Farewell and Estrangement

Vladimir Jurowski has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the RundfunkSinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) since 2017. In 2023/2024, his concerts, tours and recordings were the highlights of the ‘RSB100’ anniversary season. His current contract in Berlin runs until 2027,
while he has also been General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich since 2021.

Vladimir Jurowski, one of the most sought-after conductors of our time, who is celebrated worldwide for his innovative musical interpretations and equally for his courageous artistic commitment, was born in Moscow in 1972 and completed the first part of his music studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. He moved to Germany with his family in 1990 and continued his studies at the music academies in Dresden and Berlin. In 1995, he made his debut at the Wexford Festival in Ireland with Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Mainacht’ and in 1996 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with ‘Nabucco’. He was then First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997-2001).

Vladimir Jurowski worked as Chief Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) for fifteen years until 2021 and has since been appointed Conductor Emeritus. In the UK, he was Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera from 2001 to 2013, leading a wide range of highly acclaimed productions. His close connection to British musical life was recognised by King Charles III in spring 2024 when he appointed Vladimir Jurowski an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE). In April 2024, Vladimir Jurowski returned to London as a guest conductor to complete the concert performance cycle of Wagner’s ‘Ring’ with ‘Götterdämmerung’ with the LPO at the Royal Festival Hall.

He was Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra ‘Yevgeny Svetlanov’ of the Russian Federation until 2021 and Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Great Britain, as well as Artistic Director of the International George Enescu Festival in Bucharest. He has also worked with the unitedberlin ensemble for many years. Vladimir Jurowski has suspended performances in Russia since February 2022. Ukrainian works are and will remain part of his repertoire, as will works by Russian composers.

Vladimir Jurowski has conducted concerts by the most important orchestras in Europe and North America, including the Berlin, Vienna and New York Philharmonics, 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 Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig. He is a regular guest at the music festivals in London, Berlin, Dresden, Lucerne, SchleswigHolstein and Grafenegg. Although Vladimir Jurowski is invited as a guest conductor by top orchestras from all over the world, he now concentrates his activities on those geographical areas that he can easily reach with reasonable effort from an ecological point of view.

The joint CD recordings by Vladimir Jurowski and the RSB began in 2015 with Alfred Schnittke’s Symphony No. 3, followed by works by Britten, Hindemith, Strauss, Mahler and again Schnittke. Vladimir Jurowski has been honoured many times for his achievements, including numerous international record awards. In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from the Royal Philharmonic Society from the hands of the current King Charles III. In 2020, Vladimir Jurowski’s work as Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival was honoured by the Romanian President with the Order of Cultural Merit.

Thomas Hampson, America’s foremost baritone, has received international honors for his artistry and cultural leadership. Long recognized as one of the most innovative musicians of our time, his operatic repertoire is over 80 roles and his discography comprises of more than 170 albums, including multiple nominations and winners of the Grammy Award, Edison Award, and the Grand Prix du Disque.

Highlights of Hampson’s seasons included his return to the Wiener Staatsoper in his signature role of Giorgio Germont in Verdi’s “La Traviata”, and to Teatro alla Scala for a role debut, Altair in Strauss’ “Die ägyptische Helena”. In future seasons, at Opernhaus Zürich, he will create the role of Jan Vermeer in the world premiere of Stefan Wirth’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”.

Notable engagements on the concert stage include opening the Oslo Philharmonic’s season in August 2020 with their new Chief Conductor, Klaus Mäkelä and performing at Vilnius Festival in Spring 2021. Hampson also takes part in the Gewandhausorchester’s Mahler Festival, appearing in recital with pianist Wolfram Rieger, and performing Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with Daniel Harding and the Wiener Philharmoniker. He appears on tour with Dennis Russel Davies and the MDR Leipzig in the Philharmonie Berlin and Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg. Hampson also takes his “No Tenors Allowed” programme to the Carmen Wüerth Forum, with bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni. In the Pierre Boulez Saal he begins his return as Artistic Curator for the “Schubert Week” at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin.

The 2018/19 season saw Hampson creating two world premiere operas for the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto and the Houston Grand Opera in Texas: “Hadrian” by Rufus Wainwright and “The Phoenix” by Tarik O’Regan. Autumn 2018 included performances of Britten’s “War Requiem” with the Wiener Symphoniker under Philippe Jordan, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, and his regular visit with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra with Conductor Vasily Petrenko. Hampson returned to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munich under the baton of Mariss Jansons and to the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin with Vladimir Jurowski. With the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Andris Nelsons he performed Mahler Songs on tour in Japan. Hampson’s gala performance schedule included colleagues Angela Gheorgiu, Nadine Sierra and Kristine Opolais. With Golda Schultz he starred in the Bayerische Staatsoper’s summer gala “Oper für Alle” under the baton of Kirill Petrenko.

Hampson is an honorary professor of Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg and an honorary member of London’s Royal Academy of Music. In addition to several Honorary Doctorates, he is the Kammersänger of the Wiener Staatsoper and Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the Republic of France. In 2017 he received the Hugo Wolf Medal, together with Wolfram Rieger. Hampson is the co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Lied Academy Heidelberg, in 2003 he founded the Hampsong Foundation through which he uses the art of song to promote intercultural dialogue and understanding. His international master class schedule is a continuing online resource of Medici.tv, the Manhattan School of Music, and The Hampsong Foundation livestream channel.

With around 60 concerts annually, numerous CDs and three Grammys, Rundfunkchor Berlin is one of the world’s foremost choruses. Its wide-ranging repertoire, flexible and richly nuanced sound, flawless precision and enthralling delivery have made it the chosen partner of the major orchestras and conductors in its home city but also internationally, where it functions as a musical ambassador for Berlin in the great concert halls of the world. It is so much more than just a concert and studio chorus.

Along with its symphonic choral central repertoire, Rundfunkchor Berlin is constantly forging new paths by means of projects that burst the bounds of the classical concert format and allow choral music to interact with other art forms. The choreographic realization of the Brahms Requiem as “human requiem” by Jochen Sandig with Sasha Waltz & Guests represents a milestone. Following acclaimed performances in Brussels, Taipei and Hong Kong, the work was performed during the 2016-17 season in Berlin, New York and South America. In Christian Jost’s LOVER, a music-theatre piece premiered in 2014 in Berlin’s Kraftwerk, Western symphonic choral music meets a traditional Asian percussion ensemble. In its most recent project, “cosmic lights”, in 2016, Rundfunkchor Berlin presented a multimedia programme based on celestial phenomena including the Northern Lights.

Rundfunkchor Berlin is constantly developing new and unusual ways of experiencing choral music and stimulating choruses all over the world to follow its lead. In formats such as the Sing-Along Concert in the Berlin Philharmonie, the Liederbörse (Song Exchange) for Berlin’s school choirs and the project Hand in Hand, it is working intensively with committed amateur choirs. With its International Master Class for choral conducting and the Academy and Schola for young singers, it is fostering the next generation of professionals. And to help make singing an intrinsic component of the primary school day, it created the initiative SING! in 2011.

Founded in 1925, the chorus celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2015. Since its inception, it has been shaped by conductors like Helmut Koch, Dietrich Knothe (1982-93), Robin Gritton (1994-2001) and Simon Halsey (2001-15). At the beginning of 2015-16 season, Gijs Leenaars assumed the position of Principal Conductor and Artistic Director. Simon Halsey retains his ties to Rundfunkchor Berlin as Conductor Laureate and Guest Conductor. Rundfunkchor Berlin is an ensemble of Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH Berlin and is sponsored by Deutschlandradio, the German Federal Republic, the state of Berlin and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg.