Concert information
Composer in Residence
Musikfest Berlin
Info
What a career! Brett Dean spent 14 years as a violist with the Berliner Philharmoniker before leaving to concentrate full-time on his highly successful career as a composer. He now returns to his former orchestra as Composer in Residence. To launch his residency, Brett Dean himself takes the podium for a programme of richly imaginative sound worlds: In Conversations with Schumann, he explores the composer’s intricate inner life. And once I played Ophelia is a moving portrait of Hamlet’s beloved, while Beggars and Angels draws its musical tension from the contrast between earthly and celestial beings. An arrangement of Debussy completes the programme.
Artists
Berliner Philharmoniker
Brett Dean conductor
Jennifer France soprano
Programme
Brett Dean
Conversations with Schumann (premiere)
Jennifer France soprano
Brett Dean
And once I played Ophelia
Jennifer France soprano
Interval
Claude Debussy
La Cathédrale engloutie (orch. Colin Matthews)
Brett Dean
Beggars and Angels
Additional information
Duration ca. 1 hour and 30 minutes (incl. 20 minutes interval)
In cooperation with Berliner Festspiele/Musikfest Berlin
Dates and tickets
Main Auditorium
24 to 77 €
Introduction
19:15
with Dr. Nicole Restle , guest: Brett Dean
Series G: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
24 to 77 €
Introduction
19:15
with Dr. Nicole Restle , guest: Brett Dean
Series E: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
24 to 77 €
Introduction
18:15
with Dr. Nicole Restle , guest: Brett Dean
Series H: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Background
“I tossed my tailcoat into the audience and said ‘Adieu!’”
A conversation with composer Brett Dean
While Brett Dean played viola in the Berliner Philharmoniker for 14 years, he was also composing and improvising in Kreuzberg clubs. He left the orchestra in 1999 to focus on his international career as a composer. For the 2026/27 season, Brett Dean will be Composer in Residence with his former orchestra.
Biography
Brett Dean
Brett Dean studied at the Queensland Conservatorium in his home city of Brisbane before moving to Germany in 1984. He spent the next 14 years as a violist with the Berliner Philharmoniker. During the 1990s, he became increasingly active as a composer, eventually leaving the orchestra in 2000 to pursue composition full-time. His music is now performed internationally by leading orchestras and ensembles.
In the 2026/27 season, Dean is Composer in Residence with the Berliner Philharmoniker. His music will feature throughout the season, while Dean himself will work with the musicians of the Karajan Academy, perform as a violist with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, and conduct his former orchestra for the first time.
Jennifer France
Jennifer France discovered opera relatively late, at the age of 18, when she decided to apply to music college. The British soprano studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she won numerous awards. She first came to international attention through contemporary opera and has worked closely with composers including Brett Dean and George Benjamin. She has taken part in several world premieres, among them Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence, Dean’s Hamlet and his cantata In This Brief Moment.
“The best thing about contemporary opera,” she says, “is the feeling of creating a character no one has ever sung before – and working directly with the composers.” Her repertoire extends well beyond contemporary music: her roles include Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), at houses including the Royal Opera House, English National Opera and the Bavarian State Opera. She has appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the BBC Proms and with the Orchestre de Paris under Esa-Pekka Salonen. These concerts mark her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
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