Name: Bach & Reger
Start: 2025-04-12T16:00:00
Location: Philharmonie Mercatorhalle

Duisburg is set to become a bustling hub of musical and cultural activity with an eclectic mix of events that promise to captivate audiences. From timeless operas like 'La traviata' to innovative concert meditations and thought-provoking memorials for artists, the city is celebrating music in all its forms. The Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Duisburger Philharmoniker are at the forefront, bringing a range of performances that delve into operatic classics, childhood literature in musical form, and poignant tributes to historical composers.

Duisburg's Diverse Musical Extravaganza: Opera, Concerts, and Innovative Performances

Martin Sturm

Duisburger Philharmoniker

By breaking rules, composers always revolutionize the way their works are perceived by their audiences. Frederic Rzewski, for example, liberated New Music from its ivory tower and made it the vehicle for his political message; John Cage declared chance a co-author and silence an integral part of his music; Steve Reich, in turn, founded a new musical movement with Minimal Music – hypnotic, pulsating, and timelessly modern. The Duisburg pianist is declaring the ninth edition of his successful Kai Schumacher & Friends format under the motto "Changing Rules," looking not only at the aforementioned visionaries of the past. Also performing this evening: the duo AFAR, who explore the paradox of naturalness and artificiality with the help of analog synthesizers, electric guitar, and voice. In this joint experiment with Kai Schumacher, they push the boundaries between classical repertoire and electronic soundscapes, between tradition and new beginnings. Where does a concert lead that knows no predefined paths? The answer lies in the moment – ​​and perhaps exactly where you least expect it.

Kai Schumacher & Friends Vol. 9

CityPalais

Koray Berat Sari , a multi-award-winning bağlama player, jams with a youth ensemble, can be seen in theater and music projects, and performs with musicians from the Duisburg Philharmonic. During his visits to Duisburg schools, he brings a wide selection of saz instruments, including the bağlama, the oud, the duduk, and the daf. Where do the instruments come from, and what do they have in common? The community musician and his guests demonstrate how to tap along to the beat or drum with the tongue to the music. The rule for the students is: get involved in the body percussion!

saz4teens

Stadt Duisburg

György Kurtág is undoubtedly one of the most important composers of our time; on February 19, 2026, he will celebrate his 100th birthday. His music is "fragile, defenseless, as if clumsily groping through the pathless, teetering on the edge of silence – yet glowing with emotional intensity," Kurtág expert Hartmut Lück once beautifully put it. As a birthday present, Christof Weinig, double bassist with the Duisburg Philharmonic, has compiled a program of works by the Hungarian composer, which he will perform together with his wife, son, and close associates. A very personal conversation concert for a special composer.

Kurtág 100

Lehmbruck Museum

To effectively advance climate protection, all forces in society are needed – including those of culture. And so, in 2020, it was a no-brainer for the Duisburg Philharmonic to become founding members of the Orchestra of Change initiative: an alliance of German professional orchestras and individual musicians who, through active engagement, seek to give the topic of sustainability a broader space in their professional environment and, at the same time, raise public awareness through their artistic work.

Climate Workshop #5

St. Mary's Church Duisburg

In 2024, the Trio con Brio Copenhagen celebrated its 25th stage anniversary: ​​a quarter-century of ensemble history, during which the three have delighted audiences with their characteristic blend of harmonious interplay and instrumental perfection. They have already demonstrated their talent in Duisburg, too, in the 2022/2023 season with works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, among others. This time, the program features Lili Boulanger, one of the most gifted composers of her time: she was the first woman ever to win the famous Rome Prize before her tragically early death from tuberculosis at the age of 24. However, she was still able to complete a pair of unlikely works for trio: one, "D'un matin de printemps," full of enchanting spring colors and hope, the other, "D'un soir triste," full of despair and melancholy. The only piano trio by Maurice Ravel follows in a cheerful and relaxed manner, in which the composer plays with sophisticated sound mixtures and intricate rhythms, while Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Piano Trio No. 2 strikes a particularly passionate tone and is, as the composer himself remarked, "a bit nauseating to play."

Trio con Brio Copenhagen

"Peace doesn't come by itself," Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv said in an interview: "Without active commitment, it won't exist." And she herself sets a good example, with the resources available to her as a musician. In 2023, for example, she conducted a solidarity concert for Ukraine in Duisburg with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, which she founded. Now she returns with a piece that she also initiated. "Oksana Lyniv's idea to compose a work based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's 'The Little Prince' immediately inspired me," says composer Eduard Resatsch. He sees the abstract figure of the prince as a beacon of hope in a modern world: "For me, this fairy tale embodies the comprehensive idea of ​​universal humanism; it is a metaphor for world peace – especially in today's world, when we must say goodbye to many illusions." Following the world premiere in Paris on February 25, 2026, Oksana Lyniv will conduct the German premiere of this hopeful work in Duisburg. Following this, the young Ukrainian pianist Illia Ovcharenko will play—at the conductor's special request—the "Piano Concerto for the Left Hand," which Ravel composed for Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in the First World War. The concert will then conclude with Camille Saint-Saëns's magnificent "Organ Symphony."

