What music should definitely be taken to the famous desert island? Twelve pieces, let's be generous. Eleven, you'd have to weigh things up and consider them a bit, as the selection isn't exactly small. But the twelfth is a given, without a doubt: Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio is music with an eternal quality – and, if you don't take the content too seriously, it's definitely suitable for year-round listening. This work is almost 300 years old, and yet it sounds as if Bach's ink had just dried: fresh, festive, thrillingly spirited, and deeply heartfelt.

EPSG:4326

Shout for joy, be glad!

Cologne Philharmonie

How do you celebrate New Year's Eve? Raclette, champagne, and fireworks? Looking back and looking ahead? Perhaps good conversations, with or without a party? For us, New Year's Eve is, above all, music, with which we bid farewell to the old year and toast the new one with you. We're already looking forward to seeing you again on New Year's Eve: The wonderful conductor Elim Chan has already fascinated and enchanted us in four concert programs.

New Year's Eve

Violin bows in position, trombones in position – and the race against time begins! From London via Italy to Egypt, on to Yemen, to Calcutta, Hong Kong, Yokohama, New York, and back – all in 80 minutes of music. A sonorous adventure with the WDR Funkhausorchester, in the spirit of Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days."

Around the world in 80 minutes

WDR Funkhaus

From Bohemia to America: what a contrast in the 19th century! Here, the Bohemian homeland with Smetana's excerpts from My Fatherland and there, Dvořák's From the New World, which hinted at elements of American folklore in his symphony but also did not deny characteristic Bohemian sounds.

Concert in Cologne

Kölner Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/4hagYvrYbuM

The Artelize Podcast and Kasper Holten - Pedefining Opera for the modern world

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36M5Hi6O80

The Artelize Podcast - A legacy of innovation in Opera: Celebrating Marc A. Scorca

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59E40S_EQSY

The Artelize Podcast: A love letter that was never sent

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THv6htilWtI

The Artelize Podcast and Adolfo Corrado: Mediterranean flavors, opera and social media

A good cliffhanger is the most important thing: Only those who are almost bursting with suspense at the end of a story stay hooked and want to know what happens next as quickly as possible. Directors of soaps and series use this trick, which they may have copied from Scheherazade: A Persian king has married her for one day and one night, after which she is to die. With imagination and cleverly placed cliffhangers, Scheherazade tells the king 1001 Nights of sailors, princesses, murders, miracles and, of course, true love.

1001 Nights

Music of the Time #ATELIER

At the beginning of one of the most famous sunrises in music history: radiant and majestic, maximum light intensity from zero to one hundred within seconds. Richard Strauss's Thus Spoke Zarathustra is a magnificent masterpiece whose splendor no one can escape.

Life puzzles

It takes a hero, a villain—and maybe a little romance on the side. The adventure film is one of the oldest genres on the big screen. From the radiant theme of redemption to the dark theme of danger, from "King Kong" to "Avengers"—the WDR Funkhausorchester dons the hero's cape and climbs the skyscrapers. Dominik Porschen and the "Cinema Strikes Back" team deliver the perfect stories for these big-screen adventures.

Adventure: Film Music!

Chamber Concert 3

There's someone standing on the edge of the abyss, seeing catastrophe approaching: a composer who works with his ears for his ears knows he's going deaf. And he's already in his early 30s. "I want to seize fate by the jaws, it certainly shall not bend me down completely." So said Ludwig van Beethoven in 1801.

On the pulse

When the red light comes on, adrenaline levels automatically rise – including in the audience. The popular WDR 4 show "Klassik Populär" returns live to the concert stage and presents your absolute favorite pieces!

WDR 4 Classic Popular Live

Ireland is not only world-famous for its delicious butter, the invention of chocolate milk, and extra-strong dark beer, but also for truly excellent musical exports. Together with its Irish chief conductor, David Brophy, the WDR Funkhausorchester performs classics of Irish music history – authentically with fiddle and bagpipes. From Ireland, they head to America with Shaun Davey's "Brendan Voyage Suite," and then tap-dance back to the Emerald Isle.

