Orchestra - Deutsche Oper Berlin
Welcome to our orchestra season!
As people who commute to work at an opera house, our day job consists of channelling our energies and enthusiasm into using music and drama to tell stories. But in addition to this we all nurture a secondary passion – a desire to simply play music straight, to enjoy it for its own sake without the costumes and stage set. This can be in the form of jazz, kunstlieder, chamber music or the full-bodied sound of the orchestra delivering a symphony. The Deutsche Oper Berlin provides a space for all these initiatives, material that includes chamber music concerts in the Tischlerei, the “Songs and Poets” and “Jazz & Lyrics” programmes, and concerts on the main stage given by our orchestra and the BigBand ... We look forwards to seeing you, Your Dietmar Schwarz
Welcome
10 February 2025
Symphony concert
Originally from the French Basque country, Ravel had a soft spot for Spanish folk music. His short opera L'HEURE ESPAGNOLE is one of the best-known examples of his refined stylisation of Spanish dance rhythms. Marianne Crebassa can be heard in the role of Concepción, conducted by Maxime Pascal, who will pair the one-act opera with Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite ‘Scheherazade’.
21 March 2025
Symphony concert
With his symphonic poems such as „Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche“ and „Also sprach Zarathustra“, Strauss became the most internationally acclaimed young German composer around 1900. Hotly debated due to the drastic nature of their musical language, these works made Strauss the epitome of the ‘young and wild’. With our orchestra, Lorenzo Viotti, chief conductor of the Amsterdam Opera and one of the most celebrated conductors of his generation, shows that the fascination of the symphonist Richard Strauss remains unbroken to this day. You can also listen to the „Vier letzte Lieder“, with soloist Maria Motolygina.
Chamber music in the Tischlerei
Tischlereikonzerte
The selection of works and the dramaturgical conception of the Tischlereikonzerte are in the hands of the musicians of the orchestra. They are inspired by the new productions or revivals of the opera programme to create stimulating themes and unusual programmes that are unparalleled in their musical range in Berlin. From solo violin to songs to percussion ensembles, from Josquin Desprez to Mozart's "Ein musikalischer Spaß", Dvořák's "American String Quartet" to Shostakovich, Cage and Xenakis, everything is heard in the special atmosphere of the Tischlerei.
Chamber Music I - 23 October 2024 | Foyer
The young gaze
The orchestra's academy students are young musicians who are starting their careers at our orchestra. Enthusiasm and the search for one's own path are characteristics that young people in particular bring with them. This freshness can also be found in the programme for the first chamber concert of the season: works by young composers show that the first steps in a musical career can be full of surprises. But we also show that a "young" or new perspective is not only found in young minds.
Chamber Music II - 26 November 2024
Emperor, King.... Composer
This chamber concert takes our premiere of Verdi's MACBETH as a thematic opportunity to shed light on power and power relations over the centuries and to look at composing in their field of tension. Experience a journey through time from Bach's "Musical Offering" to Haydn's "Emperor Quartet" and socialist realism.
Chamber Music III - 24 January 2025
In tempore belli
Artistic creation in times of war: This concert features works and presentations by composers who responded to wars and battles with personal trauma or escape into fantastic parallel worlds. Listen to works by Maurice Ravel, Lili Boulanger and Viktor Ullmann, among others.
Chamber Music IV - 12 March 2025
Spotlights
Once again this season, an unusual and personal programme will be created under the title "Spotlights": musicians from the orchestra will play works that are particularly close to their hearts. The programme ranges from world-famous pieces from the chamber music repertoire to genuine rarities that are rarely heard in the concert hall.
Chamber Music V - 10 April 2025
Against forgetfulness
In words, photos and music, the musicians of the orchestra remember Paul Feher, Theo Front, Berthold Goldschmidt and Hilde Reiss, former employees of the opera who were expelled by the National Socialists from 1933 onwards. Margarita Broich reads from personal documents. Works by Béla Bártok, Berthold Goldschmidt and Viktor Ullmann will be performed.
