The Song of the Earth
Vladimir Jurowski
From Schubert's tragic to Mahler's cheerful apocalypse
Programme
Franz Schubert Symphony No. 4 in C minor, D. 417 (“Tragic Symphony”)
Gustav Mahler “The Song of the Earth” for mezzo-soprano, tenor and orchestra
Cast
Vladimir Jurowski - Conductor
Sarah Connolly - Mezzo-soprano
Robert Dean Smith - Tenor
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Concert with
Concert with
Artists
Vladimir Jurowski
Conductor
Vladimir Jurowski - Conductor
Vladimir Jurowski is one of the most sought-after conductors of our time, enjoying international acclaim for his outstanding musical ability and a consistently adventurous artistic approach. He has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSB) since September 2017. He was born in Moscow, where he began his musical education at the conservatoire. In 1990, he and his family moved to Germany, where he completed his studies at the colleges of music in Dresden and Berlin. His international debut was at the Wexford festival as well as the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 1995.
Vladimir Jurowski was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003, becoming its Principal Conductor in 2007. In addition, he is Artistic Director of the Russian Academic State Orchestra “Yevgeny Svetlanov”, Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and Artistic Advisor to the “ensemble unitedberlin”. In 2015 he was also appointed Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest. It was announced in March 2018 that he is to become Generalmusikdirektor of the Bavarian State Opera as from the 2021/2022 season. In the past he has held positions including First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997-2000) and Musical Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001-2013). In March 2016 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Royal College of Music in London.
Vladimir Jurowski conducts top orchestras in Europe and North America, such as the Dresdner Staatskapelle, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Boston, Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras, and the New York Philharmonic, as well as the Berlin and Vienna philharmonic orchestras. He also appears regularly at international festivals such as the BBC Proms, and since 1995 he has worked at major international opera houses, incl. at the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Welsh National Opera, the Scala in Milan, the Bolshoi Theatre, and the Dresden Semper Opera.
He returned to Glyndebourne Opera in 2017 for the world premiere of Brett Dean’s “Hamlet” and shortly afterwards he made his debut at Salzburg Festival with Alban Berg’s “Wozzeck”. In 2018 he conducted new productions of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” at the Opéra National de Paris and Franz Schreker’s “Die Gezeichneten” at Zurich Opera House.
His extensive, frequently prizewinning discography now includes three recordings with the RSB for PENTATONE, interpreting works by Schnittke, Mahler, Strauss, Hindemith and Britten.
Sarah Connolly
Mezzo-soprano
Sarah Connolly - Mezzo-soprano
Born in County Durham, Sarah Connolly studied piano and singing at the Royal College of Music, of which she is now a Fellow. She was made a DBE in the 2017 Birthday Honours, having previously been made a CBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours. In 2011 she was honoured by the Incorporated Society of Musicians and presented with the Distinguished Musician Award. She is the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s 2012 Singer Award.
Highlights in her 2018/19 season include Fricka Das Rheingold and Die Walküre at Covent Garden and in Das Rheingold at the Teatro Réal in Madrid. On the concert platform, her engagements include Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin/Jurowski & London Philharmonic Orchestra/Jurowski), his Symphony No. 8 (Wiener Symphoniker/Jordan), Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Orchestre national de Paris/Saraste) and Tippet’s A Child of our Time (Orchestre de Paris/Adès). Dame Sarah also curates a Residency at Wigmore Hall in the 2018/19 season and she will give recitals for the Schubertíada a Vilabertran, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid and for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
Past highlights have included Fricka (Covent Garden & Bayreuther Festspiele) Brangäne Tristan und Isolde (Covent Garden, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Glyndebouren Festival & Gran Teatro del Liceu); Komponist Ariadne auf Naxos and Clairon Capriccio (Metropolitan Opera); the title role in Giulio Cesare and Gertrude in the world premiere of Brett Dean’s Hamlet (Glyndebourne Festival); the title role in Ariodante (Wiener Staatsoper, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence & Dutch National Opera); Sesto La clemenza di Tito (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence); Purcell’s Dido (Teatro alla Scala & Covent Garden); Jocaste in Enescu’s Œdipe (Covent Garden); Gluck’s Orfeo and the title role in The Rape of Lucretia (Bayerische Staatsoper); Phèdre Hippolyte et Aricie (Opéra national de Paris & Glyndebourne Festival) and the title role in Agrippina and Nerone L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Gran Teatro del Liceu).
