Philharmonic Salon: Berlin salons of the 19th century

Naomi Krauss (photo: Jaan-Eric Fischer, Netflix)

As a social meeting place, literary circle and musical venue, the salon fulfilled various functions in 19th century Berlin. This was where the nobility and the middle classes, great politicians, philosophers, poets, thinkers and artists of the time met informally, exchanged views, and enjoyed the inspiring ambience. The soul of the salon was always an interesting, educated woman such as Henriette Herz, Rahel Varnhagen or Bettina von Arnim. With music and texts performed by Naomi and Max Hopp, the Philharmonic Salon evokes the memory of Berlin's great salonnières.

Naomi Krauss speaker

Max Hopp speaker

Philharmonisches Streichquartett

Marie-Pierre Langlamet harp

Cordelia Höfer piano

Götz Teutsch programme supervision

Berlin Salons in the 19th Century

Dates and Tickets

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Biographies

Naomi Krauss

The Swiss-Israeli actress was born in Basel and trained at the Schauspielakademie Zürich. Her theatre career began at the Schaubühne in Berlin, followed by engagements at other prestigious theatres such as the Staatstheater Darmstadt, the Deutsches Theater Berlin, the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg and the Berliner Volksbühne. She has worked with directors such as Peter Stein, Andrea Breth, Jürgen Gosch and Dimiter Gotscheff. Since 1999, Naomi Krauss has also worked in film and television, for example in Die Manns – Ein Jahrhundertroman, Schwabenkinder and Was, wenn der Tod uns scheidet as well as in various episodes of the TV crime series Tatort and Polizeiruf 110. She has filmed with Michael Verhoeven (Glückskind), Maria Schrader (Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe) and Tom Tykwer (The International), among others. She can currently be seen in the leading role of Zeynep in the film comedy Faraway on Netflix as well as on stage at the Berliner Ensemble, where she plays the role of grandmother Leah in Wajdi Mouawad’s Vögel.

Max Hopp

The actor is a familiar face on German television. In 2006, he became known to a wider audience in the ZDF series Doktor Martin as police chief Mark Dononelli alongside Axel Milberg. From 2014 to 2022, he played the public prosecutor in the TV series Usedom-Krimi. He can also be seen regularly in other crime series such as Bella Block and Tatort. The Berliner’s career began as a teenager in the GDR television series Ferienheim Bergkristall. After training at the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch in Berlin, theatre engagements followed in Bremen, Hamburg, Salzburg, Munich, Zurich and Berlin. Max Hopp also appeared in TV productions such as Die Spiegel-Affäre and Bornholmer Straße, in the ZDF multi-part Der gleiche Himmel by Oliver Hirschbiegel and in the feature film The Silent Revolution. He has appeared regularly in productions at the Komische Oper Berlin since 2011, including Benatzky’s operetta The White Horse Inn (director: Sebastian Baumgarten), My Fair Lady (director: Andreas Homoki) as well as Eine Frau, die weiß, was sie will, Fiddler on the Roof and Die Perlen der Cleopatra (director: Barrie Kosky).

Philharmonisches Streichquartett

The Philharmonic String Quartet represents the young generation of cosmopolitan, versatile and artistically passionate musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Founded in 2018, it’s members continue the tradition of Philharmoniker ensembles of presenting chamber music at the highest standard. Their goal is to bring the orchestra’s sound and playing culture even to small chamber music groups with their dedication and supreme virtuosity. The violins are played by Helena Madoka Berg, who is represented today by the Austrian Johanna Pichlmair, and Dorian Xhoxhi, who comes from Tirana and is also involved with the Berlin Baroque Soloists. The viola is played by Naoko Shimizu from Japan. The only non-Philharmoniker is Christoph Heesch, who is considered one of the most promising up-and-coming cellists and enjoys success as a soloist and chamber musician. The young ensemble made its public debut in 2019 at a lunch concert in the Philharmonie Berlin, and released its first CD of works by Josef Suk and Antonín Dvořák in March 2022. It also appears regularly at the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden. The string quartet’s repertoire ranges from Classical to New Music. Accordingly, the ensemble has chosen famous words by Mozart as its motto: “... because we love to converse with all kinds of masters – both ancient and modern.”

Marie-Pierre Langlamet

Marie-Pierre Langlamet was born in Grenoble and studied under Elizabeth Fontan-Binoche at the conservatory in Nice. At the age of 15, she was already attracting attention at international competitions, and at 17, she took up her first position as principal harp in the opera orchestra in Nice. A scholarship enabled her to continue her studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia before becoming assistant principal harp in the Metropolitan Opera orchestra in New York in 1988. In 1992 Marie-Pierre Langlamet won first prize at the International Harp Competition in Israel, one of the major competitions for her instrument. She has been a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 1993 and also performs worldwide as a soloist with renowned chamber music ensembles and orchestras (including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, among others.). Marie-Pierre Langlamet has been teaching at the Orchestra Academy since 1995, and she also taught the harp class at the University of the Arts Berlin from 2010 to 2020.

Cordelia Höfer

Cordelia Höfer was born in Munich. She completed her piano studies with top honours at the universities in Salzburg (under Hans Leygraf) and in Munich (under Klaus Schilde). In Salzburg, she also studied conducting and chamber music. Important teachers were Wilhelm Kempff, Tatyana Nikolaeva and Elisabeth Leonskaja. Since the age of 15, Cordelia Höfer has appeared extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in many European countries, the USA, Japan and Korea, and has worked with singers such as Christine Schäfer, Juliane Banse and Anna Prohaska. During her many years of teaching at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, she was closely associated with fellow artists such as Sándor Végh, Heinrich Schiff and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Since 2002, the pianist has been professor of piano and chamber music at the Mozarteum. Cordelia Höfer has been a regular performer in Berliner Philharmoniker chamber concerts for many years, especially in the Philharmonic Salons.

Götz Teutsch

Götz Teutsch comes from Sibiu in Transylvania, Romania. He was initially trained in Bucharest by Radu Aldulescu and continued his cello studies under Enrico Mainardi and Karl Richter after leaving Romania in 1968. He has also studied early music performance practice and the viola da gamba. Götz Teutsch was a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker from 1970 to 2006, two decades of which as principal cello under the chief conductors Herbert von Karajan and Claudio Abbado. As a concert soloist with the orchestra, he performed, for example, Dmitri Shostakovich's Second Cello Concerto. Götz Teutsch is one of the founding members of the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic. In November 2000, the literature aficionado organised the first Philharmonic Salon – an idea that quickly developed into a highly successful series.

Max Hopp (photo: Tine Acke)