Chamber Music VI - 23 June 2025
In the mirror
This chamber music evening is all about mythological transformation stories in text and music: Richard Strauss' "Metamorphoses", Benjamin Britten's "Narcissus" and works by Karol Szymanowski and Thea Musgrave will be performed.
Jazz, Jazz, Jazz
The Big Band of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and its "little sister", the JazzCombo, have long since established their own tradition at the house. In addition to the established Jazz & Lyrics series and two large concerts on the main stage, the fifth festival will take place in spring.
1 January 2025
Swingin` 25
It's a swinging start to the new year when our BigBand and illustrious guests present the greatest hits of the swing era in their usual funky, sometimes rocking arrangements. Cheers to 2025!
13 July 2025
On Broadway
Songs such as ‘Night And Day’, ‘Love For Sale’ and ‘I've Got You Under My Skin’ have made Cole Albert Porter a legend. Experience the evergreens in funky arrangements and enjoy a summer evening full of swing. The BigBand of the Deutsche Oper Berlin plays under its musical director Manfred Honetschläger.
Jazz & Lyrics I - 9, 10 November 2024
Blue Note Records
Founded by Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, two German-Jewish emigrants in New York in 1939, the jazz label, which was named after the famous Blue Note of swing, jazz and blues, quickly gained significant importance. This is because the crème de la crème of jazz musicians were all over the recording studios. Experience the greatest hits of "hot jazz" and "boogie-woogie". Speeches between the various songs and standards will introduce you to the players, the era and the musicians.
Jazz & Lyrics II - 12, 13 December 2024
Blame It on the Bossa Nova
They are located somewhere between Adenauer and riots, between staid bourgeoisie and bikini, between sauerbraten and a yearning for Italy: The hits of the 60s. Some of the hits will certainly make you wistful, others will make you smile. Combined with short stories by Elke Heidenreich, the musicians invite you to a nostalgic evening in the Tischlerei.
Jazz & Lyrics III - 15, 16 February 2025
Synaesthesia and jazz
Hearing colours, tasting sounds: This evening focuses on artists whose sensory perceptions function differently to those of most people and who were able to draw enormous creative potential from this. The musicians around Rüdiger Ruppert and Sebastian Krol certainly don't just look at Johann Wolfgang Goethe or Stevie Wonder.
To the video archive Skip video container ![Digital Instrument Presentation: The Percussions]( "Digital Instrument Presentation: The Percussions")
![Digital Instrument Presentation: The Tuba]( "Digital Instrument Presentation: The Tuba")
![Digital Instrument Presentation: The Harp]( "Digital Instrument Presentation: The Harp")
![Digital Instrument Presentation: The Oboe]( "Digital Instrument Presentation: The Oboe")
![Digital Instrument Presentation: The Violoncello]( "Digital Instrument Presentation: The Violoncello")
![Digital Instrument Presentation: The Trumpet]( "Digital Instrument Presentation: The Trumpet")
Our video recommendations
Digital Instrument Presentation: The Percussions
Digital Instrument Presentation: The Tuba
Digital Instrument Presentation: The Harp
Digital Instrument Presentation: The Oboe
Digital Instrument Presentation: The Violoncello
Digital Instrument Presentation: The Trumpet
video - 14:13 min.
Digital Instrument Presentation: The Percussions ...
video - 12:46 min.
Digital Instrument Presentation: The Tuba ...
video - 15:37 min.
Digital Instrument Presentation: The Harp ...
video - 10:35 min.
Digital Instrument Presentation: The Oboe ...
video - 13:25 min.
Digital Instrument Presentation: The Violoncello ...
video - 09:28 min.
Digital Instrument Presentation: The Trumpet ...
Topics
Since 2009 our General Music Director
Sir Donald Runnicles
The musicians are together
The Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin
