School visits in Washington D.C. and Chicago, a concert for the homeless in Boston, a youth orchestra rehearsal with our musicians in New York and masterclasses in Ann Arbor – as well as playing in the large symphony concerts on this tour, more than 40 of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s members are also touring in smaller ensembles. They talk to children and young people, students, teachers, music lovers and academics about their work in the orchestra, and play plenty of music as well. Follow them in this live ticker.
The students of LaGuardia High School enjoyed an unforgettable school orchestra rehearsal on Monday: they played Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” together with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Simon Bernardini. This was followed by an intensive musical exchange in mini-masterclasses for chamber music groups. LaGuardia is known as a top arts school, combining academic subjects with intensive support in music, dance, and theatre; the school has produced stars such as Al Pacino, Nicki Minaj and Timothée Chalamet.
The first day in the USA starts quite early for some of the musicians: 15 of them head off to four different partner schools from the Embassy Adoption Programme. For over 50 years, the EAP has been a unique educational programme that teaches students about the language, customs, history and culture of different countries – in our case, Germany, Poland, Italy and Slovenia. A fifth school welcomed members of the orchestra for a chamber music concert.
Deutsche Bank has supported the education programme of the Berliner Philharmoniker since its inception in 2002. The goal of both partners is to make the work of the orchestra accessible to a broad audience and to inspire people of all ages about music and culture.