Date
13.02. - 01.03.25
Programme
Concerts · Lectures
Co-operations with museums
Works by
Srnka · Varèse · Beethoven
Tarkiainen · Dean · Villa-Lobos
Scriabin · Saariaho · Debussy a. o.
Artists
David Robertson · Marin Alsop ·
Dalia Stasevska · Alexander Melnikov a. o.
Climate change and species extinction threaten our planet. In February 2025, the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Biennale will address the threat to nature in a series of events titled Paradise lost? The perspectives are diverse: works such as Debussy’s La Mer and Beethoven’s Pastorale celebrate the beauty of our world, Miroslav Srnka’s Superorganisms shows the interconnectedness of life forms, Brett Dean’s Fire Music depicts the destruction caused by a bushfire. Discussion panels, lectures by experts and collaborations with museums and other orchestras will explore the theme in greater depth. The aim? A sharpened view of the crises and fresh perspectives for our future.
About the festival: Programme focus
Heat, drought, floods – extreme weather events are hitting us more frequently and more severely. Our planet is in danger, and the cause is man-made climate change. Scientists agree that rapid and consistent countermeasures are needed. The Berliner Philharmoniker’s third Biennale in February 2025 will focus on this existential challenge with a series titled Paradise lost? On the threat to nature.
As part of the series, the Berliner Philharmoniker with present three concerts with David Robertson (replacing Kirill Petrenko) and guest conductors Marin Alsop and Dalia Stasevska; additional concerts will feature visiting soloists such as pianist Alexander Melnikov. Through the medium of music, the audience will be confronted with the devastating power of the elements of fire and water, but will also experience the breathtaking beauty of the Amazon rainforest. A total of three commissioned compositions, including the new work Superorganisms by Czech composer Miroslav Srnka, are dedicated to the Biennale theme. There will be chamber music and late-night concerts in additional locations around the city. Concerts by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Freiburger Barockorchester complete the festival’s music programme.
However, the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Biennale is a cross-genre and cross-art-form festival that creates additional perspectives through events beyond the traditional scope of a concert hall. Partners for the next edition include the Berlin Natural History Museum and the Berlin State Library. Exhibitions, readings, talks, lectures by experts and installations in the foyer of the Philharmonie will explore the topic in greater depth.
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
Berliner Philharmoniker
Marin Alsop conductor
Rundfunkchor Berlin
Gijs Leenaars chorus master
Works by
Outi Tarkiainen, Brett Dean, Aaron Copland and Heitor Villa-Lobos
Outi Tarkiainen
Day Night Day, commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Première)
Brett Dean
Fire Music for orchestra (German premiere)
Interval
Aaron Copland
Appalachian Spring Suite (1945)
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Chôros No. 10 ‟Rasga o coraçãoˮ for orchestra and mixed choir
Rundfunkchor Berlin, Gijs Leenaars chorus master
Also available as Biennale package
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Neue Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Late Night: Music for the movie “All the beauty and the bloodshed”
Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Sarah Tysman rehearsals, direction
Dávid Adorján cello
Jörg Breuninger cello
Soundwalk Collective music
Stephan Crasneanscki artistic direction
Zacharias S. Falkenberg arrangement
Johannes Malfatti additional writing
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Also available as Biennale package
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Education
RADIALSYSTEM V
Terminal Infinity
Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and of the Karajan-Akademie
Leah Marojević dance
Gyung Moo Kim dance
Dance On Ensemble
Ty Boomershine dance
Gesine Moog dance
Tim Persent dance
Lia Witjes Poole dance
Jugendtanzcompany von Sasha Waltz & Guests
Noomi Aldinger dance
Toni Lehnert dance
Leah Soltau dance
Nika Brovot dance
Jonathan Walker dance
Alexander Schubert Artistic direction, conception, composition and sound direction
Colette Sadler concept, development of the piece and choreography
Dominic Huber Scenography
Diego Muhr light design
Felina Levits costumes
Ludmilla Mercier Regieassistenz
Candid Rütter Video mapping and lighting assistance
Oscar Corpo music notation, instrumentation and composition assistance
Alexander Schubert
Terminal Infinity commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker (Premiere)
Also available as Biennale package
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
St. Matthäus-Kirche
hORA church service “Paradise lost”
Hannes Langbein (Pfarrer, Filmbeauftragter der EKBO)
Roland Wicher (Pfarrer, Filmbeauftragter der EKBO)
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
At the invitation of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Giedre Šlekyte conductor
Johan Dalene violin
Works by
Hannah Eisendle, Tebogo Monnakgotla and Robert Schumann
Hannah Eisendle
heliosis for orchestra
Tebogo Monnakgotla
Globe Skimmer Surfing the Somali Jet, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
Johan Dalene violin
Robert Schumann
Symphony No. 1 in B flat major, op. 38 “Spring”
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
St. Matthäus-Kirche
Film screening: “Geographies of Solitude”
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Education
RADIALSYSTEM V
Terminal Infinity
Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and of the Karajan-Akademie
Leah Marojević dance
Gyung Moo Kim dance
Dance On Ensemble
Ty Boomershine dance
Gesine Moog dance
Tim Persent dance
Lia Witjes Poole dance
Jugendtanzcompany von Sasha Waltz & Guests
Noomi Aldinger dance
Toni Lehnert dance
Leah Soltau dance
Nika Brovot dance
Jonathan Walker dance
Alexander Schubert Artistic direction, conception, composition and sound direction
Colette Sadler concept, development of the piece and choreography
Dominic Huber Scenography
Diego Muhr light design
Felina Levits costumes
Ludmilla Mercier Regieassistenz
Candid Rütter Video mapping and lighting assistance
Oscar Corpo music notation, instrumentation and composition assistance
Alexander Schubert
Terminal Infinity commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker (Premiere)
Also available as Biennale package
Education
RADIALSYSTEM V
School concert: Terminal Infinity
Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and of the Karajan-Akademie
Leah Marojević dance
Gyung Moo Kim dance
Dance On Ensemble
Ty Boomershine dance
Gesine Moog dance
Tim Persent dance
Lia Witjes Poole dance
Jugendtanzcompany von Sasha Waltz & Guests
Noomi Aldinger dance
Toni Lehnert dance
Leah Soltau dance
Nika Brovot dance
Jonathan Walker dance
Alexander Schubert Artistic direction, conception, composition and sound direction
Colette Sadler concept, development of the piece and choreography
Dominic Huber Scenography
Diego Muhr light design
Felina Levits costumes
Ludmilla Mercier Regieassistenz
Candid Rütter Video mapping and lighting assistance
Oscar Corpo music notation, instrumentation and composition assistance
Alexander Schubert
Terminal Infinity, commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker (premiere)
Free entry, registration only for schools
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Museum für Naturkunde
Lecture Concert
Martin Heinze double bass
Václav Vonášek Kontrafagott
Katharina und Parm von Oheimb
Works by
Erwin Schulhoff, James Tenney, Gernot Wolfgang, Paul Hindemith and Judith Weir
Erwin Schulhoff
Bassnachtigall for solo contrabassoon
James Tenney
BEAST for solo double bass
Gernot Wolfgang
Ready to Rumble! for two contrabassoons
Paul Hindemith
Four Pieces for Bassoon and Cello
Judith Weir
What sound will chase elephants away? for two double basses
Online ticket sales only, no box office. Also available as Biennale package.
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Chamber Music Hall
“Tipping Points. Vierzehn Arten den Klimawandel zu beschreiben”
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
Works by
Gregor A. Mayrhofer, Franz Liszt, Hanns Eisler and Olivier Messiaen
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
Also available as Biennale package
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Study Room of the Kupferstichkabinett
Paradises on paper: Is art our salvation?
Pop-up Exhibition and Talk with Dagmar Korbacher
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Staatsbibliothek Haus 2 Potsdamer Straße
Reading by Iris Berben
Iris Berben Reading
Online ticket sales only, no box office. Also available as Biennale package.
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
Berliner Philharmoniker
Dalia Stasevska conductor
Jean-Frédéric Neuburger piano
Works by
Jean Sibelius, Edvard Grieg, Kaija Saariaho and Claude Debussy
Jean Sibelius
Pohjolas Tochter
Edvard Grieg
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A minor, op. 16
Jean-Frédéric Neuburger piano
Interval
Kaija Saariaho
Orion
Claude Debussy
La Mer
Also available as Biennale package
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
Berliner Philharmoniker
Dalia Stasevska conductor
Jean-Frédéric Neuburger piano
Works by
Jean Sibelius, Edvard Grieg, Kaija Saariaho and Claude Debussy
Jean Sibelius
Pohjolas Tochter
Edvard Grieg
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A minor, op. 16
Jean-Frédéric Neuburger piano
Interval
Kaija Saariaho
Orion
Claude Debussy
La Mer
Also available as Biennale package
Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
Berliner Philharmoniker
Dalia Stasevska conductor
Jean-Frédéric Neuburger piano
Works by
Jean Sibelius, Edvard Grieg, Kaija Saariaho and Claude Debussy
Jean Sibelius
Pohjolas Tochter
Edvard Grieg
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A minor, op. 16
Jean-Frédéric Neuburger piano
Interval
Kaija Saariaho
Orion
Claude Debussy
La Mer
Also available as Biennale package
What does nature sound like in music?
Whether raging storms, shimmering waves, or gentle raindrops – for centuries, composers have drawn inspiration from nature. But how can the sounds of nature be brought to life in an orchestra?
Nature and music
Composers of all ages have been inspired by nature to write magnificent works: only their aesthetic outlook and their individual approach have changed with the passage of time. Here is a brief survey of this subject
“Is what we’re doing enough?”
Marin Alsop, making her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker, will present four depictions of nature from four different continents at the Biennale “Paradise lost?”.
From the far north to the wider world
The Finnish musician Dalia Stasevska is one of the most promising members of the younger generation of female conductors.
Antje Boetius in conversation
Marine biologist Antje Boetius will join a discussion at the Philharmonie as part of this year’s Biennale, “Paradise Lost?”. In our interview, she talks about the role that climate change will continue to play in society, and whether we will ever truly learn to see the ocean as a gigantic habitat.
The idyll in music
In music and art, the idyll symbolizes a better world, idealistic and yet fragile. Find out here how the idyll came into the music and what purpose it serves.
“I walked in the forest and come back with a song”
On the occasion of the premiere of her new piece “Day Night Day” Outi Tarkiainen talks about why she became a composer and how nature informs her music.