Live from Konzerthaus Berlin

Vladimir Jurowski has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin since 2017. He has meanwhile extended his contract until 2027. In parallel, he has been General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich since 2021.

After receiving training at the Moscow Conservatory The conductor, pianist and musicologist Vladimir Jurowski emigrated to Germany in 1990. Here he continued his studies at the music conservatories in Dresden and Berlin.  In 1995 he made his international debut at the British Wexford Festival with Rimski-Korsakov’s Mainacht and in the same year at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with Nabucco. Subsequently he was, among other things, First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997- 2001) and Music Director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001-2013). In 2003 Vladimir Jurowski was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and has been its Principal Conductor since 2007 until 2021. He was also Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra Yevgeny Svetlanov of the Russian Federation until 2021, Artistic Director of the International George Enescu Festival in Bucharest and Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Great Britain. He works regularly with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the ensemble unitedberlin.

Vladimir Jurowski has conducted the major orchestras of Europe and North America, including the Berlin, Vienna and New York Philharmonic Orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

He is a recurring guest conductor in in London, Berlin, Dresden, Luzern, Schleswig-Holstein und Grafenegg as well as at the Rostopowitsch-Festival. Although Vladimir Jurowski is invited as a guest conductor by top orchestras from all over the world, in future he would like to concentrate his activities on that geographical area which is acceptable to him from an ecological point of view.

In 2022/2023 he will perform with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin in concerts in various cities in Germany, Italy and Antwerp in the Netherlands. The joint CD recordings of Vladimir Jurowski and the RSB began in 2015 with Alfred Schnittke’s Symphony No. 3, followed by works by Britten, Hindemith, Strauss, Mahler and soon again Schnittke.

Vladimir Jurowski has been the recipient of numerous awards for his achievements, including various international record prizes. In 2016, he was bestowed an honorary doctorate from Prince Charles at the Royal College of Music in London. In 2018, the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards named him Conductor of the Year. In summer 2020, Jurowski was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit by the Romanian President in recognition of his work as Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival.

Karolina Gumos is engaged as a house soloist at the Komische Oper Berlin. Her parts here include Octavian in Strauss´s “Der Rosenkavalier” and the title role Prince Charmant in „ Cendrillon“ by Massenet,  Idamante in „Idomeneo“, Polina in “Pique Dame”,  Prinz Orlofsky in “The Fledermaus”,  Rosina in “The Barber of Seville” and Dorabella in Mozarts “Cosi fan tutte”.

The mezzosoprano Karolina Gumos was born in Gdynia (Poland). She studied the violin before turning to singing. After successfully completing her Recital Diploma at the Poznan Music College with Professor Wojciech Maciejowski she decided to continue advanced studies as a mezzo-soprano with Professor Anneliese Fried at the Hanns Eisler music college in Berlin.

She performed frequently in oratoros by Bach, Händel, Mozart and Pergolesi. Karolina Gumos attended masterclasses and took part in numerous radio and television broadcasts with ARTE and the ZDF in Germany and Polish Radio 1. She has been invited to festivals such as “Ruhrtriennale” in Duisburg and Bochum, „Händel-Festspiele“ in Karlsruhe, “Vratislavia Cantans” in Wroclaw, Schloss Rheinsberg Chamber Opera Festival and the Lutoslawski Festival.

She has been a prizewinner in the international Ada Sari Singing Competition.

Karolina Gumos was engaged as a house soloist at the Dortmund Opera by the director of opera, Christine Mielitz. Here she was singing such roles as Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Annina (Rosenkavalier), Fenena (Nabucco), Cherubino (Figaro), Olga (Eugen Onegin), Suzuki (Madame Butterfly) and Dorabella (Cosi fan Tutte).

She was also engaged as a house soloist at the State Theater Braunschweig. Here she sang roles such as Nicklausse / La Muse (Contes d´ Hoffmann), Ottavia (L´incorinazione di Poppea), Sextus (La Clemenza di Tito) and the title role in the first performance in Germany of Philippe Boesmans´”Julie”.

