Just a few highlights representing a fantastic season: The KHO and Joana Mallwitz kicking off the season with Ravel’s “Bolero” in a thrilling opening concert that was livestreamed to two open-air cinemas in Berlin, featuring artist in residence Alice Sara Ott and composer in residence Bryce Dessner as well; KHO principal double bassist Maria Krykov performing as a soloist in front of her orchestra; the cello section’s joy while playing; the trombone section’s full commitment; trumpeter Gergő Turai performing a solo from the gallery; a full house at subscription and “Expedition” concerts, three magnificent performances of Haydn’s ‘The Creation’ (plus a cd recording afterwards), concerts featuring outstanding guests such as conductor Aziz Shokhakimov and trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth; a happy chief conductor.

Our artist in residence, Alice Sara Ott, made her debut right at the start of the season with the KHO, Joana Mallwitz and a piano concerto dedicated to her by composer in residence Bryce Dessner. She was just as enthusiastically received for her performances of the jazz-inspired Piano Concerto in G major by Ravel, Beethoven’s sonatas and John Field’s nocturnes as she was for Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto at the Gendarmenmarkt and on a week-long tour. Finally, for Haydn Day, she presented her own “Papa Haydn” programme for piano and chamber orchestra. Brava, Alice!

As part of our new series “Berlin Tracks – Music of the City at the Konzerthaus”, musicians and ensembles from Berlin were invited to perform, bringing together classical Western music from various centuries in an experimental fusion with styles that all call this city home: Berlin-based harpsichordist Elina Albach with Ensemble CONTINUUM and Frames Percussion; Giorgi Gigashvili, a pianist originally from Tbilisi who now lives in Berlin, with Nikala Zubiashvili (live electronics & synthesizers) and the programme “Serious Music”; the Hamburg-born, Berlin-based singer and bağlama player Derya Yıldırım with mandolinist Avi Avital and Ensemble Resonanz; and the collective “A Song For You”, which performed the Beethoven project “A Soulful Missa” with the KHO.
In the new Konzerthaus salon “Herz über Kopf”, four evenings were devoted to discussing classical music from a fan’s perspective: actor Charly Hübner, as an enthusiast and host, engaged the invited panel in enthusiastic discussions and reflective conversations.

Before there performances at Gendarmenmarkt, we visited the “Tracks” musicians for the Konzerthaus magazine in their neighbourhoods or at places that were important to them.

Once again, there was plenty going on at the “Jungen Konzerthaus”, family concerts, children’s programmes such as KlangKüken, plus fun on Children’s Day in March with the Konzerthausorchester as well as smaller concerts for different age groups from babies upwards, instruments to try out and digital stations such as our “Orchesterbox.” “Happy Birthday, Charly!” made its debut with Schlagwerk Voermans, who showed everyone aged 5 and above just how much music there is in a kitchen.

Together with the Rütli Campus comprehensive school, we ran a six-month radio play project on the theme of putting things off, entitled “On the Unfinished, or Tomorrow Is Another Day”. This led to the pupils performing at the “Vom Anfangen” festival in February. For a youth work project, we also collaborated with the ORWOhaus in Marzahn.

From November 19 to 23, we celebrated them: Lili Boulanger, who, as a highly gifted 20-year-old, was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1913, died barely five years later, and thus left behind only a modest body of work. And her sister Nadia, born in 1887, lived to the age of 92. The renowned piano and composition teacher, who taught in Paris and the USA, ran a musical salon known as the ‘Boulangerie’ for decades.

Christiane Paul, Ulrich Noethen and the Boulanger Trio brought its atmosphere to life. Conducted by Shiyeon Sung, the KHO performed works by the Boulangers as well as by their Parisian contemporaries Ravel, Fauré and Debussy. This was complemented by an organ concert; mezzo-soprano Lucile Richardot sang songs by the sisters, whilst the Boulanger Trio and Quinteto Ángel performed chamber music by Nadia’s pupils and friends. Finally, the festival opened up to the city for a grand finale: an amateur choir festival, organised in collaboration with the Berlin Choral Association, brought works by Lili to the stage in the Great Hall.

“Every beginning has its own magic,” as Hermann Hesse famously wrote. But it is often a long road before that magic unfolds: doubts and fears of too much creative chaos take hold, slowing down the process of renewal, before the exhilaration of creation can set in. From February 14 to March 1, the KHO and the city’s independent arts scene explored new beginnings, chaos and creation, from Baroque to pop – a couple of highlights in the gallery.

The opening featuring the KHO, Jonathan Nott and soprano Camilla Tilling imagined a paradisiacal space of creation with Mahler 4. Together with the Trickster Orchestra and other independent ensembles, the utopia of a trans-traditional symphony orchestra then took shape for Cymin Samawati & Ketan Bhatti’s ‘Amphiphilie.’

Under principal conductor Joana Mallwitz, the Konzerthaus Orchestra performed Schubert’s Symphony in B minor, the famous ‘Unfinished’ – and accompanied great soloist Tabea Zimmermann in Bartók’s Viola Concerto, which the composer was unable to complete before his death.

“Little Problems” - a musical reading on the theme of procrastination brought together novelist Nele Pollatschek and a KHO wind quintet. A trans-traditional jam featuring a touch of party atmosphere, a touch of surprise, but above all spontaneous musical interaction and improvisation based on Syrian-Lebanese songs and Moroccan Gnawa beats, which thrilled the audience of “Arab Songs”. The KHO, the RIAS Chamber Choir, renowned soloists and Joana Mallwitz brought the festival to a close with three performances of Joseph Haydn’s “Creation.”

Tours are one of the highlights of an orchestra's everyday life. And a successful orchestra tour does not have to go halfway around the world.

With chief conductor Joana Mallwitz, artist in residence Alice Sara Ott, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Mahler 5, we gave sold-out concerts in Bielefeld, Essen, At Hamburg's famous Elbphilharmonie and the Brucknerhaus LInz (A), in Nuremberg and Cologne - more in the Konzerthaus magazine: