Prepare to be transported into a world of drama, romance, and adventure as Deutsche Oper am Rhein presents an eclectic mix of operatic masterpieces. From the heartbreaking tale of love and sacrifice in 'La traviata' to the comedic chaos of 'Prima la Mamma!', each performance offers a unique experience. Join us at Theater Duisburg and the German Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf as talented artists breathe life into these timeless stories, leaving audiences captivated and yearning for more.

Opera Extravaganza at Deutsche Oper am Rhein: A Feast for the Senses

Duisburg is set to be the stage of a vibrant showcase of musical and cultural events, featuring world-class operas such as Verdi's 'La Traviata' and Mozart's 'Don Giovanni,' alongside innovative projects like 'Female Voices United' and 'A-string to pluck.' From the timeless narratives of opera to the dynamic debates of musical history, the upcoming events offer something for everyone. Join us as we delve into the details of these fascinating performances and the artists bringing them to life.

A Harmonious Confluence: Opera, Culture, and Musical Innovation in Duisburg

Duisburg is set to become a bustling hub of musical and cultural activity with an eclectic mix of events that promise to captivate audiences. From timeless operas like 'La traviata' to innovative concert meditations and thought-provoking memorials for artists, the city is celebrating music in all its forms. The Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Duisburger Philharmoniker are at the forefront, bringing a range of performances that delve into operatic classics, childhood literature in musical form, and poignant tributes to historical composers.

Duisburg's Diverse Musical Extravaganza: Opera, Concerts, and Innovative Performances

Antonín Dvořák used a popular folk dance and a song that is now sung as the Czech national anthem as themes in his overture “My Home” – a partly lyrical, partly fast-paced declaration of love for his homeland.

The connection to Slavic folk music can also be heard in the 1952 Rhapsody Concerto by Dvořák's Czech compatriot Bohuslav Martinů, which is one of the most frequently played viola concertos of the 20th century.

symphony concert

Theater Duisburg

When Akiko Suwanai won the renowned Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1990, she was just 18 years old. It was also the start of an international career, during which the Japanese violinist has been a guest in Duisburg several times. Now she is returning with an exciting program, together with the Argentinian José Gallardo, who is one of the most sought-after chamber music pianists and is making his debut in Duisburg with this concert. The duo evening begins with Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 6, the dramatic style of which was the composer's immediate reaction to his increasing deafness. Erich Wolfgang Korngold's suite "Much Ado About Nothing", which is based on his symphonic incidental music for Shakespeare's play of the same name, then tells of the changing feelings of a young woman in love, while the chromatically sharpened "Four Pieces" by Anton Webern explore dynamic extremes between barely audible tones and blatant fortissimo outbursts. The final work is Schumann’s Opus 121, a work that its creator explicitly described as a “great” sonata – which refers both to its dimensions and to the demands placed on virtuoso playing.

Akiko Suwanai & Jose Gallardo

Philharmonie Mercatorhalle

When Akiko Suwanai won the renowned Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1990, she was just 18 years old. It was also the start of an international career, during which the Japanese violinist has been a guest in Duisburg several times. Now she is returning with an exciting program, together with the Argentinian José Gallardo, who is one of the most sought-after chamber music pianists and is making his debut in Duisburg with this concert. The duo evening begins with Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 6, the dramatic style of which was the composer's immediate reaction to his increasing deafness. Erich Wolfgang Korngold's suite "Much Ado About Nothing", which is based on his symphonic incidental music for Shakespeare's play of the same name, then tells of the changing feelings of a young woman in love, while the chromatically sharpened "Four Pieces" by Anton Webern explore dynamic extremes between barely audible tones and blatant fortissimo outbursts. The final work is Schumann’s Opus 121, a work that its creator explicitly described as a “great” sonata – which refers both to its dimensions and to the demands placed on virtuoso playing.


Today we know Johann Sebastian Bach primarily as perhaps the most famous composer in music history. During his lifetime, the Thomaskantor was also celebrated throughout Europe for his virtuoso harpsichord playing, as an organist and as a master of improvisation. He composed a large part of his organ works during his time in Weimar, including numerous toccatas, preludes and fugues. Martin Sturm - Professor of Organ and Improvisation at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar since 2019 - recalls the various facets of the baroque artist Bach at the magnificent Eule organ in the Philharmonie Mercatorhalle: He not only interprets works by Bach, but also revives the tradition of organ improvisation - with active support from the audience. The audience is invited to request themes, melodies or songs on the basis of which Martin Sturm can show off his improvisational skills. In addition to works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Max Reger, also a true giant of the organ, is also on the program. His organ works are romantically exuberant, expressive and eccentric – and devilishly difficult to play.

