Kirill Petrenko
Kirill Petrenko | Picture: Stephan Rabold

Concert information


Info

With his cycle Má vlast, Bedřich Smetana created a musical declaration of love for his Czech homeland – its landscape, its history, its legends. Kirill Petrenko presents the six symphonic poems of the cycle, each of which takes us into very different Romantic sound worlds – sometimes majestic, sometimes dramatic, sometimes lyrical, but always full of Bohemian musical elan. The best-known work from it is undoubtedly The Moldau, a lively, folkloric tone poem that portrays the river of the same name.


Artists

Berliner Philharmoniker
Kirill Petrenko conductor


Programme

Bedřich Smetana
Má vlast (My Homeland)



Main Auditorium

37 to 103 €

Introduction
19:15

Series H: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker


Main Auditorium

37 to 103 €

Introduction
19:15

Series G: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker


Main Auditorium

37 to 103 €

Introduction
19:15

Series I: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker

How Friedrich became Bedřich
A story of self-discovery

Bedřich Smetana | Picture: Finnish Heritage Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Museovirasto

Bedřich Smetana is regarded as the founder of Czech national music. His mother tongue was German, and he had to work hard to learn Czech. 


Biographies

Kirill Petrenko

Kirill Petrenko has been chief conductor and artistic director of the Berliner Philharmoniker since the 2019/20 season. Born in Omsk in Siberia, he received his training first in his home town and later in Austria. He established his conducting career in opera with positions at the Meininger Theater and the Komische Oper Berlin. From 2013 to 2020, Kirill Petrenko was general music director of Bayerische Staatsoper. He has also made guest appearances at the world’s leading opera houses, including Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden in London, the Opéra national in Paris, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at the Bayreuth Festival. Moreover, he has conducted the major international symphony orchestras – in Vienna, Munich, Dresden, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Rome, Chicago, Cleveland and Israel. Since his debut in 2006, a variety of programmatic themes have emerged in his work together with the Berliner Philharmoniker. These include work on the orchestra’s core Classical-Romantic repertoire, most notably with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony when he took up his post. Unjustly forgotten composers such as Josef Suk and Erich Wolfgang Korngold are another of Kirill Petrenko’s interests. Russian works are also highlighted, with performances of Tchaikovsky’s operas Mazeppa, Iolanta and The Queen of Spades attracting particular attention recently.