Throughout February and March 2025, the Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt takes music enthusiasts on a fascinating journey through time, offering a series of concerts that showcase some of the most evocative works from the past. From Brahms' tender chamber music to Strauss' innovative orchestral explorations, these events celebrate the rich tapestry of classical music. With talented performers bringing fresh interpretations to beloved pieces, each concert is a unique experience that bridges the gap between historical masterpieces and contemporary audiences.

Melodies of Time: Celebrating Musical Masterpieces with Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt

March 2025 promises an exhilarating musical journey with the Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt. From symphonies and concertos to evocative compositions inspired by games, this array of events highlights the talents of renowned musicians and rising stars, each contributing their unique touch to a diverse repertoire. Audiences are invited to venues such as the Kulturkirche event center and the Konzerthalle Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach for a series of unforgettable performances that celebrate the beauty of classical and contemporary music.

Experience the Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt's March Musical Extravaganza

The Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt is set to dazzle audiences with an extraordinary lineup of concerts, each bringing unique flavors and sounds to the stage. From the evocative impressionism of Debussy to the vibrant interpretations of young talents like Constantin Heise and Anastasia Kobekina, this concert series promises a captivating musical journey. Join us as we explore the diverse offerings that range from orchestral masterpieces to chamber music gems, celebrating the timeless beauty and innovation of classical music.

Harmonious Journeys: Exploring the Captivating Concerts of Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt

8th Symphony Concert

Nikolaisaal

Anastasia Kobekina seems to be the cellist of the moment. Her debut album "Venice", which has just been released by Sony - a sensitive and profound examination of her favorite city, Venice - is being acclaimed by critics. "The Tagesspiegel", "Le Figaro" and the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" are currently outdoing each other with hymns of praise. And the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival has awarded Anastasia Kobekina its 2024 Leonard Bernstein Award, which honors internationally outstanding young musicians. Her meteoric international career has taken the musician, who has been playing the cello since she was four, to the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the National Orchestra d'Ile de France and artists such as Krzysztov Penderecki, Jakub Hrusa and Paavo Järvi. The Tchaikovsky Prize winner plays a cello by Antonio Stradivari from 1698, which was provided to her by the Stradivari Foundation Habisreutinger. With the BSOF she interprets one of the most charming and moving works in cello literature: Robert Schumann's Cello Concerto in A minor.

8th Philharmonic Concert

Konzerthalle Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Claude Debussy's "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune" (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) caused a stir in the music world. Some saw it as a major musical work of impressionism. For others, it marked a turning point towards new music at the threshold of the 20th century. Pierre Boulez even said, "One could say that modern music begins with l'après-midi d'un Faune." Debussy found such classifications rather annoying. He wanted to create music "that lives in nature," as he said. And he gave the "Prélude" a transparent, softly flowing tonal language, dreamy flute and harp sounds and - in keeping with the main character - a lascivious, shimmering expression.

4th Classic on Sunday

Concert szkolny – Łamanie zasad: Jak ogień pojawił się w człowieku

What do Beethoven and Prometheus have in common? Neither of them stuck to traditional ideals because they had enough imagination to think beyond the horizon. Like explorers, they ventured into unknown territory, wanted to enrich the world, showed courage - and risked a lot in the process. Beethoven his reputation and his future as a musician, Prometheus his freedom and his life. Together with German and Polish students who are taking part in the performance, we will examine what it is like to venture so far and it is not clear whether you are making yourself an outsider or a source of inspiration. The music at this school concert is entirely dedicated to Beethoven. We will play, among other things, his "Creatures of Prometheus".

School Concert – Rulebreaker: How Man Came to Fire

Classical Music on Sunday – Spring Dreams

Because of its melodic beauty and positive mood, Brahms' Symphony No. 2 has been compared time and again to Beethoven's "Pastoral". Yet it was precisely with this symphony that Brahms had emancipated himself from his great role model to such an extent that, as he said, he no longer "heard this giant marching behind him". But Brahms would not be Brahms if, as an eternal brooder, he had not hidden a tear in the charming harmony of his 2nd Symphony, if he had not surrounded the beauty that extends into the universal with a certain melancholy. It is precisely this ambivalence that lends great passages such as the yearning Adagio of the second movement their magic.