She has performed with famous conductors (such as Reinhard Schwarz, Peter Schneider, Peter Gülke, Wladimir Jurowski, Friedermann Layer, Sebastian Weigle, Stefan Soltesz, Michael Boder, Michael Hofstetter, Ion Marin, Pedro Halffter, Alexander Vedernikov, Marcus Bosch, Jörg Peter Weigle, Eugeniusz Kus and Arthur Fagen) and she has also worked with opera producers as Willy Decker, Stefan Herheim, Heiner Goebbels, Hans Neuenfels, Barrie Kosky, Damiano Micheletto, Marco Arturo Marelli, Christine Mielitz, Udo Samel, Beverly Blankenship, Lucas Kindermann, Uwe Schwarz and Sebastian Baumgarten. She has guest contracts with the Teatro de la Maestranza in Sevilla, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Semperoper Dresden, the Hamburg State Opera , the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Opernhaus Frankfurt am Main, the BESETO Opera Seoul,  and has given concerts in Spain, Poland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Latvia, Belgium, Norway and Korea.

With round about 60 concerts per season, CD-recordings and international guest performances the Rundfunkchor Berlin is one of the world’s outstanding choral ensembles. Three Grammy® Awards alone mark the success of the ensemble. The exceptional breadth of its repertoire, an unmistakable warm, richly nuanced sound, absolute precision and delight in experimentation all contribute to making it one of the chosen partners of international orchestras and conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, or Yannick NézetSéguin. It is the permanent partner of the Berliner Philharmoniker as well as of Berlin’s Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester and their Principal Conductors.
Rundfunkchor Berlin’s experimental project series has attracted great worldwide attention. In collaboration with artists from diverse disciplines, the chorus breaks down the classical concert formation and adopts new modes of choral music for a new audience. The interactive scenic version of Brahms’s »Ein deutsches Requiem« staged by Jochen Sandig and a team of Sasha Waltz & Guests – »human requiem« – became a milestone within the choir’s experimental repertoire with guest performances in New York, Hongkong, Paris, Adelaide and Istanbul. In its project »LUTHER dancing with the gods« the choir cooperated with director Robert Wilson and reflected upon Luthers impact within the arts in an extraordinary concert performance with music by Bach, Nystedt and Reich in march of 2017. In the season 2020/21 the Rundfunkchor Berlin presented the transdisciplinary project THE WORLD TO COME based on Beethovens »Missa solemnis«. Directed by Tilman Hecker, contemporary music genres are fusing with the masterpiece by Beethoven, guiding the audience on a musical journey into the world of tomorrow. National and international Artists including Moor Mother, Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, Planningtorock, Colin Self and Birke J. Bertelsmeier, came together to realize the heart of the new season in Berlin’s Vollgutlager.
With its community projects for various target groups – the big Sing-along Concert in the Berlin Philharmonie, the Festival of Choral Cultures for international choirs and the Liederbörse (Song Exchange) for children and young people – Rundfunkchor Berlin invites people of all ages to become immersed in the world of singing. Its long-term education programme SING!, encourages singing in Berlin’s elementary schools as an ongoing staple in everyday classes. With its Academy and Schola for young professional singers as well as the Berlin International Masterclass for highly qualified young choral conductors it supports the next generation.
Founded in 1925 the choir celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2015. Since its foundation the ensemble was shaped by conductors including Helmut Koch, Dietrich Knothe, Robin Gritton and Simon Halsey. As of season 2015/16 Gijs Leenaars has taken up his post as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Rundfunkchor Berlin. Simon Halsey was appointed Conductor Laureate and will retain his ties to the ensemble as regular guest conductor.
Rundfunkchor Berlin is an ensemble of RundfunkOrchester und -Chöre gGmbH Berlin (Shareholders: Deutschlandradio, the Federal Republic of Germany, the State of Berlin and Radio BerlinBrandenburg).