Controversial!Season focus 2025/26
Scandalous pieces
Le Sacre du printemps
The Miraculous Mandarin
Tannhäuser
Opponents
Brahms vs. Bruckner
Mendelssohn vs. Berlioz
Mozart vs. Salieri
Concert formats
Berliner Philharmoniker
Chamber Music
Piano recitals
Baroque weekend
Musicians
Kirill Petrenko · Emmanuelle Haïm
Simon Rattle · Tugan Sokhiev
Kirill Gerstein · Philippe Jaroussky
Do we live in the most controversial of all worlds? With our seasonal focus Controversial!, we reflect on the current culture of debate from a musical perspective. Because here, too, there have been centuries of debate over the best course. For example, Felix Mendelssohn said that you should wash your hands after reading a score by Hector Berlioz. Brahms thought that Bruckner’s works were “a hoax”. And what about Mozart and Salieri? Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker and their ensembles provide exciting juxtapositions of musical concepts and styles.