Vladimir Jurowski conducts Beethovens “Missa solemnis”

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 performed 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.

Since her operatic debut as Susanna Le nozze di Figaro in 1998, Swedish soprano Miah Persson has distinguished herself as one of the world’s principal Mozart interpreters, leaving a lasting legacy on those lyric soprano roles for which she has become most celebrated: Susanna, Zerlina Don Giovanni, Sophie Der Rosenkavalier , Poppea L’Incoronazione di Poppea and later Fiordiligi Cosi fan Tutte , Donna Elvira Don Giovanni and Contessa Le nozze di Figaro. Having ‘added a burnish of gold to the silvery soprano that served her so well in Mozart roles’ (The Sunday Times), Miah has now ‘cemented her place as one of the most intelligent Strauss sopranos of our time at the peak of her powers’ (Bachtrack), with impactful role debuts as the Marschallin Der Rosenkavalier and Countess Capriccio.

In the 2021-22 season Miah made her house and role debut as Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro at the Semperoper Dresden, followed by Countess Almaviva in Netia Jones’ new production at the Opéra National de Paris. Equally as treasured a performer on the concert platform, she performed Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with both the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta and at Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin conducted by Simone Young; Mahler Symphony No. 2 with Orchestre National de Lyon and Stockholm Swedish Radio Orchestra and Mahler Symphony No. 4 at the BBC Proms with BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Ryan Bancroft. Highlights of the 2022-23 season include a return to the role of the Governess Turn of the Screw with Budapest Festival Orchestra in Budapest and Vicenza; Countess Almaviva in the first revival of Opéra National de Paris’ new production of Le nozze di Figaro at the Palais Garnier; the role of Solomon’s Queen in a tour of Handel’s Solomon with Harry Bicket and The English Concert, performing at Carnegie Hall, LA Opera, San Francisco, London and Madrid; Missa Solemnis with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin; Haydn’s Creation with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal cond. Bernard Labadie and Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Orchestre National de Lyon cond. Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider. Miah also returns to Michel van der Aa’s Blank Out, a chamber opera for soprano and 3D film, for performances at Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances Berkeley and at the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam.

Throughout her distinguished career, Miah has performed Fiordiligi Cosi fan tutte , Gretel Hansel und Gretel and Pamina Die Zauberflöte at the Metropolitan Opera; Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro and Zerlina Don Giovanni for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; title role L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Governess Turn of the Screw at Teatro alla Scala; Fiordiligi, Sophie and Susanna at the Wiener Staatsoper; Governess, Fiordiligi, Donna Elvira and Anne Trulove The Rake’s Progress at the Glyndebourne Festival; Donna Elvira at the Theatre Champs Elysées and the Liceu Barcelona; Fiordiligi at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Hamburgische Staatsoper, New National Theatre Tokyo, Bayerische Staatsoper, in Stockholm and for a Deutsche Grammophon recording at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden; Iris Sunken Garden for Dallas Opera and L’Incoronazione di Poppea at Carnegie Hall. She also created the central role in Michel van der Aa’s Blank Out for the Netherlands Opera with performances in Amsterdam, Rome and the Park Avenue Armory, New York.

In concert, Miah has sung Bach Mass in B Minor at Teatro La Fenice; Bach St Matthew Passion with the Rotterdam Philharmonic; Beethoven 9 with the London Symphony Orchestra cond. Vladimir Jurowski at the BBC Proms; Brahms Requiem with the State Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Gulbenkian Foundation and the London Philharmonic; Peer Gynt with the Vienna Symphony; Nelson Mass at the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg; The Seasons with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic; Mahler 2 with the MDR Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, London Symphony, Teatro alla Scala and the Philharmonie Luxembourg; Mahler 4 with the Basque National Orchestra, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Orchestre National de Lille; Des Knaben Wunderhorn for the Gulbenkian Foundation; Mozart Requiem with the LA Philharmonic; Schumann Faust Szenen with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and Vier letzte Lieder with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orkester Berlin, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Montreal Symphony Orchestra; The Creation at the Verbier Festival as well as recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Pierre Boulezsaal, Spivey Hall, the Schubert Club of St Paul, Cal Performances at Berkeley, Vancouver Playhouse and New York’s Carnegie Hall.

Miah Persson was appointed Hovsångerska, Court Singer, by H.M. the King of Sweden in 2011.

Samantha opens her 2022-2023 season as Federico García Lorca in Golijov’s Ainadamar at Scottish Opera, directed by Olivier Award-winning choreographer and director Deborah Colker. Her much-anticipated house debut at Chicago Lyric Opera follows as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel before she reprises the role of Dorabella in Così fan tutte at Palm Beach Opera. Other season highlights include her return to the Metropolitan Opera, this time as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, including a Live in HD cinema broadcast, and her role and house debut as Mélisande in a new production of Pelléas et Mélisande by Katie Mitchell at Santa Fe Opera. In concert, Carnegie Hall presents Samantha in a prestigious debut solo recital of Zemlinksy, Strauss and Ravel.

