Berliner Philharmoniker Stories

If I were not a musician ...

The violinist could possibly have pursued a career as a professional athlete.

The German California

An intellectual elite fled from the Nazis into American exile, including Arnold Schönberg, Thomas Mann and many others.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Ballet

Tchaikovsky is rightly considered the maestro of ballet music. He defended it against contemporaries who classified it as mere incidental music. A love story.

In memory of Hans Scharoun

A declaration of love to his most famous building: the Philharmonie Berlin.

Korngold and the Berliner Philharmoniker

What a start! Erich Wolfgang Korngold was just 15 years young when the Berliner Philharmoniker performed his Schauspiel Overture op. 4 in December 1912.

Christoph Hartmann: If I were not a musician ...

In this section, we introduce members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and their extramusical passions. Today: Christoph Hartmann, who designs bicycles.

Modern Mozart

Double portrait of Sabine Devieilhe and Maxim Emelyanychev

Richard Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra”

Five questions about the famous work

“My angel, my all, my own self”

Who was Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved”?

If I were not a musician ...

Cellist Nikolaus Römisch has another team.

People around Mahler

“Those who loved him became a part of his being.”

“The rushing gale of our great epoch”

Mahler and the road to symphonic grandeur

Of burnt kettles and intoxicating bass concerts

Solo bassist Matthew McDonald in conversation

Fifty Years of the Karajan Academy

A success story: the Karajan Academy has been training young orchestral talent since 1972

Richard Strauss and the Berliner Philharmoniker

On the 70th anniversary of the composer’s death

Bizarre, ingenious, forgotten

The Danish composer Rued Langgaard was an eccentric who for the most part found himself at odds with his fellow human beings.

If I weren’t a musician… Raphael Haeger

Anyone attending a piano recital is often confronted with a plethora of work names, such as prélude, nocturne, sonata and étude. What do these names mean, and what defines these pieces? In our short piano lexicon, we introduce you to the major genres of piano music one at a time.