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Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts return in May 2021, Wednesdays at 8pm

Monika Rittershaus
https://current.org/
The Berlin Philharmonic performs its annual European Concert May 1 in the empty Philharmonie Berlin.

Early on in the pandemic, the mighty Berlin Philharmonic went ahead with a concert it had scheduled before the coronavirus outbreak - a livestreamed performance in an empty hall. According to New York Times writer Anthony Tommasini, "It was uncanny, and intensely moving, to realize that the only audience was us watching in our homes around the world." We'll hear that concert on May 19th at 8pm.

5/19      In May 2020, at the height of the pandemic in Germany, Germany's most famous orchestra performed in an empty Berlin Philharmonie. We'll hear that extraordinary performance. Pärt: Fratres Ligeti: Ramifications Barber: Adagio for Strings Mahler/Stein: Symphony No. 4 in G Major, adapted by Erwin Stein Tchaikovsky:  Symphony No. 6 Suk:  A Summer's Tale: Blind Musicians (Christiane Karg, s; Orchestra of the Comic Opera Berlin; Berlin Philharmonic; Kirill Petrenko, cond)

5/26      J.S. Bach's St. John Passion was adapted for only three musicians, an audacious experiment in compliance with social distancing on Good Friday 2020. Anon.: Tristis est anima mea (My Soul is Sad)  Gallus: Ecce, quomodo moritur justus  J.S. Bach:  St. John Passion (Benedikt Kristjánsson, t; Philipp Lamprecht, per; Elina Albach, hc & org; Gotthold Schwarz, cond)