7th Philharmonic Concert

Over the past four years, the BSOF has been able to fill around a quarter of its positions with young, excellently trained musicians. Some of them - initiated by double bassist Luis Gómez Santos - have founded a new string sextet, which made its acclaimed debut in autumn 2023. Now this ensemble - reinforced by our deputy principal viola player Eberhard Stoll - is once again enriching the "Sunday Matinees". This time it is dedicated to Tchaikovsky's musical memory of Florence - music full of lightheartedness and Italian flair - and the "Metamorphoses" by Richard Strauss. The version for 23 strings is considered one of the pinnacle works of Strauss and instrumental music of the 20th century. With us you can hear the "Metamorphoses" in the special version for string sextet plus double bass.

5th Sunday Matinee

Games in Concert

2nd Symphony Concert – Neuruppin

Kulturkirche event center

At this Sunday matinee we present works full of dance-like lightness, joie de vivre and musical surprises. Such as Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's spirited Symphony No. 5, which oscillates at breakneck speed between bold acceleration and abrupt deceleration. Inspired by the magic of such late baroque - or early classical - pearls, Edvard Grieg wrote his suite "From Holberg's Time" - a homage to the Nordic baroque poet Ludvig Holberg. Sometimes this music blossoms dreamily and sweetly, sometimes it is completely soul-sore, then it is outrageously good-humored and always dressed in wonderful melodies. At this matinee our chamber orchestra plays under the direction of our deputy concertmaster Stefan Hunger, who has rendered great service to this ensemble.

4th Sunday Matinee

3rd Chamber Concert »Music of the Future in Strausberg«

Märkisch-Oderland District Music School

New Year's Concert 2025

Uckermärkische Bühnen Schwedt

6th Symphony Concert

Having presented you with the audience favorites written by Richard Strauss at our 4th Philharmonic Concert, we now turn our attention to his love of woodwind instruments. The focus here is not on musical opulence - as is usually the case with him - but on a subtle exploration of artistic means of expression. With his wonderful Romance for Clarinet and Orchestra, Richard Strauss achieved a great success even in his early years.

6th Philharmonic Concert

With his Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano, Brahms wrote one of the most beautiful chamber music pieces of the 19th century. It begins quite unusually with an Andante theme floating in melancholy calm, then plunges into a lively mood quoting folk tunes, which is broken up by flowing, expansive passages. This develops into tender music full of intimacy and melancholy, which ends in a brisk finale.

3rd Sunday Matinee

School Concert – "The Witch and the Maestro"

NEW STAGE Senftenberg

Mozart's "Jupiter Symphony" marks a conclusion and at the same time a departure into new worlds. With it, Mozart crowns and ends his work in the field of the symphony in the highest perfection. At the same time, he presents the first monumental work in the line of tradition that will determine symphonic music in the 19th century. After all, this symphony is one of those works that established Mozart's immortal fame early on. One of his most ardent admirers was Tchaikovsky. He said that the music of this "sunny genius" moved him to tears.

3. Classic on Sunday

In this concert, Matthias Schorn, our "Artist in Residence" with the BSOF, will be devoting himself to two works that are among the most charming pieces in the clarinet literature. Anyone who enjoys Mozart's famous Clarinet Concerto - which Schorn will also perform with us towards the end of the season - will love Rossini's Introduction, Theme and Variation for Clarinet and Orchestra. Rossini, who also shows his great talent for stirring melodies here, has given this extremely spirited composition wonderful solo passages that demand the highest level of skill from the soloist.

5th Philharmonic Concert

New Year's Concert

Bürgerhaus Neuenhagen

This New Year's concert is full of passion, temperament and great opera and operetta hits. We present stirring melodies by Rossini and the Strauss family that are as popular as pop songs. You will also hear Brahms' "Hungarian Dances" and the most beautiful melodies from George Bizet's "Carmen".

Kleist Forum

Beethoven's "Ninth" is a must at the end of the year in Frankfurt (Oder). How can you end the old year more conciliatory and look forward to the new one more peacefully than with the harmony and brotherhood celebrated in this symphony? But it is not just the message of Schiller's "Ode to Joy" that makes this symphony so unique. Its great wealth of musical ideas, the ingenious combination of many different motifs, musical forms that develop completely freely and finally the phenomenal 4th movement with the "Ode" make it one of the greatest works in music history.

