‘Musical Magic Show’

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 2029,
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.

The youngest among them are just 11 years old, and at 20 they are already considered “old” here – and yet they are already playing on major international stages and at festivals such as the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein and the Cologne Philharmonic Hall, the Grand Auditorium in Luxembourg and the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and Young Euro Classic in Berlin.

The orchestra members of the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie regularly impress audiences and critics alike with their high quality and excellence of playing. The intensive work of the instructors from the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin with the individual voice groups ensures the ensemble’s characteristic, extremely homogeneous string sound. Since 2013, the ensemble has been under the artistic direction of principal conductor Wolfgang Hentrich, first concertmaster of the Dresden Philarmonic Orchestra.

Participants qualify through an audition, which the DSP regularly invites them to attend – in Berlin and also digitally, making it even easier to reach highly talented young string players in all 16 federal states. Numerous RSB members once played in Germany’s youngest selection orchestra themselves – thus continuing the tradition between the two officially certified Jeunesses Musicales patronage orchestras for 50 years now.

Among the numerous highlights in its anniversary year 2023 – its 50th birthday – the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie is particularly delighted to have been awarded the prestigious Würth Prize. The young musicians also look back with pride on their participation in the award-winning Hollywood film “Tár,” which was released in German cinemas in March.

Vidina Popov was born in Vienna in 1992. In the noughties, Popov performed as a child at the Vienna Volkstheater and worked for ORF as a children’s presenter for numerous programmes. From 2012 to 2016 she studied acting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and in 2013 wrote the monologue play Ich bin Bulgare?! which was performed in the Box at the Deutsches Theater Berlin, among other venues. Together with her class, she wins the ensemble prize at the Schauspielschultreffen in 2015.

In 2016 she also attended the clown school École Philippe Gaulier in Paris. Popov has been a permanent member of the ensemble at Berlin’s Maxim Gorki Theatre since the 2017/2018 season. She will be invited to the 2022 Theatertreffen with Yael Ronen’s Slippery Slope.

She has been nominated several times by Theater heute as best young actress for her roles in Alles Schwindel, Und sicher ist mir die Welt verschwunden and Slippery Slope.

Popov is regularly active in film and television, among others in the ARD series Der Lissabon Krimi, in Tatort or most recently in the biopic Alice. She is currently writing another solo with the working title The Pop-Off Show.