Visiting Orchestras

The Season’s Most Important Guest Performances

Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin © Antoine Saito

Description

The Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall was »made for great orchestral pieces that want to overwhelm you« – thus the critic of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung after the opening concert. This is true. The hall was created for impressive sonic experiences, and large-scale orchestral works sound best here because the auditorium presents the music crystal clear and booming, without any blurring effects. You can check this out yourself with any one of the first-rate concerts on offer this season. The best orchestras from around the world are visiting, and they will test the spectacular acoustics, right down to the smallest detail and with maximum finesse.

One of the first visiting ensembles is the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with up and coming Lithuanian conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. She has been the orchestra’s music director since 2016.

Also, some of the foremost German orchestras of our time will be guests in the Grand Hall: the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and its new chief conductor Andris Nelsons, the three big Munich orchestras, and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.

Because some orchestras come from far away, their trip to Hamburg is made extra worthwhile with the presentation of two programmes each instead of one. For example, the London Symphony Orchestra and its new music director Sir Simon Rattle appear twice in Hamburg, also the orchestras from Philadelphia and Cleveland who are part of the so-called »Big Five« – the five best orchestras of the USA. There is be ample opportunity to be sonically overwhelmed at the Elbphilharmonie!

Events of the series

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