EPSG:4326

concert to end the year

We present you celebratory organ music to mark the end of the year at this organ gala – performed on the large Sauer organ in the Frankfurt Concert Hall, which has 4,000 pipes and 50 registers.

2nd Sunday Matinee – Organ Gala with Denny Wilke

Family Concert – "The Christmas Goose Auguste"

At this concert we will take you into the dream world of opera and to the dream factory of Hollywood. We will play music by one of the most successful film composers and by two musical drama geniuses. In none of his operas did Richard Wagner reduce the external action in favor of a description of the inner life as radically as in "Tristan and Isolde". Unlike in the medieval models, Tristan does not fight with dragons and giants, but with his feelings. With the essence of this love composition, Wagner embraces the opera "Tristan and Isolde", which begins with the orchestral prelude and ends heartbreakingly with Isolde's "Liebestod".

4th Philharmonic Concert

Concert of the Singakademie Frankfurt (Oder)

2nd Subscription Concert - Philharmonic Choir Berlin

Berliner Philharmonie

Benefit concert "Families in Need"

Without Heinrich Joachim Baermann, Carl Maria von Weber would not have written those wonderful works for clarinet, which are among the best that have ever been composed for this instrument. Baermann, born in Potsdam in 1784 and died in Munich in 1847, was considered the most important clarinetist of his time. He held the solo position in the Munich court orchestra, was a European celebrity thanks to his concert tours, and was close friends with Carl Maria von Weber. Weber was so fascinated by Baermann's clarinet art that in 1811 he wrote two clarinet concertos specifically for him, which emphasize Baermann's virtuoso genius and give him wonderful lyrical passages. We are devoting ourselves here to the first of these clarinet concertos, which offers the soloist space for excellent, virtuoso solos - especially in the beautifully atmospheric Adagio and its elegiac clarinet singing. And when the clarinet and horns sound along with softly weaving strings, it comes very close to the romantic forest atmosphere in Weber's "Freischütz"... The solo part is taken on by "Artist in Residence" Matthias Schorn. The principal clarinetist of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera is a guest in the world's leading concert halls and opera houses.

2nd Classic on Sunday

1st Symphony Concert – Neuruppin

What do we actually need these heavy, unwieldy gigantic violins called double basses for? Isn't it just very tedious to play these clunky things? Our orchestra goblin Oskar wants to know, and has therefore invited two double bass players from our orchestra. They will explain to him why a double bass has to be so big and thick, what it is used for in the orchestra, what lovely, cheerful music is created when two double basses join forces, and that double basses can do much more than just hum deeply.

Goblin Concert – Oskar and his Double Bass Friends

Classical Music on Sunday

2nd Chamber Concert »Future Music in Strausberg«

Franz Schubert is rarely as much a singer and song composer in his instrumental music as he is in his "Rosamunde" string quartet. Despite all the melodic beauty, Schubert does not depict a pure idyll here, but remains true to himself as a refuser of clear moods. Tender moments are rudely torn open, there is a constant back and forth between major and minor. Schubert builds up tension very skilfully and breaks expectations with attractive changes.

1st Sunday Matinee

3rd Symphony Concert

Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B minor is undoubtedly one of the most magnificent works of this genre. The opening cadenza with the famous D flat major melody, the powerful, rapid chords of the piano and the wide-ranging, blossoming strings is one of Tchaikovsky's best known - perhaps the best known - themes. Wonderful interplay between piano and orchestra, powerful crescendos, virtuoso cadences and dreamy, even subtle passages characterize this work, which ends in a spirited finale.

3rd Philharmonic Concert

concert of the Berliner Domkantorei

Berlin Cathedral

Prizewinners' Concert Märkische Musiktage 2024

Kreiskulturhaus Seelow

When Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga (1806–1826) died of tuberculosis in Paris shortly before his 20th birthday, the music world lost one of the most promising talents of the 19th century. This is reflected, among other things, in his Overture No. 3, which alternates between impulsiveness and carefree lightness.

