The New American Gospel: John Adams in Berlin →
John Adams and Peter Sellars' biblical oratorio given a fine concert performance by the Berliner Philharmoniker under departing chief conductor, Sir Simon Rattle. Published on Bachtrack.
Read MoreTumultuous times: a history lesson with Vladimir Jurowski →
A firecracker performance by Vladimir Jurowski and the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin giving urgency to music composed at a time that echoes our own. Published on Bachtrack.
Read MoreGhosts of past and present at Berlin's Philharmonie →
Gidon Kremer, long-time champion of Sofia Gubaidulina, joined the Berliner Philharmoniker and Christian Thielemann for a performance of In tempus praesens. Published on Bachtrack.
Read MoreScores – Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin →
Scores, a recent exhibition in Berlin, exhibited new ‘scores’ by four visual artists as artworks in themselves, alongside a series of concerts featuring their musical realisation. Published on The Cusp.
Read MoreJeder Hase ein Künstler →
Joseph Beuys, the German avant-garde artist and environmentalist, died 30 years ago this year. To mark his anniversary, Soloistenensemble Kaleidoskop mounted the premiere of a new surrealist theatrical work. Published on The Cusp.
Read MoreRebecca Saunders' Stasis: a symphony in space →
Stasis, originally written for Ensemble musikFabrik, explores the boundary between sound and silence through a kind of symphony in space. Last weekend, the Ensemblekollektiv performed a new tailor-made version for the Akademie der Künste building in Berlin. Published on Bachtrack.
Read MoreUncertain States – Akademie der Künste, Berlin →
Round the corner from the Bundestag in Berlin, seat of the German parliament, the Akademie der Künste is mounting a new exhibition of works responding not only to migration, but also to exile, occupation, division and alienation. Published on The Cusp.
Read MoreOddballs and outcasts in the ballroom with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin →
The Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin is roaming around its hometown this season with a series of chamber music concerts in unexpected places. In a former ballroom in the up-and-coming Neukölln district, the orchestra’s chamber ensemble presented an eccentric programme of music by oddballs and outcasts. Published on Bachtrack.
Read MoreMusic for Robots – Berlin, 29th September - 1st October 2016 →
This former brewery in East Berlin was the home to a three-day celebration of weird and wonderful musical machines. The Wir sind die Roboter festival featured an array of instrumental contraptions from across the globe, with installations and exhibitions accompanied by three nights of musical performances. Published on The Cusp.
Read MoreOsmodrama – Berlin, 15th July - 18th September 2016 →
The idea of using smells in art isn’t new, but its history isn’t particularly illustrious. Smell-o-Vision was voted one of the hundred worst ideas of all time; Scratch’n’Sniff didn’t fare much better. Osmodrama, a two-month festival in Berlin, was not deterred. Published on The Cusp.
Read MoreMusical alchemy: Aimard and Stefanovich in Hommage to Boulez →
The Musikfest Berlin presented their own ‘Hommage’ to Boulez with his complete works for piano performed by Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich. Published on Bachtrack.
Read MoreSerpentine twists and turns: Fischer and Fischer at the Konzerthaus Berlin →
Berlin’s Konzerthaus Orchestra began its new season with works by two composers set against the artistic orthodoxies of their day. Published on Bachtrack.
Read MoreIsabelle Faust's spiritually-charged Luigi Nono at Musikfest Berlin →
Isabelle Faust’s performance of Luigi Nono’s La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura was an extraordinary time capsule back to the work’s première in 1988. Published on Bachtrack.
Read MoreNico and the Navigators - Radialsystem V Berlin, 13th August 2016 →
Nico and the Navigators are a Berlin-based theatrical ensemble describing themselves as ‘full body poets’, using music, dance and physical comedy in their evocative and often improvised avant-garde works. The hour that we knew too much of each other is the ensemble's bleakly humorous look at life and love in the time of over-communication and social media. Published on The Cusp.
Read MoreJunge Deutsche Philharmonie bring visceral power to Saunders' still →
Although a British composer by birth, Rebecca Saunders is most respected in Germany, where she has spent much of her working life. Her latest project was an immersive choreographed programme with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie based around her violin concerto still. Published on Bachtrack.
Read MoreVladimir Jurowski's Berlin portrait of Michael Jarrell →
Michael Jarrell is a Swiss composer with a considerable reputation in mainland Europe – he was appointed Chevalier to the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2004. This week, he was the subject of a composer portrait given by the Ensemble United Berlin under their Artistic Advisor and long-time conductor Vladimir Jurowski. Published on Bachtrack.
Read MorePhonopticon – ausland Berlin, 28th June 2016 →
Hidden in a small bunker under a quiet apartment block in Berlin, ausland has acted as an incubator for the city’s experimental and improvised music scene for over ten years. For this performance, local echzeitmusik (literally: real-time music) artists joined touring Portuguese musicians for a performance with their sonic installation project, the Phonopticon. Published on The Cusp.
Read MoreSusanna Mälkki's “Akademie Modern” in Berlin →
The Berliner Philharmoniker’s Academy is the future of this city’s most famous orchestra. Established 40 years ago by Herbert von Karajan, a third of current Berliner Philharmoniker members are Academy graduates. Their final project this season was an “Akademie Modern” with Susanna Mälkki. Published on Bachtrack.
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