Peace music

The toccata concert "Trumpet & Organ" was originally scheduled to take place last year, but then the devastating floods struck Valencia, Pacho Flores' adopted hometown. Together with star conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the trumpeter and Artist in Residence for the 2024/2025 season organized a benefit concert for the victims of the natural disaster – which took place on the day of the planned toccata. However, the two musicians did not want to deprive the Duisburg audience of the spectacular sound experience, when radiant trumpet tones combine with the majestic sound of the Eule organ – and will present their personally curated program in the 2025/2026 season. Pacho Flores and Carlos Paterson met in Valencia, have already been in the recording studio together, and have brought along not only their own works but also arrangements of other composers. For example, Johann Sebastian Bach's popular cantata "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" (Awake, the Voice Calls Us), but also the "Méditation sur Salve Regina" from the "Scènes Mystiques d'une Paraphrase Grégorienne," which Carlos Paterson composed in 2021. In the same year, Pacho Flores also composed "Musas y Resuell," which he dedicated to the Argentine tango king Astor Piazzolla.

Trumpet & Organ

For the fourth time, the Duisburg Philharmonic and its guests, together with Ludger Engels, are developing three concert performances for the special exhibitions at the Küppersmühle Museum. In the nine editions of the series, which has become a cult classic and whose three performances are now each being performed twice due to high demand, the Philharmonic, with more than 40 guests from music, theater, and dance, have created new levels of experience from the themes and content of the exhibited works. In the next three concert performances, sound interventions will provide audible insights into the works of the Küppersmühle's unique Ströher Collection, as well as the backgrounds of the respective artists and their inspirations.

Concerts at the Küppersmühle Museum

Museum Küppersmühle

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was his composition teacher; in addition to a symphony and a piano concerto, he himself wrote a variety of songs, chamber music, and piano works. Yet today, hardly anyone knows Georgi Catoire. To mark the 100th anniversary of his death on May 21, the program opens with his melancholic Piano Quintet in G minor, in which, despite all its originality, echoes of Johannes Brahms can also be heard. Brahms himself is also represented, with his symphonic-like Quintet in F minor. Interspersed with this piece is one of George Onslow's 34 string quintets: Harmonic richness and cantabile melodies characterize the work, in which the composer also achieves a special richness of sound through the instrumentation of cello and double bass.

Quintet discovery

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

Theater Duisburg

The large, old trees in the forest hide a fascinating secret. Musical instruments are built from the trunks and branches of maple, spruce, and pine—as well as from the wood of trees from distant lands. An entire musical forest will be heard during the concert. The Duisburg Philharmonic will talk about their instrument trees and discuss the importance of protecting them so that the forest can be preserved as a habitat for animals and plants. After the concert, an instrument maker will present her work, and guests of all ages will have the opportunity to try out the instruments for themselves.

Astrein – Instruments and their trees

As a Community Music Artist with the Duisburg Philharmonic, Koray Berat Sari brings together the musical traditions of various cultures in specially developed concert formats. This is also the case in his new project "Newroz and the Cultures of the World": Spring ignites a vibrant fire of hope and new beginnings - a fire that burns across continents in the most diverse traditions. While many cultures celebrate the awakening of nature and resurrection as symbols of renewal, the Indo-Iranian New Year festival Newroz (Persian: نوروز ) marks a special high point in the spring calendar. These holidays are more than just occasions to celebrate: they bring together people and rituals from all over the world in a unique celebration of the joy of life. This global diversity of spring traditions is the focus of the concert. To this end, Koray Berat Sari has compiled a program that combines traditional instruments such as the Anatolian bağlama, the Caucasian duduk, and Iranian drums with the sounds of classical orchestral instruments, in which music transcends boundaries and connects cultures. The collaboration of professional musicians and a selection of participants in the "Marxloh Music Project" creates musical bridges between Easter, Newroz, and other spring festivals, bringing the magic of new beginnings to life.

Spring fire

Today we know Johann Sebastian Bach primarily as perhaps the most famous composer in music history. During his lifetime, the Thomaskantor was also celebrated throughout Europe for his virtuoso harpsichord playing, as an organist and as a master of improvisation. He composed a large part of his organ works during his time in Weimar, including numerous toccatas, preludes and fugues. Martin Sturm - Professor of Organ and Improvisation at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar since 2019 - recalls the various facets of the baroque artist Bach at the magnificent Eule organ in the Philharmonie Mercatorhalle: He not only interprets works by Bach, but also revives the tradition of organ improvisation - with active support from the audience. The audience is invited to request themes, melodies or songs on the basis of which Martin Sturm can show off his improvisational skills. In addition to works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Max Reger, also a true giant of the organ, is also on the program. His organ works are romantically exuberant, expressive and eccentric – and devilishly difficult to play.

Bach & Reger

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