Bach & Reger

Last season, the Chinese-born New Zealand conductor Tianyi Lu made her debut in Duisburg and caused a huge sensation with a passionate performance. Now she is returning to the orchestra - with one of the most mysterious works in music history: the Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. There are countless legends about this requiem, which the composer was unable to complete himself. He died while working on it and left behind fragments for posterity that led to all kinds of speculation. Because most of the movements of the Requiem hardly progressed beyond sketches, the mythical history of composition is followed by an equally adventurous series of attempts to complete the torso to form a "complete" work. Tianyi Lu has opted for the established version by Franz Xaver Süßmayr, to whom Mozart himself says he personally gave instructions for the elaboration. But regardless of the question of how much “real” Mozart is in the Requiem, it is a masterful work – with the spectacular use of the trombones in the “Dies irae” and the powerful use of the choir. Here it is brilliantly sung by the Duisburg Philharmonic Choir, with whom the orchestra traditionally maintains a close working relationship.

Mozart Requiem

Pavel Haas is one of a whole series of artists who, to this day, painfully remind us of the gaps the Nazis left with their campaign of extermination against Jewish life and culture. At the age of 14, Haas began his musical education at the Brno Music School and later studied for two years at Leoš Janáček's Conservatory. He worked as a music teacher and freelance composer before being deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in December 1941. There, in order to perfidiously maintain the appearance of normality, the Nazis started a "leisure activities" program that also included music. Viktor Ullmann, Hans Krása and Pavel Haas were among the composers who continued to compose in the midst of the unimaginable. As a contribution against forgetting, the memorial concert commemorates the unimaginable suffering of so many people.

Memories of Pavel Haas

Lehmbruck Museum

Do you remember your favorite (picture) book from childhood? Was it "Struwwelpeter", "Urmel" or perhaps "Max and Moritz", "The Little Witch" or "The Robber Hotzenplotz"? The musicians of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra are bringing their treasures to the city library. In addition to reading excerpts from their favorite books, there is an individual and loving musical setting of the stories. Young and old are invited to listen to words and music together and to learn new things or rediscover familiar things.

Listen to a book

Duisburg City Library

The large old trees in the forest hide an exciting secret. Musical instruments are made from the trunks and branches of maple, spruce and pine - but also from the wood of trees from faraway countries. A whole musical forest then resounds during the concert. The Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra talks about their instrument trees and how important it is to protect them so that the forest remains a habitat for animals and plants. After the concert, an instrument maker presents his work and guests of all ages can try out string instruments for themselves.

Astrein – Instruments and their Trees

A busy joy of discovery - in the exciting combination of meticulous historical research and incredibly lively music-making practice - is perhaps his most striking character trait. And with this unbridled thirst for research, Alessandro de Marchi has turned the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, which he shaped for many years as artistic director and artistic director, into an exciting place for rediscoveries and new encounters. And this desire to revitalize long-forgotten treasures of music history also characterizes the program with which the early music specialist makes his debut with the Duisburg Philharmonic. For example, with Christoph Willibald Gluck, who is known today above all as a great opera reformer, but whose rather neglected pantomime "Don Juan, ou Le Festin de Pierre" is brought to life by de Marchi. The Italian conductor is well versed in all aspects of Gluck, as evidenced by an award-winning recording with the countertenor Valer Sabadus. And Carl Heinrich Graun has also long been a confidant of de Marchi; in Innsbruck, for example, he led his opera "Silla" to great success. In Duisburg, however, the audience can look forward to the ballet music "Histoire de Pygmalion" - this too is a real rarity, the performance of which has an air of the extraordinary.

The Touch of the Extraordinary

The voices of six singers, united in a groundbreaking music project: All of them come from different conflict regions where women's musical expression encounters considerable obstacles. "Female Voices United" offers these special women a stage to raise their voices together. Curated by the Iranian ethnomusicologist Yalda Yazdani, different musical styles - from Iranian radif to Arabic, Turkish and Kurdish maqamen, European classical music and jazz - come together to create a sound space that demonstrates the power of music to promote peace, empowerment and intercultural dialogue. "Female Voices United" is not just a music project, but also a catalyst for social change and solidarity that appeals to audiences all over the world. But also very specifically in Duisburg: Community musician Koray B. Sari creates a bridge between the international ensemble and the Kurdish, Turkish and Iranian communities in Duisburg. Together they overcome boundaries, promote mutual understanding and send a powerful message of peace.

