Vladimir Jurowski conducts Beethovens “Missa solemnis”

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.

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.

With “much elegance and youthful tone” (Financial Times), mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey is increasingly lauded for her powerful stage presence, paired with a voice admired for its “dusky focus and hypnotic allure.” (The Times).

Hankey’s 2023-2024 season marks debuts in leading roles at the Royal Opera House (Dorabella, Così fan tutte), Detroit Opera (Fox, The Cunning Little Vixen), and Lyric Opera of Kansas City (Santuzza, Cavalleria Rusticana). She performs as soloist with Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette (Met Live in HD) and Opernhaus Zürich as Dorabella in Così fan tutte.

Last season, Hankey appeared in Ainadamar at Scottish Opera, made debuts at Santa Fe Opera (Mélisande, Pelléas et Mélisande) and Chicago Lyric Opera (Hänsel, Hänsel und Gretel), performed her Carnegie Hall recital debut, and starred as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier at The Met (Live in HD). She held a Fest contract at the Bayerische Staatsoper from 2019-2021 and has performed at Den Norske Opera, The Dallas Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Bard Festival, Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She co-developed the lead roles in David Herzberg’s The Rose Elf and The Wake World.

Hankey received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, followed by multiple prizes at the Glyndebourne Cup and Operalia Competitions, a Career Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, Grand Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council, Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, and more.

Sebastian Kohlhepp has established himself in recent years on the international opera and concert stages as one of the finest German tenors of his generation being praised for his “irresistible, gleaming” (Opera Magazine) and “distinctive tenor” (Das Opernglas).

In the last few seasons he debuted at Teatro Real Madrid, La Scala, Opernhaus Zürich, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Palau de les Arts Valencia, Semperoper Dresden and Salzburger Festspiele in roles such as Flamand/Capriccio, David/Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Manolios/The Greek Passion, Walther/Tannhäuser, Narraboth/Salome, Ferrando/Cosi fan tutte, Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni and Tamino/Die Zauberflöte under the baton of Andris Nelsons, Christian Thielemann and Vladimir Jurowski, just to name a few. Last season he debuted in the title role of Idomeneo at Oper Köln.

Highlights of the season 24/25 include his return to Oper Köln for a new staged production of Hadyn’s Die Schöpfung under Marc Minkowski and Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri in a semi staged production with accentus and Insula orchestra in Paris and Vienna conducted by Laurence Equilbey. In concert he will perform Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 with Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko at Osterfestspiele Baden-Baden, Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium with Wiener Symphoniker and Václav Luks as well as with Rundfunksinfonieorchester Berlin and Vladimir Jurowski, Bruckner’s Mass in f minor with SWR Sinfonieorchester, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with Netherlands Philharmonic under Karina Canellakis and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis at La Scala conducted by Tugan Sokhiev.Sebastian Kohlhepp is a  former ensemble member of Wiener Staatsoper and Oper Stuttgart and has also appeared at Theater an der Wien, Theater Basel, De Nationale Opera Amsterdam and Volksoper Wien.

Equally in demand in concert he has worked with orchestras and ensembles such as Boston Symphony Orchestra, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, Münchner Philharmoniker, Akademie für Alte Musik, Mozarteumorchester, RIAS Kammerchor, Collegium Vocale Gent, SWR Symphonieorchester and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and conductors such as Teodor Currentzis, Kent Nagano, Manfred Honeck, François-Xavier Roth, Ivor Bolton, René Jacobs, Pablo Heras Casado, Philippe Herreweghe, Peter Dijkstra and Leonardo García Alarcón performing the major works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Mendelssohn et al.

Numerous CD, DVD and radio recordings document Sebastian Kohlhepp’s versatile work. Most recently, a new recording of Bach’s Messe in h-moll with the RIAS Kammerchor and Akademie für Alte Musik under René Jacobs was released on Harmonia Mundi in 2022. Kohlhepp’s Lied debut album “Von Sagen und Helden” co-produced with SWR Stuttgart and featuring works by Schumann, Liszt and Emil Sjörgen was released in 2023.

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 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.

Gijs Leenaars has been at the helm of the Rundfunkchor Berlin as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director since the 2015/16 season. Since then, he has worked with outstanding conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, Daniel Barenboim, Simon Rattle and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Gijs Leenaars conducts cross-genre concert performances such as the “human requiem” or “LUTHER dancing with the gods” and is responsible for recordings of a cappella repertoire and choral symphonic works. In the 2019/20 season, he will conduct the major festival of choral cultures and the transdisciplinary project “TIME TRAVELLERS”. He will also conduct Bruckner’s Mass in E minor in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a work that will also be released on CD with this instrumentation.

Born in Nijmegen in 1978, the Dutchman is one of the most interesting choral conductors of the younger generation. He studied piano, choral and orchestral conducting and singing in Nijmegen and Amsterdam. His collaboration with the Dutch Radio Choir in Hilversum began immediately after graduating. From 2012 to 2015, he was chief conductor of the ensemble and worked as such with Mariss Jansons, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Bernard Haitink. He is also a regular guest conductor of the Collegium Vocale Gent, the Cappella Amsterdam and the Nederlands Kamerkoor. He has also worked with orchestras such as the Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Residentie Orkest Den Haag and the Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino.

He is particularly interested in performing contemporary music. For example, Gijs Leenaars conducted the Dutch premiere of Wolfang Rihm’s “Vigilia”, and for the complete recording of Kurtág’s works under Reinbert de Leeuw, he worked on the choral works with the Dutch Radio Choir. In his programs, he combines classical repertoire with rarely heard works of choral literature.