Concert information
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A mysterious woman and two rival brothers competing for her love: Maurice Maeterlinck’s ambiguous Pelléas et Mélisande inspired Arnold Schönberg to write a tone poem in which he traces the love triangle in sensuous and expressive sound. Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphonic Concerto for Violoncello makes a sharp contrast, with music that is at once relentless, motoric and lyrical. Alisa Weilerstein tackles the demanding solo part; the orchestra is not merely an accompanist, but a distinguished counterpart. Lahav Shani, chief conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, is on the podium.
Artists
Berliner Philharmoniker
Lahav Shani conductor
Alisa Weilerstein cello
Programme
Sergei Prokofiev
Sinfonia concertante for Cello and Orchestra in E minor, op. 125
Alisa Weilerstein cello
Interval
Arnold Schoenberg
Pelleas und Melisande, Symphonic Poem, op. 5
Main Auditorium
26 to 82 €
Introduction
19:15
Series A: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
26 to 82 €
Introduction
19:15
Series D: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
26 to 82 €
Introduction
18:15
Series E: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Welcome escape from reality
The age of symbolism
Maeterlinck’s play Pelléas et Mélisande is a major symbolist work. Symbolism juxtaposed the brutally harsh reality of the late 19th century with a fascinating alternative world. It was full of poetic beauty, mystical allusions and sensory dreams.
Schoenberg focus
Concerts, backgrounds, stories
Few have had such an influence on the course of music history as Arnold Schoenberg. However, reducing him solely to the role of innovator does not do justice to his fascinatingly diverse oeuvre. On the occasion of Schoenberg’s 150th birthday, a focus over two seasons provides an opportunity to rediscover the composer.
Biographies
Lahav Shani
Not long after his 2016 debut as conductor and solo pianist in Rotterdam, Lahav Shani was appointed conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. In the 2020/21 season, he succeeded Zubin Mehta as Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Lahav Shani, who was born in Tel Aviv in 1989, has spoken of the appointment as “a great honour.” He made his debut there as a soloist in Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto at the age of 16.
He began his piano studies in his home city with Arie Vardi at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, where he also studied double bass and regularly played the instrument in the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Lahav Shani then continued his training with Christian Ehwald (conducting) and Fabio Bidini (piano) at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, and received additional mentoring from Daniel Barenboim. His international breakthrough came when he won the International Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg in 2013. Today, Lahav Shani is a regular guest conductor with leading orchestras around the world, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, with whom he made his debut in 2020, also standing in for Kirill Petrenko to conduct the New Year’s Eve concert in 2021. He continues to perform internationally as a pianist. Lahav Shani will take over as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in 2026.
Alisa Weilerstein
Alisa Weilerstein’s performance at the 20th European Concert of the Berliner Philharmoniker in Oxford hit the headlines. Not only because Guardian critic Tom Service hailed it as “the most technically complete and emotionally devastating performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto that I have ever heard live”, but also because Daniel Barenboim was conducting.
It was Barenboim’s first return to the piece since his famous 1970 recording with his wife Jacqueline du Pré, just a year before her career was tragically curtailed by multiple sclerosis that would ultimately kill her. Barenboim broke his 40-year silence with the piece because of Alisa Weilerstein’s artistry and interpretative depth. The cellist from Rochester (New York) performed with the Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 13, making her debut at Carnegie Hall two years later. She completed her musical training at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Richard Weiss, while at the same time studying Russian history at Columbia University in New York. Today she is a regular guest at major music venues in the United States, Europe and Asia. A passionate supporter of contemporary music, she is committed to expanding the cello repertoire, and has premiered works by composers such as Pascal Dusapin, Osvaldo Golijov and Matthias Pintscher.
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