1st Classic on Sunday

Guest Performance Austria – Symphony Concert

Vienna Music Society

Konzerthaus Klagenfurt

2nd Symphony Concert

In 1889, Antonín Dvořák spent the summer in the Bohemian village of Vysoká in such a relaxed mood that melodies just came to him between gardening, pigeon breeding and long walks. The musical ideas he collected during these carefree weeks were processed in his 8th Symphony, which became famous for its optimism and joie de vivre. Bohemian folkloristic coloring and brilliant melodic ideas characterize this symphony, which breathes light and space.

2nd Philharmonic Concert

China guest performance

Grand Theater Chongqing

Poly Grand Theater

Poly Theater

Qintai Concert Hall

The Zhuhai Grand Theatre

What are films without music? And well-known musicians and composers have written melodies and songs for children's films and animated films in particular, which have become huge hits. Just think of the music from films such as "Frozen", "The Lion King", "The Little Mermaid" and "The Jungle Book".

Goblin Concert – Fairytale from Hollywood

1st Chamber Concert »Music of the Future in Strausberg«

Our season entitled "DreamOrReality" begins with two works that seem to have emerged from that in-between world in which dream and reality, transcendence and reality merge. You can tell from Bruckner's 7th Symphony that its creator was a deeply religious person and originally an organist and church musician. This music, with its register-like changes in timbre and chorale quotations, has been compared again and again to the luminous majesty of Gothic cathedrals. But this sacred space opens up and connects here with Bruckner's other world of faith: his deep, almost religious veneration of Richard Wagner. The Wagnerian echoes characterize the harmony, but also the melodic gestures. And not least through Bruckner's first use of Wagner tubas, which seem to lift the Adagio to heaven, this symphony takes on its captivating color. Its melodic inventiveness and warm sound make it stand out from Bruckner's work.

1st Philharmonic Concert

What does a symphony orchestra taste like? You can try it out at our open day on September 8th. The musicians of our orchestra, which is represented by more than 15 nations, will be preparing an international buffet with specialties from their home countries.

Open House

We will play immortal melodies with the Gorzów Philharmonic Orchestra outdoors, which have long since delighted more than just classical music fans. Melodies such as the introduction to Richard Strauss' "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", which became world famous as film music ("2001: A Space Odyssey"), Wagner's stormy Ride of the Valkyries, probably Johann Strauss's most famous waltz, and Rossini's gripping "William Tell" overture. The evening will open with Peter Tchaikovsky's Fantasy in G major for piano and orchestra with Katerina Titova on the grand piano.

final concert "Classics without Borders"

Neuruppin Summer Classic Open Air

Monastery Church of St. Trinitatis

In one of Brandenburg's romantic concert settings, we devote ourselves to the "images of nature in music". Under the direction of Robert Reimer, we play Richard Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, Beethoven's "Pastorale" that sings of nature, and Siegfried Matthus' timpani concerto "In the Forest" in the Chorin Monastery, which is nestled between a lake and a forest. Our guest soloist is Jakob Eschenburg. Born in Potsdam, he has been principal timpanist with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2014.

Chorin Music Summer 2024

Chorin Abbey

Guest performance by the Cologne Philharmonic

Museum Ludwig

At the age of 15, Constantin Heise won the national competition "Jugend musiziert" with the highest score. Two years later, he won first prize in the international music competition "Augustin Aponte" in Tenerife and was one of the youngest participants to reach the semi-finals of the renowned Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. At just ten years of age, he made his debut as a concert soloist with the Zielona Góra Philharmonic. As a chamber and orchestral musician, he has performed at such important festivals as the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Beethoven Festival in Bonn and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. He has performed as a soloist with the Jena Philharmonic, the Orchestre Royale de Chambre de Wallonie and the Brandenburg State Orchestra in Frankfurt, among others. His musical and family roots lie in Frankfurt. His father, Jens Heise, is a violinist with us in the BSOF. Constantin Heise received his first cello lessons from our leader Moritz Kuhn.

Klassik am Sonntag Extra – »Young Stars«

Our "Artist in Residence" Matthias Schorn is the principal clarinetist of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and performs in the world's most famous concert halls. But you can also see him in lederhosen on pub and festival stages and with partners beyond the classical music scene. He often arranges such cross-border excursions with Georg Breinschmid, whose latest composition we are premiering this evening in cooperation with the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival.