She has also sung the title role in Maria Stuarda and Roméo I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Opera North); Komponist (Welsh National Opera) and Octavian Der Rosenkavalier (Scottish Opera). A favorite at the English National Opera, her many roles for the company have included Geschwitz Lulu; Octavian; the title roles in Charpentier’s Medée and Handel’s Agrippina, Xerxes, Ariodante and Ruggiero Alcina; the title role in The Rape of Lucretia; Didon Les Troyens; Roméo, Susie The Silver Tassie and Sesto – for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.
The future sees her return to the Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra national de Paris, the Teatro Réal in Madrid and to the English National Opera.
Her many concert engagements include appearances at the Lucerne, Salzburg, Tanglewood and Three Choirs Festivals and at the BBC Proms where, in 2009, she was a memorable guest soloist at The Last Night. Other notable engagements have included The Dream of Gerontius (Boston Symphony Orchestra/Sir Colin Davis & Mozarteumorchester Salzburg/Bolton); Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 at the BBC Proms (LSO/Haitink); A Child of our Time and Brangäne (Berliner Philharmoniker/Rattle); Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Leipzig Gewandhausorchester/Chailly, Boston Symphony Orchestra/von Dohnanyi & Philadelphia Orchestra/Nézet-Séguin); Das Lied von der Erde (Concertgebouworkest/Harding, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra/Nézet-Séguin & LPO/Jurowski); Des Knaben Wunderhorn (L’Orchestre des Champs-Elysées/Herreweghe) and La mort de Cléopâtre (Hallé/Elder, CBSO/Gardner & BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sir Andrew Davis).
She has appeared in recital in London, New York, Boston, Paris, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, San Francisco, Atlanta, Stuttgart; at the Incontri in Terra di Siena La Foce and the Schubertiada Vilabertran and at the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Edinburgh and Oxford Lieder Festivals.
Committed to promoting new music, her world premiere performances include Judith Bingham’s The Colour of Fire (Two Moors Festival); Torsten Rasch’s A Welsh Night (Three Choirs Festival); Gareth Farr’s Relict Furies (Edinburgh Festival); Jonathan Harvey’s Songs of Li Po (Aldeburgh Festival) and Sir John Tavener’s Tribute to Cavafy (Symphony Hall, Birmingham) and Gnosis (BBC Proms).
Ticket information
Sun 14 October 2018 - 8 pm Philharmonie Berlin
- from € 20
- Pre-concert talk with Steffen Georgi: 6.45 pm, Südfoyer
Barrier-free accessibility
As the Berlin Philharmonic Hall is a listed building, unfortunately it is not fully accessible in all areas. Further information regarding entrances for the disabled, places in the disabled box, and offers of help for the sight and hearing impaired are available on the website of the Philharmonie.
https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/barrierefrei/
Concert visitors with severely disabled passes marked B will receive a free ticket for their escort when buying a ticket. Our visitor service (link) is happy to assist with any further questions. On site, you can contact the staff of the events service EVENTTEAM, who will be happy to help you in any way.
Admission
The building opens one hour before the start of concerts.
Cloakroom
Please note that visitors may not take large bags, rucksacks or coats into the concert hall with them. However, coats can be handed in, free of charge at the cloakrooms in the foyer or on the first floor opposite Block A right. Please collect your coats and items of luggage as soon as possible after the end of the concert. Personal items which are not collected in good time will be left with the porter at the stage door (in the direction of Potsdamer Platz) and can be collected from there upon presentation of your cloakroom ticket.
There is no fixed dress code for concerts by the RSB. Depending on your taste and how you feel most comfortable, you can attend in suit or evening gown, or in jeans and a T-shirt, for example.
Concert Lenght/Duration
Symphonic and chamber music concerts generally take 2 hours including a 20-minute interval.
Attention is drawn to significant deviations from this rule in the concert calendar.
Catering
Snacks and drinks are sold in the foyer of the Philharmonie before concerts and in the concert intervals. These can be ordered in advance for the opening of doors and the interval, please ring tel. 030 265 15 24 or via email to gerresheimph@aol.com.
No food or drink may be taken into the concert hall.
