For decades, Tanja Tetzlaff has been one of the most influential artists of her generation - as a passionate chamber musician and as a virtuoso soloist with orchestra, which she has already demonstrated in various concert formats as a regular guest with the Duisburg Philharmonic. But she is also just as passionate about climate and environmental protection. She is now receiving the Music Prize of the City of Duisburg for this comprehensive commitment.

It is by no means the first prize that Tanja Tetzlaff has won, but it is one that she is particularly pleased about: "Above all, because it is not just about my musical commitment, but also about the fact that I am dealing a little with the issues of our time, especially sustainability, environmental protection and what we are doing to nature." She shows this commitment, for example, with the extraordinary film project "Suites4Nature", in which she relates Bach's famous cello suites and works by other composers to nature and questions of climate change. She also plays pieces from it in the 1st Chamber Concert, which is a joint project with the Orchestra of Change and which deals with the topic of "energy". "I have the feeling that you can't just make music or just be an artist," she says of her ever-increasing commitment. "The issues that are depressing and threatening at this time are so huge that we simply can no longer ignore them. And I hope that as an artist I can reach people on stage, that in connection with my music maybe some of them will be awakened or made to think.”

Music Prize of the City of Duisburg 2024

Theater Duisburg

The horror is unimaginable: On October 7, 2023, the radical Islamic Hamas attacked Israel. In the south of the country, its members carried out a massacre, torturing and kidnapping defenseless civilians. As a result of the barbaric terrorist attack, a war broke out in the Gaza Strip, bringing immeasurable suffering to people on both sides. In memory of the day of the terrible attack, the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra is organizing a concert with Jewish music and Jewish artists - as a sign of solidarity and as a signal of hope. Because music can achieve what often seems unattainable in real life: people of different backgrounds and religions find each other in the intimate dialogue of chamber music, united in their devotion to a common cause: music.

Memorial concert

Philharmonie Mercatorhalle

Around 250 years separate the Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach from the Hungarian composer György Ligeti, one of the most distinguished representatives of New Music in the 20th century. Yet they have something in common: the radical concentration of compositional means with which they advanced into new realms of expression. It is therefore a fascinating dialogue when Bach's famous "Goldberg Variations," a crown jewel of keyboard literature to this day, encounters György Ligeti's String Quartet No. 1. While Bach uses a simply enchanting melody, which he develops into 30 variations, Ligeti takes a short four-note motif, which he then allows to undergo a series of metamorphoses.

Radical worlds of expression

Full focus on the music: Every year, several members of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra travel to Italy, more precisely to the picturesque little town of Montepulciano, not far from Siena. There, surrounded by the sun-drenched Tuscan landscape, is the Academy of Music and Performing Arts, where the musicians can intensively hone selected works that they will present to the Duisburg audience upon their return from the south. Fittingly, this time's program includes Brahms's cheerful String Quintet No. 2, which he composed during his summer vacation in Bad Ischl. This will be accompanied by Mendelssohn Bartholdy's String Quintet No. 1, composed in the spring of 1826, when he was 17 years old.

Lolla Sweet Milk

Events

Upcoming events

Mar 15, 2026

Radical worlds of expression · Duisburger Philharmoniker

Jul 12, 2026

Montepulciano · Duisburger Philharmoniker

Past events

Nov 2, 2024

Music Prize of the City of Duisburg 2024 · Duisburger Philharmoniker

Oct 7, 2024

Memorial concert · Duisburger Philharmoniker

Future and recently performed repertoire

Viola in Goldberg Variations by Bach

Duisburger Philharmoniker

Viola in String Quintet No. 1 by Mendelssohn

Duisburger Philharmoniker

Viola in String Quintet No. 2 by Brahms

Duisburger Philharmoniker

Viola in String Quartet No. 1 by Ligeti

Duisburger Philharmoniker

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