Witiko Adler has died
Konzertdirektion Adler is a Berlin institution and one of the most important guest promoters at Berlin’s Philharmonie. Its long-standing owner and managing director, Witiko Adler, passed away on 15 April 2016 at the age of 97. The Berliner Philharmoniker’s thoughts are with his family.
Witiko Adler took over the company in 1948 from his father Hans Adler, the firm’s founder, and shaped it with passion, entrepreneurial vision, and keen business acumen. One of his central aims in the post-war years was to bring artists who had been driven into exile by the Nazi regime back to Germany – among them Yehudi Menuhin, Otto Klemperer, Eugene Ormandy and Paul Hindemith. At the same time, he was deeply committed to supporting a younger generation of artists and worked closely with the Berliner Philharmoniker: He presented the debuts of Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado and Seiji Ozawa, and introduced Herbert von Karajan’s to the 13-year-old violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. Witiko Adler also initiated Berlin’s first chamber music subscription series. In recognition of his contributions to the city’s cultural life, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit (Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany) in 1988 and the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, in 2000.