Berliner Philharmoniker presents

Kirill Petrenko conducts Schubert’s “Great” C major Symphony

Kirill Petrenko opens the new season of the Berliner Philharmoniker with the enchanting and mysterious world of Romanticism. The main work on the program is Franz Schubert’s “Great” C major Symphony, in which exuberance, dance and nobility are shaken by moments of deep despair. Carl Maria von Weber transports us to the magical realm of Oberon, the king of the elves, which inspired Paul Hindemith’s colourful Symphonic Metamorphosis.

Artists
Berliner Philharmoniker
Kirill Petrenko, conductor

“I was born and grew up in Omsk, a city in Siberia which lived from the weapons industry and petrochemicals – thus it was also taboo for foreigners, a ‘closed city’. The chemicals were not very healthy, but there was also a lot of green in the city. Only not in winter, then it was bitterly cold. Sometimes there was no school as a result. The small children could stay home when it was minus 34 degrees; the older ones had to freeze until it reached minus 38 degrees.”

As the child of a musical family – his father was a concertmaster, his mother a dramatist – it was clear almost from birth that Kirill Petrenko would also become a musician, a conductor, and he was prepared to do everything in order to develop his talent, which he soon demonstrated. From Omsk he went to Feldkirch at the age of 18, then from the conservatory there to the University of Music in Vienna, and from his final exam concert he went directly to the Vienna Volksoper as coach and conductor. He was appointed general music director at the historic Meiningen Theater in 1999, thus beginning a career as an opera conductor which would continue for years to come. Kirill Petrenko was music director of opera houses in three cities, and opera has unquestionably been the focus of his work so far – although initially he had actually wanted to become a symphonic conductor. But the change of emphasis within his profession was an accident that proved to be a stroke of luck.

“My time in Meiningen has been the basis for all of my subsequent career. It was an invaluable period of apprenticeship. Nothing better can happen to a conductor, and I wish that every young colleague could acquire experience in this way and gain a footing. I was very fortunate to be able to begin in Meiningen.”

Program
Carl Maria von Weber
Oberon: Overture

Paul Hindemith
Symphonic Metamorphosis of themes by Carl Maria von Weber

Franz Schubert
Symphony No. 8 in C major, D 944 “Great”

The concert will be livestreamed Friday, August 27, 2021 at 1:00pm ET
A repeat of the concert will be streamed on Saturday, August 28, 2021 at 7:00pm ET

To purchase your ticket visit: www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/live