Profoundly human music
Wolfgang Rihm and the Berliner Philharmoniker

The Berliner Philharmoniker and chief conductor Kirill Petrenko are greatly saddened by the news of composer Wolfgang Rihm’s death on 27 July 2024. He was 72 years old. “Wolfgang Rihm was the Berliner Philharmoniker’s musical partner and friend,” said orchestral board members Eva-Maria Tomasi and Stefan Dohr. “He always inspired and surprised us with his music. He had a unique ability to combine musical innovation with expressiveness; his sound ideal was particularly close to us as an orchestra. Our collaboration spanned almost five decades. Wolfgang Rihm was to accompany us through the 2024/25 season as Composer in Residence. In the orchestral and chamber concerts that we planned for this residency, we will now look back with gratitude and affection at a great composer and wonderful person.”

Wolfgang Rihm is the most frequently-performed German composer of our time, with his operas, orchestral and chamber music works reaching a broad international audience. One of the reasons for this success was Rihm’s general approach to composing. He wanted to “create sound events with a mind of their own,” he said, rather than to convey abstract concepts or messages. In his ca. 600 works, he repeatedly broke new ground. The unifying element was his heartfelt expressivity. “Music is always profoundly human,” he explained. When asked how much of himself is contained in his works, he replied: “I think everything. Even my fears, my anxieties and, of course, euphoria.” Rihm was a composer who was not afraid to show vulnerability within his creative process.

Wolfgang Rihm’s collaboration with the Berliner Philharmoniker began in November 1977 with a performance of the work Lichtzwang conducted by Hans Werner Henze. At the time, Wolfgang Rihm was just 25 years old, and had caused a sensation at the Donaueschingen Music Festival. Wolfgang Stresemann, then general manager of the Berliner Philharmoniker, became a mentor to Rihm, and was involved in the premiere of his full-length Third Symphony, which Michael Gielen conducted in 1979. From 1989 onwards, Claudio Abbado strongly supported Wolfgang Rihm. His works began to appear regularly in concert programmes, often several times within a season. 

Wolfgang Rihm also developed a close relationship with members of the orchestra – because, he explained, “they recognised something in my music that they could relate to their ideas of art – a certain energy, a certain intuition.” The chamber music ensembles of the Berliner Philharmoniker also often played his works, including a 2002 “Philharmonic Night” to celebrate the composer’s 50th birthday. For the 50th anniversary concert of the Philharmonie Berlin in 2013, Simon Rattle conducted the world premiere of Rihm’s IN-SCHRIFT 2.

The Berliner Philharmoniker appointed Wolfgang Rihm as their Composer in Residence for the 2024/25 season. Wolfgang Rihm was already seriously ill at the time, but was delighted that his partnership with the orchestra was to be strengthened in this way. The residency will now take place “in memoriam”, with symphony concerts and in the quartet and piano series. Wolfgang Rihm’s close connection with the Berliner Philharmoniker will be most visible in the Philharmonic Chamber Music series, performed by musicians from the orchestra. Each concert in the series will present a work by Rihm.

In the Digital Concert Hall: Wolfgang Rihm’s “IN-SCHRIFT 2” with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle.