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

Mathias Feger

Duisburger Philharmoniker

"Battle of the Arts" isn't just the name of Germany's largest poetry slam organizer. It could also be the general motto under which the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra opens the arena for this season's Philharmonic Slam – already the fourth edition of this extraordinary series and a testament to its popularity with Duisburg audiences. Five young poets, all stars of the slamming scene, will enter the ring and engage in a competition that is as exciting as it is entertaining. Their weapons: language, facial expressions, gestures – and a microphone, so that the audience, who will ultimately choose the winning entry, can ideally absorb the verbal acrobatics unleashed this evening. In addition to the performed language, music also comes into play. In anticipation of the orchestra's 150th anniversary in 2027, the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra has selected works from all eras of its existence, to which the slammers will respond with their performances. This year's Philharmonic Slam is supported as part of the "Musik-Achsen-Zeiten" project within the framework of the "Neue Wege" funding program by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Philharmonic Slam IV

CityPalais

He was perhaps the greatest genius in music history, later eclipsed, if at all, only by the child prodigy Mozart. Yet Johann Sebastian Bach not only gifted posterity with numerous musical masterpieces, but also with several sons, some of whom followed in their all-powerful father's footsteps. First and foremost, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Sebastian Bach's second eldest son, whose "sensitive" style made him the most popular Bach of the second half of the 18th century—while Johann Sebastian Bach's eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, was famous during his lifetime primarily for his phenomenal improvisational skills on all keyboard instruments. When Asya Fateyeva and her fellow musicians perform Baroque sonatas by the Bach dynasty, they do so on an instrument that Bach himself could not have even known, for the saxophone was not invented until the 19th century. When the saxophonist approaches early music on a comparatively modern instrument, she does so in the spirit of Bach: He was not only interested in the compositional possibilities of new or improved instruments such as the "Well-Tempered Clavier," but was also extremely flexible in instrumentation questions in his masterful compositions.

Bach geniuses

David Orlowsky is an ace on the clarinet: with him, the clarinet laughs, cries, sings, and laments as if it had a voice of its own. The expressive spectrum he coaxes from his versatile instrument is certainly tremendous. The clarinetist, who makes his debut with the Duisburg Philharmonic with this concerto, is equally at home in classical music and in klezmer music, which he first encountered through his mentor and teacher Giora Feidman. And this specifically Jewish musical tradition plays a central role in Osvaldo Golijov's suspenseful suite "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind," in which the composer tells a kind of history of Judaism—from its beginnings with Abraham to the present day. Olivier Messiaen's "Hymn" also has a religious reference, in this case to the "Holy Sacrament" of the Eucharist. Although the score was lost in the Second World War, the composer later reconstructed it from memory. In the second half of the concert, Robert Treviño , who courageously stepped in for Eun Sun Kim , who was ill at the Philharmonic's 9th Symphony in December 2022, conducts Jean Sibelius's Symphony No. 2, which evokes its creator's closeness to nature and the vastness of the Finnish landscapes. Also ingenious is the way the composer constructs an entire symphony from a small three-note motif at the beginning – right up to the grandiose finale.

Dreams and prayers

Diana Tishchenko began playing the violin at the age of six and, barely of age, became the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. But what are the duties of a concertmaster, what is her favorite music, and how does it feel to travel the world playing an almost 300-year-old violin? What the human voice can do, the clarinet can do even more. David Orlowsky discovered this when he first picked up the clarinet. "I try to use the clarinet like my voice." He founded his own trio at the age of 16. He has since won many awards and traveled the globe, exploring the boundaries between musical genres - whether classical, klezmer, or his own compositions. The Indian singer Kamalini Mukherji , who lives in New York , has been a guest in Duisburg many times. She always sees her music as a call to fight for women's rights in India and for human rights around the world. After the exclusive mini-concert in the schools, the students can talk to the three exceptional musicians and learn more about the exciting and diverse life of a musician.

solo4teens

Stadt Duisburg

Young and old listen to the music together and then embark on a journey of discovery. What do the instruments sound like, how do they produce their sound, and what does it feel like? What do Wilhelm Lehmbruck's "Kneeling Woman" or Jean Tinguely's sculptures sound like? Through music and the visual arts, sensory impressions, positive emotions, and memories are simultaneously addressed. Members of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Sybille Kastner from the Lehmbruck Museum's art education department will be participating.

Listen to art

Lehmbruck Museum

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

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

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

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

Antonín Dvořák used a popular folk dance and a song that is now sung as the Czech national anthem as themes in his overture “My Home” – a partly lyrical, partly fast-paced declaration of love for his homeland.

The connection to Slavic folk music can also be heard in the 1952 Rhapsody Concerto by Dvořák's Czech compatriot Bohuslav Martinů, which is one of the most frequently played viola concertos of the 20th century.

symphony concert

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