Introductions
Steffen Georgi, dramaturge of the RSB, offers free introductory talks to most symphonic concerts in the auxiliary rooms of the Konzerthaus or the Philharmonie. These take place 50 minutes (in the Philharmonie) or 60 minutes (in the Konzerthaus) before the start of the concert. The introductory talks will take place in German language. All relevant details may be found in our annotated concert calendar; see entries on respective concert dates.
Late Admission
Should you arrive too late for a concert, it will depend on the works being played when and whether there will be late admissions. Please speak to the staff of the respective venue. It may not be possible for you to take up your actual seat until the concert interval, as the music cannot be disturbed. No refund on ticket prices is possible.
Programmes
Our programmes are sold by the admission stewards before each concert and in the interval, costing 3 € each.
RSB subscribers receive a free copy of the relevant programme on presentation of a voucher.
Reductions
Special group rates are available for school pupils and travel groups, companies, societies and major customers. Please contact our visitor service directly if you are interested.
School pupils, trainees and students up to the age of 27, as well as the unemployed, can buy tickets for the RSB's own concerts for 10 € each at the evening box office before the respective concert. This offer applies only when tickets are still available. The organisers take responsibility for the disposition of the tickets. Reductions can be granted only when buying tickets personally and presenting the corresponding documents and personal identification. No more than one reduced ticket per person may be purchased. This ticket is non-transferrable. Severely disabled persons entitled to an escort can address their request for tickets to the visitor service. This service is happy to offer advice regarding the contingent of places available.
Classic Card
› for all those under 30
› Sit in the best seats for one year as from date requested
› Fixed price of 8 € for concerts or 10 € for opera and ballet (depending on availability at the evening box office)
› valid all participating ensembles' own events and venues: RundfunkSinfonieorchester Berlin, Rundfunkchor Berlin, RIAS Kammerchor, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Konzerthaus Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Staatsoper im Schiller Theater, Staatsballett Berlin › Monthly bonus and visits to rehearsals, raffle to win a role as an extra etc. › All advantages for only 15 €, further information: www.classiccard.de
berlinerjugendabo
› for young people aged 14 to 21 › Experience Berlin's top musicians: Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Berliner Philharmoniker, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Bundesjugendorchester › Six concerts per season for a package price of only 36 € › Additional bonus as well as special concert introductions, talks with musicians etc., further information: www.berlinerjugendabo.de
Ticket Sales
It is possible to buy your tickets online at www.rsb-online.de , by telephone, email or in person at our visitor service, or at the daytime or evening box office. Book your tickets until the last working day before the respective concert on our homepage and simply print them out at home in A4-format. Payment is by credit card; a processing fee of 2 € will be charged. This possibility is available for concerts in the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Philharmonie Berlin. All theatre box offices, travel agents and advance ticket sales offices in Berlin and Brandenburg affiliated to “eventim” also sell tickets for concerts by the RSB. The customary advance ticket fees and, where relevant, costs for postage will be charged. The evening box office opens one hour before the concert starts on the day of the concert. If an introductory event is taking place before the concert, the evening box office will open 90 minutes before the concert begins.
Route directions & parking location
Philharmonie Berlin
Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße 1
10785 Berlin
It is easy to access the Philharmonie by public transport:
Buses M84, M85, N2 to Kulturforum or Varian-Fry-Str. or Potsdamer Platz + 4 minutes walk, 200 to Philharmonie
Underground U2 to Potsdamer Platz + 10 minutes walk
S-Bahn (city railway) S1, S2, S25, S26 and regional trains to Potsdamer Platz + 10 minutes walk
Car Parking
Current information: due to building works around the Philharmonie, traffic is being diverted in the area of Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße and Tiergartenstraße. For further information, please consult the website of the Philharmonie.
There are a limited number of charged parking spaces on the site of the Philharmonie:
per hour or part-hour 2.50 Euros
day maximum 20.00 Euros
lost ticket 20.00 Euros
evening rate 7 pm to 5 am 7.00 Euros
Sunday flat rate 6.00 Euros
Please also use parking possibilities in the Sony Center (entrances Ben-Gurion- and Bellevuestraße) as well as Potsdamer Platz Arkaden (entrance to underground parking on Reichpietschufer) and in the car park on Schöneberger Ufer. All these are public parking areas belonging to the City of Berlin, on behalf of which they are administrated by APCOA Autoparking GmbH.
The public parking areas on Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße (on the western side of the Philharmonie) provide a limited number of identified parking spaces for the disabled. Unfortunately, it is generally not possible to reserve parking spaces.