Concert information
Info
Our organ turns 60 – and we’re celebrating this milestone with a late-night concert featuring the young organist Jan Liebermann and the Berliner Philharmoniker’s principal flautist Emmanuel Pahud. The programme includes popular works by Johann Sebastian Bach, among them two flute sonatas, the famous Toccata in D minor, and the virtuosic Sinfonia from the “Ratswahl” Cantata. Max Reger’s transcription of the Prelude and Fugue in B minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier leads into more romantic realms, before the full splendour of our organ unfolds in an arrangement of the celebrated Chaconne.
Artists
Jan Liebermann organ
Emmanuel Pahud flute
Programme
Johann Sebastian Bach
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
Johann Sebastian Bach
Sonata for Transverse Flute and Harpsichor in A major, BWV 1032
Emmanuel Pahud flute
Charles-Marie Widor
Bach's Memento: Marche du vielleur de nuit (Choral Setting from the Cantata “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme”, BWV 140)
Johann Sebastian Bach
The Well-Tempered Clavier, Part 1: Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 867 (arr. Max Reger)
Johann Sebastian Bach
“Wir danken dir, Gott»Wir danken dir, Gott”, Cantata, BWV 29: Sinfonia (transcr. Marcel Dupré), Cantata, BWV 29: Sinfonia (transcr. Marcel Dupré)
Johann Sebastian Bach
Sonata for Transverse Flute in C major, BWV 1033
Emmanuel Pahud flute
Johann Sebastian Bach
Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004: 5th Movement Chaconne (arr. for organ by Arno Landmann)
Additional information
Duration ca. 1 hour and 10 minutes
Main Auditorium
24 €
Royal Highness
The organ in the Philharmonie Berlin tunrs 60
The organ of Berlin's Philharmonie is not just an acoustic marvel; it is also visually astonishing. Its expressive and elegant design is intended to complement the hall’s internal architecture. It has more than 6,5000 pipes, allowing it to create an almost infinite range of tone colours. For more than sixty years, this instrument has watched over the main auditorium of the Philharmonie, but its journey through time has not always been a smooth one.
Biography
Jordi Savall
In spring 2024, Jan Liebermann attracted considerable attention when he performed all six of Johann Sebastian Bach’s trio sonatas in several concerts – entirely from memory. Nearly an hour and a half of music, these works represent a true challenge for any organist. The young newcomer immediately turned to his next major undertaking: Marcel Dupré’s highly virtuosic Trois Préludes et Fugues, which he likewise performed multiple times from memory. The organist from Upper Franconia, who shares his enthusiasm for “his” instrument with thousands of followers on social media, is helping to refresh the organ’s somewhat dusty image: “Social media is a fantastic stage – bigger than any concert hall or church – and at the same time a wonderful way to introduce yourself to the wider world.”
Born in 2005, Liebermann first studied piano before being accepted in autumn 2022 as a young student at the Hochschule für Musik in Mainz. Since the winter semester of 2025/26, the prizewinner of numerous competitions has been studying organ and church music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. He was recently the first organist ever to receive the Deutschlandfunk Sponsorship Award at the Musikfest Bremen. “My goal is to become a concert organist and perform all over the world. It is an overwhelming feeling to play in front of an audience – on as many instruments as possible, in many countries and cultures.” With these concerts, he makes his debut as an organist with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Emmanuel Pahud
Emmanuel Pahud, principal flute of the Berliner Philharmoniker, was born in Geneva and studied in Brussels and Basel. At the age of 20, he completed his studies with Michel Debost at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, graduating with the Premier Prix, after which he continued his training with Aurèle Nicolet. He went on to win numerous first prizes at international competitions. Pahud gained orchestral experience as principal flute with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Basel and the Munich Philharmonic before joining the Berliner Philharmoniker in the same position in 1993. After a period as professor at the Geneva Conservatory, he returned to the orchestra in April 2002.
As a soloist, he is in high demand worldwide and performs with leading symphony orchestras. With the Berliner Philharmoniker, he has appeared in flute concertos by Carl Nielsen, Marc-André Dalbavie, Elliott Carter and Jörg Widmann, among others. He is also an active chamber musician in various duo and ensemble formations—for example with the wind ensemble Les Vents Français—and appears regularly at the world’s major music centres. Together with Eric Le Sage and Paul Meyer, he founded the chamber music festival in Salon-de-Provence. Committed to expanding the flute repertoire, Pahud regularly commissions new works from composers such as Thierry Escaich, Toshio Hosokawa, Matthias Pintscher and others. Emmanuel Pahud was awarded the 2024 Léonie Sonning Music Prize.
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