Program

7 November(FRI)

Wagner Siegfried Idyll

Schumann Piano Concerto (Piano: Sunwook Kim)

Brahms Symphony No. 1

8 November(SAT)

Janáček Lachian Dances

Bartók The Miraculous Mandarin Suite

Stravinsky Petrushka (revised version from 1947)

9 November(SUN)

Schumann Manfred Overture

Schumann Piano Concerto (Piano: Sunwook Kim)

Brahms Symphony No. 1

About the Conductor

Kirill Petrenko

Kirill Petrenko has been chief conductor and artistic director of the Berliner Philharmoniker since the 2019/20 season. Born in Omsk in Siberia, he received his training first in his hometown and later in Austria. He established his conducting career in opera with positions at the Staatstheater Meiningen and the Komische Oper Berlin. From 2013 to 2020, Kirill Petrenko was general music director of Bayerische Staatsoper. He has also made guest appearances at the world’s leading opera houses, including Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden in London, the Opéra national in Paris, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at the Bayreuth Festival. Moreover, he has conducted the major international symphony orchestras – in Vienna, Munich, Dresden, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Rome, Chicago, Cleveland and Israel.

Since his debut in 2006, a variety of programmatic themes have emerged in his work together with the Berliner Philharmoniker. These include work on the orchestra’s core Classical-Romantic repertoire, most notably with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony when he took up his post. Unjustly forgotten composers such as Josef Suk and Karl Amadeus Hartmann. In opera performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten and Elektra have recently attracted attention.

About the Pianist

Sunwook Kim

Sunwook Kim came to international recognition when he won the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006, aged just 18, becoming the competition’s youngest winner for 40 years, as well as its first Asian winner. Since then, he has established a reputation as one of the finest pianists of his generation, appearing as a concerto soloist in the subscription series of some of the world’s leading orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for his BBC Proms debut in Summer 2014. Conductor collaborations include with Jakub Hrůša, Karina Canellakis, Nathalie Stutzmann, Thomas Søndergård, Tugan Sokhiev, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, David Afkham, Edward Gardner, John Eliot Gardiner, Myung-Whun Chung.

In the 2024/25 season, Sunwook continues his term as Music Director of the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra conducting works from Mozart and Beethoven to Strauss, Bartók and Unsuk Chin. Sunwook recently made his conducting debuts with the Iceland Symphony, Armenian National Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic. Play-directing from the piano, Sunwook recently had an extensive tour of Europe and Korea with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, including concerts at Lotte Concert Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Salle Philharmonique de Liege, Halle Aux Grains (Toulouse) and the Barbican, London.

About the Orchestra

Berliner Philharmoniker

The Berliner Philharmoniker, founded in 1882 as a self-governing orchestra, has long been one of the world’s leading orchestras.

In the first decades, Hans von Bülow, Arthur Nikisch and Wilhelm Furtwängler were the defining chief conductors, followed by Herbert von Karajan from 1955. He developed a unique sound aesthetic and playing culture with the Berliner Philharmoniker that made the orchestra famous worldwide. In 1967, Herbert von Karajan founded the Berliner Philharmoniker Easter Festival in Salzburg. Since 2013, it has been held in Baden-Baden. From 1989 to 2002, Claudio Abbado as chief conductor created a new approach to programming, particularly with regard to contemporary compositions. Sir Simon Rattle continued to broaden the repertoire and established innovative concert formats from 2002 to 2018.

Kirill Petrenko has been chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 2019. The programmatic focal points of his tenure are the Classical and Romantic repertoire, Russian music and unjustly forgotten compositions. Another key concern for Kirill Petrenko is the orchestra’s education programme, which is aimed at new target groups. Since 2021, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko have been ambassadors of UNO-Flüchtlingshilfe, the German partner of the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).

The Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation is supported by the State of Berlin and the German federal government, as well as by the generous participation of Deutsche Bank as its principal sponsor.