Name: Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir, Soprano
Start: 2026-01-22T19:30:00
Location: Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Kunal Lahiry

Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir

Elbphilharmonie

Gamelan music originated on the islands of Bali and Java many hundreds of years ago. It is played in a group on gongs, metallophones and drums. Its unique sound already fascinated composers like Debussy and has many fans in Europe to this day. The Elbphilharmonie owns a particularly fine ensemble of gamelan instruments, and this workshop offers the opportunity to try them out, and to hear what a remarkable sound they produce when they all are played together.

Workshop: Kosmos Gamelan

Austrian cellist Valerie Fritz loves the extraordinary, the unusual. Even at the beginning of her studies at the Mozarteum Salzburg, she knew that a classical career with the standard repertoire was out of the question for her. Her self-confidence has already taken the young artist far: she has been nominated by the Elbphilharmonie, among others, and is a "Rising Star" in the European Concert Hall Organization (ECHO) season. With accordionist Goran Stevanovich, she explores the spatial, acoustic, and interpersonal aspects of the concert setting with music from Bach to the present day.

Valerie Fritz, Violoncello

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

"Jean Sibelius' Violin Concerto is one of the most important works of my life," says Lisa Batiashvili. In 1995, she won second place at the renowned Sibelius Competition with this late-Romantic repertoire classic: the launch of her career. And to this day, the press continues to rave about the "glowing warmth" with which the violinist interprets the work. For her ProArte concert, the artist will be joined by the best possible partners: rising star Klaus Mäkelä and his Oslo Philharmonic, who thrilled audiences with a recording of the complete Sibelius symphonies in 2022. Complemented in the second half by the effervescent Lemminkäinen Suite, the artists present a magnificent homage to Finland's most famous composer to date.

Oslo Philharmonic / Lisa Batiashvili / Klaus Mäkelä

The Hamburg State Orchestra's Philharmonic Concerts become contemporary games, transcending the boundaries of the ordinary. This concert showcases the fruits of Mikhail Pletnev's inspiration – his new composition, based on Rachmaninoff's music, is juxtaposed with the original orchestral fantasy "The Rock." Rachmaninoff thus encounters us today as a mirror of the past and, through Pletnev, as a part of the here and now. This unabashedly engaging musical play opens new perspectives on our musical culture, our thinking and being, and our way of receiving music.

Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra / Mikhail Pletnev

There are countless string quartets—both ensembles and works—but saxophone quartets? With this lineup, the MAAT Saxophone Quartet is making a name for itself. As the European Concert Hall Organization's "Rising Star," they will tour throughout Europe in the 2025/26 season. After eight sold-out children's concerts in 2024, they will also return to the Elbphilharmonie with a program that showcases the quartet's diversity, with arrangements ranging from string quartets to piano concertos.

Size Saxophone Quartet

A dubious meeting of heroes: The notorious womanizer Don Juan and the tragicomic Don Quixote would have little in common if Richard Strauss hadn't so brilliantly captured their fates in music. The Vienna Philharmonic will juxtapose the two symphonic poems in their ProArte program, bringing to life the stories of the literary-confused knight with his aide Sancho Panza and the momentous love affairs of the other Don. At the helm will be Daniel Harding, arguably one of the most interesting conductors of our time: after a meteoric start to his career, he put his baton aside for a while to pursue his second passion, flying as a pilot for Air France. Now, fortunately for audiences, he regularly conducts the finest orchestras again. Perhaps he'll even fly to the performance himself? Who knows.

Vienna Philharmonic / Daniel Hardin

Some photos on Giorgi Gigashvili's Instagram profile suggest he's more likely to be in a Berlin techno club than on a classical concert stage. For the Georgian pianist, born in 2000, these worlds aren't so contradictory after all – he's playing sonatas by Scarlatti one moment, singing and accompanying folk songs from his homeland the next, and experimenting with electronic music shortly after. And with success: Prizes at prestigious piano competitions, a place among Georgia's Forbes magazine's most influential "30 under 30," and a nomination as a "Rising Star" by the European Concert Hall Organization all mark his young career.

Giorgi Gigashvili, Klavier

The cimbalom is a true chameleon: Like only the piano, the Hungarian dulcimer feels at home in all genres and styles. And so does Áron Horváth, who, as the European Concert Hall Organization's "Rising Star," tours the continent's major concert halls. With his World Music Quartet, the young cimbalom virtuoso will explore jazz and folk music from Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria at the Elbphilharmonie.

Áron Horváth, Cimbalom

Golda Schultz has no time for fading heroines: "I like female roles that are complex, funny, and interesting, and that don't die. That's why I love Mozart," the South African explains in an interview. Her ability to sing Mozart wonderfully is demonstrated, among other things, by her 2024 album, which bears the beautiful title "Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy!" Here, the heroines from Mozart's operas "Don Giovanni," "Le nozze di Figaro," and "Così fan tutte" speak: strong and complex, tragic and comic—deeply human. With her warm, glowing soprano voice, Golda Schultz breathes enchanting life into all these women in the concert—a highlight of the Great Voices season.

Golda Schultz / Chamber Academy Potsdam

For the first time, Iceland, with the Harpa in Reykjavik, is participating in the European Concert Hall Organization's annual "Rising Stars" program, which sends young artists on tour through the continent's major concert halls. And with Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir, a singer from the Nordic island nation was directly nominated. She loves the poetic, mystical traditions of her country and is currently performing brilliantly not only on the major opera stages in Basel and Berlin, but also realizing unusual projects as a photographer and video artist.

Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir, Soprano

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Alisa Weilerstein / Alan Gilbert

When three teenagers formed a piano trio in 2013, they were still students and performed under the name "Trio Chagall." More than ten years later, the three friends from Turin have become a professional trio, playing with Italian passion and now appearing as "rising stars" in Europe's prestigious concert halls. As their career progressed, a new name was needed: Inspired by Michelangelo, they called themselves "Trio Concept," with the vision of carving out the beauty of a work like a sculpture from a block of marble.