A grand season opening in New York
The Berliner Philharmoniker’s three-week tour of North and South America began yesterday with a gala concert at Carnegie Hall. Chief conductor Kirill Petrenko led the performance, with tenor Jonas Kaufmann as soloist, to open the hall’s 136th season. This was the Philharmoniker’s fourth appearance at a Carnegie Hall season opening, continuing a relationship that began in 1955 under Herbert von Karajan and has since encompassed more than 80 concerts. The pictures below capture the arrival in New York, rehearsals and opening-night performance.
Arrival and rehearsals
New York welcomed the musicians with sunshine after their long flight across the Atlantic. Then it was straight to work: instrument cases were unpacked and rehearsals began. The Berliner Philharmoniker will give four concerts in New York, all conducted by Kirill Petrenko.
Season Opening at the Carnegie Hall
The sold-out concert opened with the dramatic overture to Verdi’s La forza del destino, before Jonas Kaufmann sang famous arias from Italian verismo operas. In between, Kirill Petrenko and the Berliner Philharmoniker transported the audience to the Eternal City with Respighi’s tone poems Fontane di Roma and Pini di Roma. The latter piece was crowned by a powerful brass performance from the auditorium’s balconies. The evening concluded with a standing ovation, which the orchestra and conductor acknowledged with a Shostakovich encore.