Irish Folk

" My Father Explains Our Night Sky to Me Every Saturday " ... how poor the world would be without mnemonics ! This one , about the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus , and Neptune, also belongs in our educational luggage. The celestial body Pluto is no longer on our mnemonic list; a few years ago it was deemed too small and therefore rigorously banished from the planetary sky.

Galactic

According to Rhenish customs laws, this collaboration has long since gone beyond the status of "tradition": The WDR Funkhausorchester will once again be browsing the bookshelves at lit.COLOGNE and exploring the most beautiful melodies between the covers.

Special Guest: lit.COLOGNE

To put it bluntly, one could rightly describe Johannes Brahms's German Requiem as a misnomer. This work is not a requiem, a Catholic requiem mass in Latin, but one that is entirely devoted to the living. It is not about the deceased themselves, their journey before the throne of God, the horrors of the Last Judgement, or the anxious plea for mercy in the afterlife. Rather, it addresses all those left behind on earth, "those who suffer" and who, in their despair, need consolation.

Confidence

Chamber Concert 4

The Mouse invites you to a big dance party! Because at this concert, you'll not only hear lively music, but you'll also have a real dance party. So – throw your arms in the air and look forward to a fantastic dance experience.

Dance with the mouse

Konzerthaus Dortmund

Kurhaus Wiesbaden GmbH

This event format invites opera novices, professionals, and anyone interested to try their hand at acting based on Giacomo Puccini's "Turandot" and find a playful, aesthetic approach to the plot, the music, the characters, and their relationships. Music theater educators from the Cologne Opera will lead the workshop with light steps and plenty of joy. Together, they will create a space for improvisation, stage acting, discussion, and reflection. Immediately following, those interested can join a 30-minute guided tour of the Central Library. A group performance in the evening rounds out the project and is included in the ticket price.

Searching for clues Opera: Turandot

Interim Central Library on Hohe Straße

This event format invites opera novices, professionals, and anyone interested to try their hand at acting based on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Le Marriage of Figaro" and to find a playful, aesthetic approach to the plot, the music, the characters, and their relationships. Music theater educators from the Cologne Opera will lead the workshop with light steps and plenty of joy. Together, they will create a space for improvisation, stage acting, discussion, and reflection. Immediately following, those interested can join a 30-minute guided tour of the Central Library. A group performance in the evening rounds out the project and is included in the ticket price.

Searching for Opera Traces: The Marriage of Figaro

The tragedy begins with the first note. Above a pounding bass and restlessly driving strings, oboes and flutes spiral upward in painful dissonances. It is music as if a tormented soul were writhing in its agony. When the choir joins in at the climax of this monumental build-up, it sounds like a scream that is both suffering and redemption. Johann Sebastian Bach's St. John Passion: a stroke of genius whose harsh drama still thrills and moves us today.

Events in Cologne

Shout for joy, be glad!

Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne

New Year's Eve

Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne

Around the world in 80 mi...

WDR Funkhausorchester

Concert in Cologne

Prague Philharmonia

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast - A ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast: A l...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

1001 Nights

Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne

Music of the Time #ATELIE...

WDR Sinfonieorchester

Life puzzles

Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne

Adventure: Film Music!

WDR Funkhausorchester

Chamber Concert 3

WDR Sinfonieorchester

On the pulse

Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne

WDR 4 Classic Popular Liv...

WDR Funkhausorchester

Irish Folk

WDR Funkhausorchester

Galactic

Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne

Special Guest: lit.COLOGN...

WDR Funkhausorchester

Confidence

Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne

Chamber Concert 4

WDR Sinfonieorchester

Dance with the mouse

WDR Funkhausorchester

Searching for clues Opera...

Oper Köln

Searching for Opera Trace...

Oper Köln

St. John Passion

Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne