Join us in concert, in rehearsal and on the road – in pictures.
There is nowhere quite like London’s vast Royal Albert Hall during the BBC Proms. This year, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko return to the festival. Alongside works by Tchaikovsky, Scriabin and Beethoven, the programme also features Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” – music written towards the end of the Victorian era, heard in one of its most spectacular buildings.
Edinburgh is a very special stop on our tour, not least because this is the Berliner Philharmoniker’s first appearance at the Edinburgh International Festival in two decades. The city is renowned for its timelessly romantic atmosphere, the vibrant energy of the festival season, and the Usher Hall. Opened in 1914, the concert hall combines excellent acoustics with distinctive, elegantly curved architecture.
This year at the Lucerne Festival, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko are joined by violinist Augustin Hadelich, who performs Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, a cornerstone of the repertoire. A highlight of every visit to Lucerne is the opportunity to perform at the KKL. More than 25 years after it opened, this remarkable concert hall still feels as visionary and modern as ever. Its setting on the shores of Lake Lucerne makes it all the more special.
As usual, our festival tour begins in Salzburg. The Berliner Philharmoniker and their chief conductor Kirill Petrenko open the tour with a Romantic programme: Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, whose ‘fate motif’ reflects the personal turmoil he was experiencing at the time. The second concert features Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, with Leif Ove Andsnes as soloist, and Alexander Scriabin’s Symphony No. 3.