Samantha made significant house and role debuts in the 2021-2022 season at the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona as Der Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos, Dorabella at San Diego Opera, and Ruggiero in Glyndebourne Festival’s new production of Alcina. She made her role debut as Prince Charmant in Cendrillon at the Metropolitan Opera, and her house debut in the same role at the Opéra de Paris, before returning to Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, a role which she debuted to critical acclaim in the new production by Barrie Kosky, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

From 2019-2021, Samantha held a Fest contract at the Bayerische Staatsoper where she made notable appearances as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Wellgunde in Das Rheingold, Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte, and as Carmen in Marina Abramović’s new production of 7 Deaths of Maria Callas at the Opernfestspiele. Other recent significant house debuts include Opernhaus Zürich, Den Norske Opera, The Dallas Opera, and Grand Théâtre de Genève. On the concert stage, Samantha performed the title role in Handel’s Agrippina in concert with Il Pomo d’Oro in Turku, Finland, where she was praised by Turun Sanomat for her “marvelously rich mezzo”; she appeared at Bard Festival in Lili Boulanger’s Faust et Hélène, at Carnegie Hall in Handel’s Messiah; in solo recital at London’s Wigmore Hall with Malcolm Martineau and in New York City at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Brian Zeger.

Equally at home in classical repertoire and new music, Samantha has a longstanding relationship with composer David Herzberg, with whom she co-developed the title role in The Rose Elf as well as The Fairy Prince in The Wake World, both of which received considerable praise through multiple workshops, premieres and CD recordings. She also has been involved in numerous world premieres including productions with Opera Philadelphia and The Metropolitan Opera.

Samantha’s career includes awards in a vast number of national and international competitions. In 2018, she won both First Prize and the Media Prize at the Inaugural Glyndebourne Cup. The same year, she took home multiple prizes at the Operalia Competition, winning top awards in the general division as well as the Birgit Nilsson Prize for her interpretation of the work of Richard Strauss. In 2018, Samantha also received a Career Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, following an earlier 2016 award of a Sara Tucker Study Grant. In 2017, she was named a Grand Finals Winner by the Metropolitan Opera National Council, took First Prize in the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, and received a Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship in the foundation’s final year.

Samantha is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where she received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees and was recognized with several distinctions, including the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music and The Juilliard Kovner Fellowship.

A native of Marshfield, Massachusetts, Samantha embraced her passion for music from an early age after performing in a local production of Annie at age six. She sang with the Boston Children’s Chorus for several years as a youth, attended the distinguished Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and pursued pre-college vocal training at the Longy School of Music and the New England Conservatory.

The German tenor Sebastian Kohlhepp is one of the most established and versatile singers of his generation and is a much sought-after guest on international stages. In the 2022/23 season, engagements will take him to the Bavarian State Opera (‘Cosi fan tutte’), the Vienna State Opera (‘Die Zauberflöte’) and the Salzburg Easter Festival (‘Tannhäuser’). A special highlight will be his debut at La Scala in Milan, where he can be seen in early 2023 as Narraboth in Strauss’ ‘Salome’. Born in Limburg an der Lahn, Sebastian Kohlhepp received his first musical training in the boys’ choir there. His studies with Hedwig Fassbender in Frankfurt/Main were followed by permanent engagements at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the Vienna State Opera and the Stuttgart Opera. He has been freelancing since the 2017/18 season.
Among the most important stations of the past years are, among others. his debut at the Zurich Opera House (Don Ottavio), Lehár’s ‘Giuditta’ and ‘Schön ist die Welt’ at the Bavarian State Opera, Tamino at the Semperoper Dresden, Castellucci’s ‘Requiem’ at the Palau de les Arts Valencia, Ferrando at the Dutch National Opera Amsterdam, his role debut as David in ‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’ at the Salzburg Easter Festival, Belmonte at the Mozart Week Salzburg, Jason (‘Medea’) at the Stuttgart Opera and Tamino at the Theater an der Wien. Sebastian Kohlhepp is also in demand internationally as a concert singer. He works regularly with renowned orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Dresden, the SWR Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphoniker Hamburg, Gürzenich Orchester Köln, the MDR Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, Collegium Vocale Gent, RIAS Kammerchor, NDR Chor, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Collegium 1704, Gaechinger Cantorey and the conductors Ivor Bolton, Sylvain Cambreling, Teodor Currentzis, Adam Fischer, Pablo Heras-Casado, Philippe Herreweghe, Manfred Honeck, Kent Nagano, Andris Nelsons, Helmuth Rilling, François-Xavier Roth, Christian Thielemann, Lorenzo Viotti and Franz Welser-Möst. Invitations have taken him to the Salzburg Festival, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, the Philharmonies of Paris, Berlin, Cologne and Essen, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Tonhalle Zurich, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Brucknerhaus Linz, Maison de la Radio Paris, NOSPR Katowice, Boston Symphony Hall, Shanghai Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, the Rheingau and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festivals and the Menuhin Festival Gstaad.
Numerous CD, DVD and radio recordings document Sebastian Kohlhepp’s versatile work. Most recently, a new recording of Bach’s ‘Mass in B minor’ (conducted by René Jacobs) was released on the French label Harmonia Mundi.

