Name: “My songs plead softly” – A song recital without words
Start: 2026-06-15T19:30:00
Location: Music School Conservatory Bern

Michael Flury

Simone Keller

Chaos String Quartet

Bühnen Bern

The future Nobel laureate Hermann Hesse was in the midst of a life crisis when, in 1917, he wrote Demian in a three-week burst of intense writing , publishing it under the pseudonym Emil Sinclair. In it, he describes his coming of age: he experiences humiliations, breaks free from the constraints of his strict upbringing, endures bouts of alcoholism, idealizes a first love, and ultimately finds himself in a World War I military hospital. The older student Demian repeatedly appears at his side, guiding and supporting him in his questions about the connection between good and evil and in his search for his own identity. For both know: the collapse of Europe is imminent, and its rebirth requires new values.

Demian

Vidmarhallen

Cyrano's sword is sharp, his command feared, he is intelligent, witty, and quick-witted. Above all, however, he is a master of words and rhymes: when he writes poetry, the world is at his feet. If only it weren't for that large nose. It prevents him from confessing his love to the beautiful Roxane, who, in turn, is completely smitten with the undeniably attractive Christian de Neuvillette. What she doesn't know is that Christian's heart-rending love letters are not his own, but those of his friend and colleague Cyrano…

Cyrano de Bergerac

Vidmar Ballettsaal

Prosperity, democracy, and freedom in the heart of Europe: That's Switzerland! But this image is deceptive. For a long time, Switzerland was the poorhouse of Europe. And until the 1970s, authorities throughout Switzerland, in the name of law and order, took action against people whose lifestyles did not conform to societal norms. Labeled "work-shy" and "dissolute," young women in particular were arbitrarily placed in institutions – poverty was fought by fighting the poor.

Spind'l… Sp'ich'r – Still'

Morgana

The writer, poet, and essayist Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, born in Lausanne, wrote two novels over 100 years ago that deal with the famous ultimate questions in a way that is both poetic and urgent: What is worth living for? And how do we relate to our own mortality? 

Actors' Apéro #3: Eternal Sun

City Theatre, Bern

An evening with Bernese youth
based on the novella by Heinrich von Kleist
in an adaptation by Dorle Trachternach and Joanna Praml
Michael Kohlhaas is furious: At a border crossing, his well-fed horses are confiscated under flimsy pretexts. What Kohlhaas suspected later turns out to be true: The entire operation was illegal. But that's not all. The horses were nearly worked to death, and his farmhand was abused. Kohlhaas wants justice! Instead of support, however, he encounters a corrupt legal system and embarks on a campaign of revenge that escalates violently. 

Kohlhaas

The Rainbow Bird is a very special bird with magnificent plumage in all the colors of the rainbow. Sadly, it is almost extinct. To save it, a second Rainbow Bird must be found: Kim, Karl, and Feathered friends embark on an imaginative research journey, searching for the Rainbow Bird in the highest treetops, the deepest ocean floor, and the darkest caves.

The Last Rainbow Bird

“Viva la libertà!” sing the protagonists at the end of the first act of Mozart’s dramma giocoso Don Giovanni . But what does freedom actually mean here? Is it Giovanni’s freedom to desire any woman at any time without restraint? Or rather the Enlightenment ideal of a society without class barriers? And how free are the people who try to resist their inner dependence on Giovanni? 

Don Giovanni

Sound Stories

Casino Bern

Vision String Quartet & Danish String Quartet

Music School Conservatory Bern

These public dress rehearsals are a separate event and always take place on a Thursday morning: The conductor welcomes the audience, followed by a performance of the main work from the evening concert. Subscriptions are also available. 

Respighi's Rome

The Muslim scholar Omar ibn Said, who was enslaved and taken to America, dreamed of dignity and freedom. Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels paid musical tribute to him in their Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Omar , which premiered in 2022. Jean Sibelius, on the other hand, dreamed of a career on the violin and even applied to the Vienna Philharmonic as a violinist – without success. Instead, the Finn dedicated his only instrumental concerto to his favorite instrument. With its Nordic-rhapsodic tone, the Violin Concerto in D minor is among the most popular works in the violin repertoire and will be performed in Bern by the celebrated Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan. 