9th Philharmonic Concert

We are dedicating this Sunday matinee entirely to the clarinet, which, with its sound ranging from soft, sonorous depths to sharp highs, is more versatile than almost any other wind instrument. "Artist in Residence" Matthias Schorn and the clarinettists of the BSOF will showcase the immense versatility of their instrument at this concert, playing an attractive and varied repertoire that ranges from the Baroque to the present day. As a pure clarinet ensemble, they will devote themselves to works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Händel, the romantics Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, the impressionists Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy, jazzy melodies by George Gershwin, the ragtime king Scott Joplin and extremely entertaining bravura pieces by the Hungarian composer and clarinettist Béla Kovács.

6th Sunday Matinee

4th Chamber Concert »Zukunftsmusik« in Strausberg

Rules are important, but rules can also be annoying. And rules are always really difficult when they stand in your way like a wall. You want to try something new, something that perhaps no one else has dared to do before, but there are these old norms that say, don't do it, we've never done that before. Who knows where that will lead...

Family Concert – Rule Breaker

The oeuvre of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is rich in wonderful music. But if a work stands out from this already great musical cosmos, it must be something very special: like his famous Clarinet Concerto in A major. It is the most significant and important of his wind concertos, his last completed work and of particular musical maturity. Mozart, who loved the clarinet especially for its warm tone, its suppleness and its colorful sound, wrote this marvel for Anton Stadler and puts the soloist on a pedestal, so to speak. He dispenses with oboes and clarinets in the orchestra and creates a light sound background with flutes, horns, bassoons and a transparent string section, against which the clarinet stands out all the more clearly.

5th Classic on Sunday

4th Subscription Concert - Philharmonic Choir Berlin

What Jean Sibelius is to the Finn, Carl Nielsen is to the Dane. In this concert we bring the two together and combine one of the best-known works of the one with a brilliant violin concerto by the other, which is finally making its breakthrough in this country 100 years after its premiere. Although Carl Nielsen was an incredibly versatile composer and, like Sibelius, initially succeeded as a violinist, he only wrote one concerto for "his" instrument. But this one is something special. It is full of contrasts, sometimes intoxicating, then quiet and lyrical, here trembling with energy and dynamics and there floating in the most delicate realms. Late romantic nuances meet Nielsen's adoration of Bach. This violin concerto is full of enchanting melodies, technically so challenging that it was almost considered unplayable, and extraordinarily rich in contrast. "Out of crazy runs" develops "a naive, beautiful melody in a positive sense," says Kolja Blacher.

10th Philharmonic Concert

10th Symphony Concert

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Music Festival

Schloss und Gut Ulrichshusen

For 15 years, Alexander Maurer, Alexander Neubauer, Stefan Prommegger and Matthias Schorn have been making music together under the name »Faltenradio« and, with their line-up of Styrian harmonica, clarinets, guitar and vocals, they have captured all genres from folk music to classical. The repertoire of this unusual band of excellent musicians ranges from polka to songs by Konstantin Wecker and Falco. »Faltenradio« has been acclaimed by a wide audience for its programs »Respekt«, »Zoo« and »Landflucht«, whether at festivals or on television. At this matinee, »Faltenradio« will present its new program »Überschall«.

7th Sunday Matinee

Goblin Concert – Oskar and Peter and the Wolf

With this concert, GMD Jörg-Peter Weigle bids farewell as chief conductor and artistic director of the Brandenburg State Orchestra in Frankfurt. In the seven years at the helm of Brandenburg's only A-class orchestra, large, artistically outstanding choral-symphonic performances were his special trademark. To conclude this season and his time as General Music Director in Frankfurt (Oder), he will once again bring great romantic choral symphonies to the stage with Mendelssohn's symphony cantata "Lobgesang". This work was commissioned on the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary with which the book city of Leipzig wanted to celebrate Gutenberg's invention of the printing press with movable type.

Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt

Apr 27, 2025

Guest performance by the Cologne Philharmonic

May 4, 2025

Klassik am Sonntag Extra – »Young Stars«

May 9, 2025

9th Philharmonic Concert

May 11, 2025

6th Sunday Matinee

May 11, 2025

4th Chamber Concert »Zukunftsmusik« in Strausberg

Apr 5, 2025

8th Symphony Concert

Apr 4, 2025

8th Philharmonic Concert

Articles & News

Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt