During the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 seasons, the Berlin Philharmonic linked up with Neukölln district Gropiusstadt in a special two-year project partnership. It was launched with the Education project’s MusicOPERA – House Opera performance of Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins on 1 June 2007, developed by old and new Gropiusstadt residents, schoolchildren and adults, including seniors, in co-operation with artists, choreographers and musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic.
The musical encounters were continued with Kofferkonzerte, the series of “portable concerts”. It was a matter of special importance to the Philharmonic that these not be merely concerts, but true musical encounters – and so the “carrying cases” aren’t just filled with music but also with stories and ideas about how music can enrich people’s lives.
Forming the partnership’s climax and conclusion, the sixth class of the Walter Gropius School took part in the project MusicTANZ – Bartók Soli and together with 100 more of Berlin’s youths and young adults presented Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra in choreography by Royston Maldoom.
The first “Kofferkonzert” took place at the longest Kaffeetafel – guests included Stanley Dodds and Julia Gartemann of the Berlin Philharmonic and, at the orchestra’s invitation, the brass quintet “elbeblech”.
Stanley Dodds and Julia Gartemann
The opening of the installation for the first collaboration in the project MusicOPERA – House Opera, on 22 October at 7.30 pm in the Martin Luther King Church, became a reunion for the nearly 100 participants in the project. It provided the occasion for another “portable concert”, and this time the music was performed by clarinettist Walter Seyfarth.
Installation in the Martin-Luther-Church
In the period leading up to Christmas, the “portable concerts” were continued at the senior residential facilities Haus Pommern and Haus Mecklenburg in Gropiusstadt: during afternoon coffee on 6 December, St. Nicholas Day, the sisters Cornelia and Julia Gartemann played duets for violin and viola by Mozart, Martinů and Bruni for the residents.
Julia Gartemann (Photos: Henrike Grohs)
Weihnachtliche Musik über den Dächern von Gropiusstadt: Am 18. Dezember 2008 spielten der Geiger Amadeus Heutling und die Harfenistin Susanne Maria Harder im Ida-Wolff-Geriatriezentrum in Gropiusstadt Werke u. a. von Johann Sebastian Bach, Gioachino Rossini und Eric Satie.
Amadeus Heutling und Susanne Maria Harder im Ida-Wolff-Haus (Foto: Peter Adamik)
Das jährliche große Tanzprojekt präsentierte im Jahr 2009 eine Choreographie von Royston Maldoom zu Béla Bartóks Konzert für Orchester. 120 Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene aus Berlin tanzten zu den Klängen der Berliner Philharmoniker unter Sir Simon Rattle. Aufführungstermine: 30. und 31. Mai 2009, 19.30 Uhr, arena Berlin
Berliner Schüler tanzen eine Choreografie von Royston Maldoom (Foto: Monika Rittershaus)
