Concert information
At the invitation of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Info
The Junge Deutsche Philharmonie rightly calls itself a “orchestra of the future” – in more ways than one: it brings together the most talented young instrumentalists in Germany, and contemporary music is always part of the programme. In this concert, it is framed by two famous tone poems: Richard Strauss’s stirring Tod und Verklärung and Claude Debussy’s shimmering La Mer. George Benjamin, one of Britain’s leading composers, contributes his intense Concerto for Orchestra and conducts the performance himself. The soloist in the sensuous Violin Concerto No. 1 by Karol Szymanowski is the South Korean violinist Bomsori Kim.
Artists
Junge Deutsche Philharmonie
George Benjamin conductor
Bomsori Kim violin
Programme
Richard Strauss
Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), op. 24
Karol Szymanowski
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1, op. 35
Bomsori Kim violin
George Benjamin
Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by Mahler Chamber Orchestra, funded by Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung and BBC Radio 3
Claude Debussy
La Mer
Additional information
Duration ca. 2 hours (incl. 20 minutes interval)
Dates and tickets
Main Auditorium
9 to 45 €
Background
Biography
Junge Deutsche Philharmonie
The democratic Junge Deutsche Philharmonie brings together exceptionally talented students from German-speaking music academies and regularly tours the great concert halls of Europe. With its focus on contemporary music, the ensemble invites audiences on journeys of discovery, while also featuring the grand symphonic repertoire and historical performance practice in its programs.
Partnerships connect the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra members pass on their musical passion through education projects, for example in the framework of long-term collaborations with schools in the Rhine-Main region. The Junge Deutsche Philharmonie is an important mark of quality in training for many professional orchestras, as it bridges the gap between academic studies and a professional career. It is therefore no surprise that many former members are today found in the ranks of leading orchestras or teach at universities. Numerous renowned ensembles have also emerged from the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie: the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Resonanz, and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.
George Benjamin
As a composer, conductor, pianist, and Professor of Composition at London’s King’s College, George Benjamin is a major figure in the contemporary classical world. In his role as a conductor, he maintains close artistic relationships with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and Ensemble Modern, and also appears with numerous other renowned orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra. His broad repertoire, from which he is said to conjure “bubblingly transparent sound textures” (The Guardian), ranges from Mozart and Schumann to contemporary works.
In addition to premiering several of his own compositions, he has also introduced works by Rihm, Chin, Grisey, and Ligeti. The artist, who was knighted in his native Great Britain in 2017, also regularly appears as a concert pianist. In his youth, he studied composition for two years with Olivier Messiaen in Paris, who compared his talent to that of Mozart. Not long after, at the age of 20, he saw his own orchestral work performed at the BBC Proms. His collaboration with playwright Martin Crimp on the opera Into the Little Hill (2006) proved to be a successful artistic partnership which has since produced three further operas. In 2023, George Benjamin was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.
Bomsori Kim
In South Korea, Bomsori Kim gained great fame at an early age; a scholarship to New York’s Juilliard School and prizes at major competitions opened the doors to the international music world. Today, she is a sought-after soloist throughout Europe, the USA, and Asia.
She has appeared with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at the BBC Proms, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and on tour with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, and has performed under the direction of conductors such as Marin Alsop, Paavo Järvi, Sakari Oramo, and Santtu-Matias Rouvali. In 2016, during the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition, Bomsori Kim discovered her love for Polish music, which has since played an important role in her choice of repertoire. She plays on the Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù “Moller” violin from 1725.
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