Symphonic Opening „Es sungen drei Engel“

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.

Tamara Stefanovich is captivating audiences worldwide with her highly elaborated recital programmes, as chamber musician or soloist with the world’s leading orchestras. Being passionate about a braod repertoire from Bach to the contemporary, she has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Bamberger Symphoniker and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen amongst others. Stefanovich performs at the world’s major concert venues including Suntory Hall Tokyo and London’s Royal Albert and Wigmore Halls. She features in international festivals such as La Roque d’Antheron, Salzburger Festspiele and Beethovenfest Bonn. In the current season Stefanovich will perform at Musikfest Berlin, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam and in duo recital at Musikfest Herrenhausen.

Following a celebrated debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Kirill Petrenko and a return to the Philharmonia Orchestra under Karl-Heinz Steffens last year, highlights of the 2020/21 season include concerts with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Markus Stenz at NTR Zaterdag Matinee and Philharmonie Essen, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Iceland Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and Tamara Stefanovich’s debut with Oregon Symphony Orchestra.

Recent engagements have included performances with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, WDR Sinfoniesorchester Köln, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo. Stefanovich also undertook an extensive US recital tour marking the 90th birthday of Pierre Boulez garnering exultant reviews.

Fruitful collaboration connects Tamara Stefanovich with composers including Pierre Boulez, George Benjamin, Hans Abrahamsen and György Kurtág.  She works with chamber music partners Such as Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Matthias Goerne and regularly partners with conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Jurowski and Susanna Mälkki.

Her award-winning discography includes a recording of Kurtág’s “Quasi una Fantasia” and his double concerto with Asko|Schönberg Ensemble and Reinbert de Leeuw/Jean-Guihen Queyras for ECM. She received the Edison Award and her recording of Bartók’s Concerto for two pianos, percussion and orchestra with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Pierre Boulez (Deutsche Grammophon) was nominated for a Grammy Award. Following her first solo recording with works by Bach and Bartók Tamara is dedicating her second album “Influences” to works of Ives, Bartók, Messiaen and Bach. Since its release on Pentatone in March 2019 “Influences” has received five star reviews and been praised by critics.

Tamara regularly leads educational projects at London’s Barbican Centre, Kölner Philharmonie and at Klavier-Festival Ruhr such as the innovative online project of interactive pedagogical analyses Boulez’ Notations: www.explorethescore.org. She was co-founder and curator of Portland International Piano’s Festival “The Clearing”. A convinced European she studied in Belgrade, at Curtis Institute and at Colognes Musikhochschule.

Georg Nigl, a celebrated “Wozzeck” at La Scala in Milan, “Lenz” in Brussels and Berlin (“Singer of the Year” 2015 by Opernwelt magazine) and Bach interpreter of international standing. Since his childhood the singer has closely been connected to music. As a soprano soloist of the Vienna Boys’ Choir he appeared on important stages. During his studies with Kammersängerin Hilde Zadek he received further important impulses for his subsequent career as a baritone.

His unmistakable timbre has taken him to all the important opera stages and festivals in Europe, whilst working under the direction of renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Teodor Currentzis, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, René Jacobs, Kent Nagano, Kirill Petrenko and Sir Simon Rattle. On top of that he worked with the most important directors of our time. Georg Nigl has gained special recognition not only as a performing soloist of numerous world premieres, but also as an impetus for compositions and publications by Friedrich Cerha, Pascal Dusapin, Georg Friedrich Haas, Wolfgang Mitterer, Olga Neuwirth and Wolfgang Rihm among others.

Highlights since 2021 have included Papageno and the title role in the world premiere of Pascal Dusapin’s “Macbeth Underworld” at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. Also the title role in Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” and the world premiere of Beat Furrer’s “Violetter Schnee” at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin. He made guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera with the title role in Trojahn’s “Orest” and as Eisenstein in “Die Fledermaus”; he sang the title role in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” at the Hamburg State Opera, and “Lenz,” which was celebrated by press and public alike, at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Reimann’s “Lear” at the Bavarian State Opera, and Pilate in Bach’s St. John Passion under Sir Simon Rattle in Peter Sellars’ production with the Berlin Philharmonic and on tour with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Georg Nigl’s 2021/2022 season began with his debut with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) at the Musikfest Berlin, where he interpreted Stravinsky’s “Abraham and Isaac” under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski. In September 2022, he will guest with Xenakis’ “Aïs” with the same cast at the same venue.

Other recent highlights include the title role in the new production of Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” at the Vienna State Opera and the Teatro Real in Madrid. Georg Nigl continues the Monteverdi cycle at the Vienna State Opera as Ulisse (“Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria”) and once again demonstrates his versatility with the role of Alberich in a concert performance of Wagner’s “Rheingold” conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. In the spring of 2022, he performed Rihm’s “Terzinen an den Tod” and the Wölfl-Lieder in Munich under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher. In the summer of 2022, he performed Zimmermann’s “Ecclesiastical Action” and Brahms’ Requiem at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.

Georg Nigl’s chamber music repertoire features a wide spectrum from the Baroque through the Viennese Classical period to the latest music – jointly developed and performed with Alexander Melnikov, Olga Pashchenko, Luca Pianca and Gérard Wyss. His recording “Bach privat” with Anna Lucia Richter was awarded the Diapason d’or in 2017, his album “Vanitas” with Olga Pashchenko and songs by Beethoven, Schubert and Rihm was celebrated as discovery of the year by many voices. In 2022/2023, song recitals will take him to the Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, the Musikfest Bremen, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Schwetzingen, and the Berlin and Paris Philharmonics.

Ralf Sochaczewsky received conducting lessons under Christian Grube and Marc Piollet at the Berlin University of the Arts. Later he studied choir conducting under Jörg-Peter Weigle and orchestral conducting under Prof. Reuter at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler”.

He directs the Berlin choir Cantus Domus, with which he won a 1st prize at the Berlin Choir Competition in 2017 and a 3rd prize at the 8th Choir Competition of the Deutscher Musikrat in Dortmund . From 1998 to 2012, he conducted the Ensemberlino Vocale choir and successfully participated in choir competitions (1st prize at Chorfest Bremen (Bremen Choir Festival) 2008).

He regularly works with choirs like the Berlin Vocalconsort, the Cappella Amsterdam, the RIAS Kammerchor, and the Berliner Rundfunkchor.

In 2016, he conducted the European premiere of the oratorio “Anthracite Fields” by Julia Wolfe, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2015, with the DR Vocalensemble and Bang on a Can-All Stars.

Ralf Sochaczewsky has performed with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the National Radio Orchestra Bucharest, and the Chamber Orchestra of the Minsk Philharmonic. He conducted operas at the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Opera National du Rhin, and the Lithuanian National Opera.

Ralf Sochaczewsky collaborated with various pop groups and artists such as Stargaze and André de Ridder, Bon Iver, Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan, and Tocotronic. With Cantus Domus, he is a regular guest at festivals such as HaldernPop and KalternPop.

He teaches choral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler”. For his great service to the Berlin choir scene, the Chorverband Berlin awarded him the Geschwister Mendelssohn Medal in 2017.