The bass Tareq Nazmi studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich with Edith Wiens and Christian Gerhaher and privately with Hartmut Elbert. First as a participant in the Opera Studio, then as a member of the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera.
Bavarian State Opera, where he performed numerous different roles. In the 2022/23 season, Tareq Nazmi is expecting his role debut as Gurnemanz (Parsifal) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève as well as his house debut at the Vienna State Opera as King Heinrich (Lohengrin). He will also be heard as Hunding in a concert Ring under Marek Janowski in Dresden, returns to the Bavarian State Opera as Sarastro and appears at the Salzburg Mozart Week under Daniel Barenboim, with the Musikkollegium Winterthur under Roberto Gonzales- Monjas or the NDR Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck. Among the most important engagements of past seasons are his role debuts as Filippo II in Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Theater St. Gallen, as Banco in Verdi’s Macbeth at Antwerp Opera and as King Henry in a concert performance at the Tokyo Spring Festival, as well as Sarastro in Mozart’s Magic Flute at the Lyric Opera in Chicago, a tour of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem under the musical direction of Teodor Currentzis, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Berlin Philharmonic under Daniel Barenboim or Beethoven’s Missa solemnis in Munich under Kirill Petrenko. In 2018, Tareq Nazmi was heard as the narrator in a new production of The Magic Flute with the Vienna Philharmonic under Constantinos Carydis at the Salzburg Festival, where he returned in the summer of 2022, this time as Sarastro. In 2017 he made his debut as Zaccaria in Verdi’s Nabucco in St. Gallen. As a sought-after concert soloist, Tareq Nazmi has a broad repertoire ranging from Bach to Beethoven, from Haydn to Brahms and from Mozart to Dvorak. He has worked with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Orchestre de Paris under Daniel Harding, the Orquestra Gulbenkian under Alain Altinoglu, the WDR Sinfonieorcher under Jukka-Pekka Saraste, the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin under Manfred Honeck or the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble under Thomas Hengelbrock. He has also performed under Zubin Mehta, Franz Welser-Möst and Kent Nagano. As a lied singer, Tareq Nazmi could recently be heard together with Gerold Huber at the Schubertiade Hohenems, in Munich, Cologne or at London’s Wigmore Hall. In 2023 he will perform Schubert’s Winterreise in Tokyo.

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).

As of the 2015/16 season Gijs Leenaars has taken up his post as new Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Rundfunkchor Berlin.

Ever since he successfully cooperated with outstanding conductors such as Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, John Eliot Garniner and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

In October 2017 he took over the musical direction for the genre crossing Concert performance “LUTHER dancing with the gods” with music by Bach, Nystedt and Reich in Berlins new Pierre Boulez Saal, the choir’s very first collaboration of Rundfunkchor Berlin with the renowned director Robert Wilson.

Moreover he directed a celebrated a capella programme in Autumn 2016 at the White Light Festival of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York as well as the choirs first-ever Tour through South America to Brasil, Chile and Argentina with the Brahms and Mozart-Requiem as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Born in 1978 in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, Leenaars is regarded as one of the most exciting choral conductors of the younger generation. He studied the piano, choral and orchestral conducting as well as singing in Nijmegen and Amsterdam. Directly upon completing his studies he embarked on a collaboration with the Netherlands Radio Choir (Groot Omroepkoor) in Hilversum.

From 2012 to 2015 he was the ensemble’s Principal Conductor, working with such leading conductors as Mariss Jansons, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Bernard Haitink and Valery Gergiev. He is a regular guest conductor of the Collegium Vocale of Ghent, Cappella Amsterdam and Netherlands Chamber Choir
and has also conducted orchestras including the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, The Hague Philharmonic and Turin Philharmonic.

One of his special interests is contemporary music: Gijs Leenaars conducted the Dutch premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s „Vigilia” and prepared the choral works of György Kurtág with the Netherlands Radio Choir for a complete recording under Reinbert de Leeuw. His strikingly imaginative programming brings together the classics of the choral repertoire with seldom performed works from all periods.