Female Voices United

When he wrote his Opus 88 in 1842, Robert Schumann initially referred to it as a piano trio, but later gave it the title "Fantasiestücke". This also fits better with the four charming character pieces, which unfold their charm in simple song forms and dance movements. While the "Fantasiestücke" were Schumann's first forays into piano trios, Franz Schubert's E-flat major trio was written in the year of the composer's death. This is not the only reason why it is a special work, which Schumann once described with admiration as an "angry celestial apparition". In the middle of this Schumann-Schubert sandwich is the piano trio by Isang Yun, which continued the history of the genre in the 20th century with its twelve-tone row.

fantasy pieces

Don Giovanni: Is he the legendary rake, womanizer and heartbreaker who does not shy away from murder in his pursuit of erotic conquests? Or is he a radical free spirit whose urge for freedom shatters all norms and spares neither death nor punishment?

Don Giovanni

When it comes to Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, there are wild discussions between opera fans: human fate versus myth, tight dramaturgy versus total work of art, aria versus endless melody. The two greats were unable to discuss their aesthetic viewpoints in person, as they never met. In their place, the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra is sending two discussion doubles with musical theater experience, Kerstin Schüssler-Bach and Norbert Abels, to the podium. The "Philharmonic Debate" not only revives one of the most famous debates in music history, but also provides new and exciting insights into the work and personality of the historical opponents. After a successful debut last season, the format, initiated by the "Neue Wege" funding from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, is taking place for the second time. And this time, too, the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra is contributing a lot of music - highlights from the operatic works of Verdi and Wagner, conducted by Benjamin Reiners. Beforehand, at 6:30 p.m., opera researcher Anselm Gerhard will give an introduction to the topic of debate.

Philharmonic Debate II

Koray B. Sari, a multi-award-winning bağlama player, jams with a youth ensemble, plays in theater and music projects, and with musicians from the Duisburg Philharmonic. He brings the wide selection of saz instruments to schools, including the bağlama, the oud, but also a duduk and a daf. Where do the instruments come from and what do they have in common? The community musician and the cheerful ensemble of the Duisburg Philharmonic show how to tap along to the beat or drum with the tongue to the music. For the students: get involved in the body percussion!

klasse.klassik 4teens addresses children and young people with musical experiences on site in secondary schools. Whether saz4teens, art4teens, solo4teens or new phil4teens - students experience top-class music at eye level with our community musician, the artist in residence, well-known soloists and musicians from the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

saz4teens

Duisburg schools

Ahoy - the flute animal is really very brave! Together with the musical pirates, they set off on a long journey, and they even have an orchestra on board: two violins, viola, cello and double bass. Together they brave the storms, experience musical adventures and celebrate a real pirate party. Join us and experience an exciting concert adventure with the string players of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra!

A-string to pluck

And another first: Jule Weber writes that “since she could write, she has moderated events, led stage and writing workshops for people of all ages, and is sometimes accidentally very funny” and is also no stranger in Duisburg: she was most recently a guest at the “Philharmonic Slam II” on March 2, 2024. Tonight she will be thinking and speaking, alternating between duetting with Michael Gees on the piano – we have never seen anything like it before.

ConcertMeditation

Messtechnik event hall

When the harp, flute, violin and marimba are played, children's eyes widen and cuddly toys become secondary. Adults can also experience first-hand that music touches and fascinates even the youngest children at this family concert - the child-friendly crawling area also invites adults to get up close and personal.

At the klasse.klassik mini-mi family concerts, the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra invites even the youngest children to discover the amazing world of music with all their senses in the lovingly designed opera foyer. Dressed in rainbow colors, an ensemble from the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra plays music from the early Baroque to the Romantic period in child-friendly arrangements.

A Musical Rainbow

The New York-born Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra has created a cultural beacon with the Paax GNP festival on the Caribbean coast of Yucatán. The aim is to celebrate the diversity of Mexican music and to anchor the country's rich music scene more firmly in the international consciousness. This is an aim that is also reflected in the program for the 7th Philharmonic Concert, which also draws cultural links to the former colonial power Spain. The 1939 film "La noche de los mayas" is about a Mayan tribe and its encounter with the "modern" world, for which Silvestre Revueltas composed rhythmic-dynamic music. And rhythm also plays a central role in Maurice Ravel's "Rapsodie espagnole", the movements of which have various Spanish dances in their titles, including the famous Habanera, while Manuel de Falla creates an impressionistic mood picture of "Nights in Spanish Gardens" with folkloristic elements and Andalusian dances. Also taking part is the jazz pianist and composer Thomas Enhco, a festival companion of Alondra de la Parra and Duisburg debutant. Jazz influences and Enhco's experience with film music can be heard in the "Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra".

