spielfreude musizierte das Oberon Trio!“
Unnaer Zeitung, 17. Januar 2023
„Zuhören einfach ein Genuß!“
Passauer Neue Presse, 16. Juli 2022
„Haydn und Schumann klingen frisch wie am ersten Tag, Hosokawas spirituelle Dimension ist geradezu eine Offenbarung, und Copland stringentes Doppelspiel mit Zwischentönen gelingt grandios.“
Dates available upon request LIEBST DU UM SCHÖNHEIT with Ian Bostridge, tenor
The poet, philosopher, and philologist Friedrich Rückert devoted his life to developing an ideal form of language. His poetry continued to inspire composers of the 19th century long after his death—Friedrich Rückert is among the most frequently set poets in the German language.
Rückert songs by Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler, Clara Schumann and other composers
Dates available upon request FOLK SONG BY HAYDN AND BEETHOVEN Oberon Trio / Ian Bostridge, tenor
The Oberon Trio and tenor Ian Bostridge are a well-established team. This is especially true when it comes to their joint programs featuring arrangements of English, Scottish, and Welsh folk songs for voice and chamber music by Beethoven and Haydn.
With songs and trios by L. v. Beethoven and J. Haydn
19 November 2022, KühlhausBerlin TRIOGIPFEL E.T.A.200 – “Wo die Sprache aufhört, fängt die Musik an.” Oberon Trio, Amatis Trio, Morgenstern Trio, Stella Maria Adorf
On November 19, 2022, one of the most important figures of German Romanticism was celebrated with an extended concert night: E.T.A. Hoffmann – poet, caricaturist, composer, music critic, and lover of music; creator of fantastical (dream) worlds and a sharp-witted observer of petty bourgeois philistinism – in short, the embodiment of the Romantic universal artist, whose death anniversary was commemorated for the 200th time in June 2022. Three piano trios, together with Berlin actress Stella Maria Adorf, presented a musical-literary program featuring works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms, as well as two world premieres by Frank Zabel and Britta Byström – and, of course, music and texts by E.T.A. Hoffmann.
L. v. Beethoven: Piano trio in D major op. 70/1 „Ghost“ B. Byström: Doppelgänger Music (World premiere commissioned by the Oberon Trio) J. Brahms: Piano trio in B major op. 8 R. Schumann: Piano trio no. 2 in F major op. 80 F. Zabel: 3. Trio (The Sandman) (World premiere commissioned by the Oberon Trio) E.T.A. Hoffmann: Piano trio in E major „Grand Trio“
For nearly 50 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet—David Harrington (violin), Gabriela Díaz (violin), Hank Dutt (viola) and Ayane Kozasa (cello)—has reimagined what the string quartet experience can be. One of the most celebrated and influential groups of our era, Kronos has given thousands of concerts worldwide, released more than 70 recordings, and collaborated with many of the world’s most accomplished composers and performers across many genres. Kronos has received more than 40 awards, including three Grammys and the Polar Music, Avery Fisher, and Edison Klassiek Oeuvre Prizes.
Through its non-profit organization, Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA), Kronos has commissioned more than 1,000 works and arrangements for quartet. KPAA also manages Kronos’ concert tours, local performances, recordings, and education programs, and produces an annual Kronos Festival in San Francisco. In its most ambitious commissioning effort to date, KPAA has recently completed 50 for the Future: TheKronos Learning Repertoire. Through this initiative, Kronos has commissioned—and distributed online for free—50 new works for string quartet designed for students and emerging professionals, written by composers from around the world.
Dates upon request A HARD RAIN David Harrington, violin / Gabriela Díaz, violin / Ayane Kozasa, viola / Paul Wiancko, cello
On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb exploded – eighty years later, the Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet dedicates the program A Hard Rain to this subject, creating a powerful concert evening that interweaves music, eyewitness accounts, and artistic reflection. The dramaturgy spans a wide arc—from intimate, hushed moments to eruptive sound worlds that make the threat of nuclear destruction palpable. At the same time, A Hard Rain is a celebration of humanity: an evening about hope, resilience, and the power of art to demand responsibility.
Music by Terry Riley, Bob Dylan, Tanya Tagaq, Laurie Anderson, Gabriella Smith, Philip Glass, Hildur Guðnadóttir and Viet Cuong, arrangements of traditionals Texts from diaries, letters, and speeches by Kiyoshi Tanimoto, Nikita Khrushchev, Sad-dam Hussein, and General Lee Butler
14 MAY 2024 Kunstfestspiele Herrenhausen KRONOS Five Decades
The Kronos Quartet has massively expanded, if not blown up, the boundaries of the string quartet with sound and style experiments, excursions into genres far removed from classical music and multimedia worlds. In the current season, the quartet is celebrating its 50th birthday with an European tour: new commissioned works, characteristic interpretations from its extensive repertoire and pieces from its latest project “Kronos Fifty for the Future” are on the anniversary programme.
Works by Terry Riley, Sun Ra, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Nicole Lizee, Tanya Tagaq
16 May 2023, Pierre Boulez Saal A THOUSAND THOUGHTS – A Live Documentation with the Kronos Quartet Sam Green, speaker
20 May 2023, Pierre Boulez Saal BLACK ANGELS Works for string quartet by F. Ali-Sade, S. Gubaidulina, M. Gordon, T. Riley & G. Crumb
21 May 2023, Pierre Boulez Saal Open house day Works for string quartet by various composers Kronos Quartet / students of the Barenboim-Said Akademie, Hochschule für Musik „Hanns Eisler“ and Berliner Universität der Künste
The legendary Kronos Quartet was a guest at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin for a week as part of the Quartet Summer. In addition to a concert with groundbreaking string quartet works from the 20th and 21st centuries, the quartet also presented a live musical documentation of its eventful history. The residency was also accompanied by a comprehensive education programme with young string quartets
