Concert information
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Info
Gentle drizzling, vigorous splashing, thunderous drumming – rain comes in many guises. Hanns Eisler’s 1941 film score Fourteen Ways to Describe Rain was one of his best chamber music works. Today, in the face of accelerating climate change, weather patterns take on a whole new urgency. Inspired by Eisler, Gregor Mayrhofer explores these phenomena in his composition Tipping Points. Fourteen ways to describe climate change, a commissioned work which will be premiered as part of our Biennale, explores pivotal moments for our climate. The physicist and science journalist Harald Lesch will host this dialogue concert.
Artists
Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Gregor A. Mayrhofer conductor
Harald Lesch presentation
Christophe Horák violin
Ulrich Knörzer viola
Ludwig Quandt cello
Janusz Widzyk double bass
Anja Malkov flute
Iria Folgado oboe
Matic Kuder clarinet
Barbara Kehrig bassoon
László Gál french horn
Riccardo Caruso drums
Korbinian Fichtl drums
Sarah Tysman piano
Programme
Gregor A. Mayrhofer
Tipping Points. Vierzehn Arten den Klimawandel zu beschreiben, commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation (Première)
Franz Liszt
Nuages gris (arr. Gregor Mayrhofer)
Hanns Eisler
Vierzehn Arten den Regen zu beschreiben
Interval
Olivier Messiaen
Quatuor pour la fin du temps: 3rd Movement Abîme des oiseaux
Olivier Messiaen
Quatuor pour la fin du temps: 8th Movement Louange à l'Immortalité de Jésus
Chamber Music Hall
11 to 29 €
Also available as Biennale package
Interview with composer and conductor Gregor A. Mayrhofer
What value does music have for our world? Why does he compose? Composer and conductor Gregor Mayrhofer has been writing music about climate change for some time. In our video, he explains why this is so important to him, and why he is looking forward to this concert and discussion.
Biographies
Harald Lesch
Harald Lesch, astrophysicist, natural philosopher, science journalist and television presenter, and member of the Bavarian Climate Council, has been Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich since 1995. In 2002, he was also appointed lecturer in natural philosophy at the Munich School of Philosophy. He became known to a wider public in 1998 as a presenter of scientific television programmes, including the ZDF science magazine Abenteuer Forschung, which was renamed Leschs Kosmos in 2014.
In 2016, Harald Lesch launched his popular YouTube channel Terra X Lesch & Co, with weekly presentations of scientific news and current discussions on scientific topics. He has received numerous awards, including from the German Research Foundation and the German Physical Society.
Gregor A. Mayrhofer
The composer, pianist and conductor Gregor A. Mayrhofer, who won international acclaim for his unconventional concert programmes, was assistant to Sir Simon Rattle and a conducting fellow at the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Karajan Akademie. He studied conducting and composition in Munich, Paris and Düsseldorf before moving to Alan Gilbert’s class at the Juilliard School in New York. Mayrhofer, who took over the musical direction of the Munich Hidalgo Festival in 2024, has conducted renowned orchestras such as the Orchestre de Bordeaux, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Bavarian State Orchestra and MusicAeterna at the Salzburg Festival.
He has also worked with renowned soloists such as Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Khatia Buniatishvili and Daniil Trifonov. Mayrhofer has received commissions from the Bavarian State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Scharoun Ensemble and the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation, among others.
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