Opening concert of the season

Programme:
Nicolai. Overture of opera “The Merry Wives of Windsor”
Jongen. Sinfonia concertante for Organ and Orchestra Op. 81
Beethoven. Symphony No. 3 op. 55 (Eroica)

Konzerthausorchester Berlin (founded in 1952 as the Berlin Symphony Orchestra) received recognition and national acknowledgement under chief conductor Kurt Sanderling (1960–1977). The first guest conductor is Juraj Valčuha from season 2017/18.

The orchestra performs over a hundred concerts a year, playing both at their home hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, and touring in Asia, USA, and Europe. Konzerthausorchester inspires audiences with innovative concert formats and unusual and interesting projects. Along with surprising concerts, spontaneous request concerts, and open rehearsals, they also organise a unique concert series called “Right in the
Middle”. The series gives audiences an opportunity to experience the concert right on stage among the musicians. In 2017, the orchestra won a prestigious innovative orchestra prize form the German Orchestra Foundation.

Juraj Valčuha is the music director of Teatro di San Carlo in Naples since 2016 and the first guest conductor of Konzerthausorchester Berlin. In 2009–2016, he was the chief conductor of the Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai in Turin.

The Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna impresses with her deep musical knowledge, brilliant technique, and strong musical feeling and force. Her mission has been to bring organ music to concert halls. Not only has she played a concert with the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Claudio Abbado, she has also performed all over the world with prestigious orchestras and well-known conductors, such as Mariss Jansons, Gustavo Dudamel, Marek Janowski, Simone Young, and Andris Nelsons.