Name: Bach geniuses
Start: 2026-02-08T19:00:00
Location: CityPalais

Embark on a unique journey with the Duisburg Philharmonic as they blend music, nature, literature, and art across diverse events. From the enchanting 'Owl and Woodpecker' concert that intertwines nature and melody, to the soul-touching 'Heart Music' chamber sessions, and the dramatic orchestral performances with renowned conductors, Duisburg Philharmonic offers an array of experiences. Dive into their celebrations where music transcends boundaries, evoking emotions and linking past and present in a harmonious symphony.

The Musical Odyssey: Duisburg Philharmonic's Celebration of Art and Sound

Asya Fateyeva

Sergio Azzolini

Francesco Galligioni

Diego Cantalupi

Pablo Kornfeld

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

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

In the final chamber concert of the season, Artist in Residence Avi Avital once again demonstrates his full artistic range: The Israeli musician is not only a virtuoso of the classical mandolin, but is also at home in a wide variety of genres and styles. To pursue this passion for making music beyond narrow genre boundaries at the highest level, he founded the ensemble "Between Worlds" in 2014. Its members are all classically trained musicians, but are equally at home in non-classical repertoire. Together, they combine various musical worlds in their programs, exploring the specific musical culture of a particular geographical region. This time, the journey takes them to the south of Italy, more precisely to Apulia and the surrounding musical cultures. With a combination of classical compositions, folk music, and arrangements created especially for the program, they explore the region in all its historical and contemporary significance: from traditional folklore to the Neapolitan Baroque to the present day – linked by the mandolin as an iconic instrument of Italian folk music. Vocal support for the musical journey through Italy comes from Apulian singer Alessia Tondo, one of the leading representatives of traditional music in her homeland.

Trip to Italy

CityPalais

Cast off! With a total of five bows and 20 strings on board, the Duisburg Philharmonic String Quintet embarks on a grand pirate adventure – two violins, a viola, a cello, and a double bass on a grand piratical voyage. But beware: Wild storms and other dangers lurk on the open sea. It's good to have an attentive audience on their side to cheer them on. Anyone who wants to join them can look forward not only to great music, but also to a real pirate feast.

A-string to pluck

Theater Duisburg

As children, the Mendelssohn siblings were inseparable: they took lessons together, made music together, and shared composing tips. While her brother Felix had every opportunity, Fanny had to fight against the conventions of her time, which were not particularly friendly towards women composers. Fortunately, she did not let this deter her and, alongside her family obligations, always cultivated her musical talent and composed diligently. These include songs such as "Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh" (There is peace above all summits) based on a text by Goethe and the Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 11. With works like these, as well as excerpts from correspondence and statements by contemporaries, the program paints a fascinating portrait of Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn, playing period instruments.

The happy fisherwoman

Lehmbruck Museum

The Folkwang University of the Arts is visiting Duisburg: This means lively teaching and learning, exceptional concert series, master classes, and regular musical events throughout the year.

Final concert of the 2025/2026 master class

Folkwang University of the Arts

Concert hall or club? That's not always an easy decision at BEAT, the Duisburg Philharmonic's somewhat different concert series. As previously at the Mercatorhalle, the Trio Repercussion will once again present a program this season in which virtuoso playing on classical percussion instruments merges into the driving force of rousing club sounds. Dancing is the order of the day – but this time the ensemble will take the clash of clubbing, philharmonic, and ballet to the extreme. Famous for his outstanding physical expressiveness, Japanese dancer Wataru Shimizu, a long-time soloist with the Aalto Ballet Essen, will be joining Repercussion at its invitation to put his skills to use in a breathtaking live performance of his own songs at the interface between neo-classical music, electronic music, and drums. He will be artistically supported not only by the energetic vibes of the music and the visuals of VJ SAW, but also by other high-ranking ballet colleagues, whose names have not yet been confirmed. But one thing is certain: This evening will not only get you pumped on stage, but also in front of it.

Beat #09

Baroque music meets modernity, yesterday meets today: one of Johann Sebastian Bach's famous "Brandenburg Concertos," for example, meets Isang Yun's "Inventions for Two Oboes." Unlike Bach's inventions, however, the Korean composer's primary concern is with special playing techniques, such as trills and glissandi. And while Handel uses the Baroque concerto form, Klaus Huber wrote his "Noctes intelligibilis lucis" only in 1961, but scored it for the harpsichord, an instrument typical of the Baroque period. Thus, the program plays with sounds, forms, and ensembles, creating connections across eras.

Baroque shapes, modern colors

At the end of 2022, Roderick Cox made his acclaimed debut with the Duisburg Philharmonic, and now the orchestra and conductor are continuing their successful collaboration. For his return to the Ruhr region, the American conductor has programmed Richard Strauss's "Ein Heldenleben," a kind of musical self-portrait of the self-confident composer. In this symphonic poem, the hero falls in love, defies his critics, and, after a successful battle, carries out his work of peace before withdrawing from the world. Strauss's "Heldenleben" is sonically and visually powerful, but it has also brought him accusations of self-glorification. Before the late Romantic, another titan, Ludwig van Beethoven, appears on the program: his fifth and final piano concerto is in the "heroic" key of E-flat major and takes the solo concerto into equally sonicly powerful symphonic territory. With brutal chords, the piano and orchestra vie for the upper hand right from the start, while the solo instrument is allowed to sing its soulful sigh in the second movement with a beautiful melody. This is in the very best hands with Boris Giltburg , who was Artist in Residence in Duisburg during the 2017/2018 season: The world-class pianist has not only recorded all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonatas, but also his five piano concertos. A true Beethoven expert, then!

Hero's Life

Cameron Carpenter is both a pop star and a bird of paradise. For years, the dazzling organist has thrilled audiences around the world with the traveling organ he specially designed. But during the coronavirus pandemic, it was irreparably damaged. Over ten years ago, the keyboard virtuoso made his "Toccata" debut in Duisburg, and now, after a long absence, he returns to the magnificent Eule organ in the Philharmonie Mercatorhalle. Yet he remains true to his penchant for the unusual, playing the Goldberg Variations, a work written by Johann Sebastian Bach for a two-manual "clavicimbel"—or harpsichord for short. To this day, this enigmatic cycle remains one of the pinnacles of piano literature: 30 variations, some of which pose horrendous technical challenges and offer tremendous expressive depth, based on an "aria" of timeless beauty. Before Bach's masterpiece, as a kind of prelude, Cameron Carpenter plays one of the three chorales composed by César Franck shortly before his death in 1890, which are considered the pinnacle of his organ output. Originally written for the magnificent organ in the Parisian church of Sainte-Clotilde, where Franck served not only as Kapellmeister but also as organist.

Summit points

Duisburg has many voices, but they come together in a particularly colorful and vibrant way in the Marxloh district – a place that is largely shaped by the culture of migrant communities.

Marxloh Music Circus

Apotheke Pollmann-Eck

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

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