Name: Excursion into the Underworld
Start: 2025-05-15T19:30:00
Location: Philharmonie Mercatorhalle

In a celebration of cultural and artistic diversity, a series of breathtaking events are set to unfold across Germany, with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Duisburger Philharmoniker taking center stage. From the classic tales of Pinocchio and Beatrice di Tenda to the soulful Fado of António Zambujo, and the innovative reinterpretations by the Margulis Trio, these events promise a rich tapestry of opera and music. Join us in exploring the remarkable narratives, creative performances, and unique artistic expressions that make this a season to remember.

A Cultural Symphony: Uniting Diverse Musical Narratives

Stefan Blunier

Duisburger Philharmoniker

Music touches the soul, and regardless of cognitive or physical limitations, enjoying music together is almost always possible. In dementia-related changes, music can play a key role, providing access where language no longer can. It can evoke memories and appeal to everyone's emotions equally. "Heart Music" offers a relaxing hour for those affected, their relatives, caregivers, and the whole family. The concerts take place in the barrier-free foyer of the Philharmonie Mercatorhalle and are particularly suitable for music lovers who need assistance or simply want to enjoy a concert in the afternoon.

Heart music

Philharmonic Mercatorhalle, foyer

Duisburg audiences will likely still remember Benjamin Reiners fondly: In March 2025, he conducted a special concert in the "Philharmonic Debate" series, in which composers of the past engage in creative exchange with each other through their works—a debate using musical means, so to speak. The Romantic composer Brahms now kicks off this program. Although he initially failed to win over his contemporaries with his monumental symphonic Piano Concerto No. 1, the work later established itself and became a lasting success. With Gerhard Oppitz , the concerto is in the best pianistic hands, as he is considered one of the leading Brahms interpreters.

Pianistic orchestral magic: Brahms & Pejačević

CityPalais

Almost exactly 100 years separate the two works in this program—and yet they have one thing in common: Both trios enjoyed enormous popularity immediately after their publication. Beethoven's Opus 38 was originally a septet—and in this form, it was one of his most frequently performed works. This is probably one of the reasons why he later reworked it into a piano trio, whose violin part could also be played by a clarinet. Alexander von Zemlinsky, however, had a different "role model" for his clarinet trio: his idol, Johannes Brahms. Brahms politely thanked his colleague for the flowers and advocated for its publication with his publisher, Simrock.

Trio with clarinet

Theater Duisburg

Following the Duisburg Philharmonic's guest performance at the Cologne Philharmonic at the beginning of the season, the Cologne-based WDR Symphony Orchestra is now making a return visit to the Mercatorhalle Philharmonie. Romanian-born Cristian Măcelaru was Chief Conductor there from 2019 until the summer of 2025 – and will continue to be associated with the orchestra as Artistic Partner before Marie Jacquot becomes the new Chief Conductor in the cathedral city starting in the 2026/2027 season. Over the years they have worked together, Măcelaru and the WDR Symphony Orchestra have repeatedly explored the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. And they will also be performing Mahler during their guest performance in Duisburg. More specifically, his Symphony No. 5, whose famous "Adagietto" was a captivatingly beautiful declaration of love by the composer to his wife Alma, and which Luchino Visconti used as the atmospheric soundtrack for his Thomas Mann film adaptation "Death in Venice." Before that, there are two Tchaikovsky pieces and two orchestral pieces with solo cello: the night-dreamy "Nocturne," in which the cello is allowed to sing its wonderful utterance in an elegiac melody, and the "Rococo Variations," a musical homage by Tchaikovsky to his revered role model, Mozart. The young star cellist Kian Soltani makes his Duisburg debut as soloist.

WDR Symphony Orchestra

"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

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

 Conductor Stefan Blunier has put together an exciting program full of discoveries and various references for his return to the Duisburg Philharmonic. At the end is Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky's darkly flowing "Symphony of Fate", which fits wonderfully with the magnificent overture by Dora Pejačević at the beginning, which also has a tragic undertone. The Croatian countess who composed was a real superstar during her lifetime, but was pushed out of the collective memory by music history. However, she is slowly emerging from oblivion, thanks in part to initiatives such as those of Stefan Blunier and the Duisburg Philharmonic. The program then includes one of Franz Liszt's rarely played symphonic poems. In it, the virtuoso piano composer deals with the ancient Orpheus myth, which also builds a content-related bridge to Manfred Trojahn's work, which will premiere in 2023. The name "Achéron" also comes from Greek mythology and refers to the river of suffering and pain into which the other rivers of the underworld flow. The concert is thus also a continuation of the orchestra's intensive engagement with the work of one of the most important living composers.

Excursion into the Underworld

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