Transatlantic Sound Waves

The name says it all: “VanBeethoven” stands for independence of thought, for the revolutionary, for something that transcends its time, say the three ensemble members. And that also applies to the “Ladies First” program, in which the TrioVanBeethoven is devoted primarily to outstanding female figures in the music of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Fanny Hensel, for example, who faced the resentment of her time with an irrepressible will to create and artistic strength. As a child, she and her younger brother Felix were taught to compose by the best teachers and made a name for themselves as an excellent pianist. When she was 14, however, her father made it clear that her future role would be that of a wife and mother. Despite this resistance, she composed more than 460 works, including the Piano Trio op. 11, which can easily compete with her brother's famous trio. The path of London-born Rebecca Clarke, who became the first woman to enter the composition class at the Royal College of Music in 1907, was similarly rocky. The emotionally charged and expressive piano trio is among the best that British chamber music had to offer at the time.


Ladies First

Help, the pirates are loose! Minna signs on to a Hanseatic cog in Duisburg harbor - the largest inland harbor in Europe. There is a lot to discover on this old ship with mast and sail. Dara Dyckerhoff, presenter of "Die Sendung mit dem Elefanten", tells the adventurous story of Minna, who experiences a lot on her journey from Duisburg harbor to the North Sea. Listeners can learn which instruments are needed for the appearance of a pirate chief and what a real sea battle sounds like.

Pirate Alarm

Contemporary music and melodic bliss need not be a contradiction, as Ai-Ling Chang, Juan Guzmán Esteban and Wan-Yen Li prove with four works by modern composers: J. Lee Graham, for example, creates a lot of romantic sound magic in the slow movement of his trio and revels in magical harmonies. And Charles Koechlin's "4 Petites pièces" are also deeply romantic in their expression, although they were written in the 20th century. Much like Eric Ewazen's horn trio, which is a homage to the trio of the romantic Brahms. Charles Wuorinen, on the other hand, plays inventively and happily with the musical ideas in his horn trio, showing a good dose of humor - and placing quite virtuoso demands on the horn player's lips.

Harmony of Modernity

Fair fights are not only fought in the world of sport. The arts can also compete with one another - as in the Philharmonic Slam of the Duisburg Philharmonic, where, in cooperation with Germany's largest poetry slam organizer "Kampf der Künste", there will once again be an exciting and entertaining showdown this season. For the third time, five poets armed to the teeth with words and expression will compete against each other. In front of the microphone, however, it's not just about their own texts, but also about music: In addition to the slammers, all stars of the scene, five ensembles from the Duisburg Philharmonic enter the ring, each of which will put a work by a specific composer up for discussion. Baroque or modern, opera or symphony, major or minor: the variety of languages, moods and styles gives rise to the question of which word-tone combination is the most convincing. At the end of the competition organized by the Society of Friends of the Duisburg Philharmonic e. V., the audience will decide with their applause and enthusiasm.

Philharmonic Slam III

At the age of 22, Mascha Kaléko published her first poem and, with her poetry, in which she combined charm and humor with political acuity, became a dazzling figure in Berlin during the Weimar Republic. She was later ostracized by the Nazis because of her Jewish roots and led a life on the run, full of longing and loss. The program "I walk as if through a dream" takes us with poems and biographical information to the various stages of her life in Galicia, New York and Israel, but also to the Romanisches Café in Berlin, a popular artists' meeting place at the time. Works by Jewish composers, music from the 1920s and 1930s, and works by Chemjo Vinaver, Mascha Kaléko's second husband, are also played.

I walk as if through a dream

In 1900, three keepers disappear without a trace from a remote lighthouse in the north of Scotland. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies based his chamber opera "The Lighthouse" (1980) on this unresolved incident, which retraces the events in a mixture of documentation and vision of what actually happened at the time. Maxwell Davies' composition ranges from the roaring waves surrounding the lighthouse to the chant-like arguments between the three keepers Sandy, Blazes and Arthur that lead to the catastrophe.

Der Leuchtturm / Dido und Aeneas

Help - the flute animal has disappeared and everyone is already missing it very much. Did it simply go away on the train? The five musicians and their instruments - two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba - are desperately searching for the secret of the three golden keys. Because only when this riddle is solved will the flute animal come back into the concert hall. Guests young and old can help the musicians of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra to decipher everything.

approach to tension

A spectacular sound experience is almost guaranteed when Artist in Residence Pacho Flores lets his trumpet shine over the majestic sound of the Eule organ in the Philharmonie Mercatorhalle. Both musicians live in Valencia, where Flores, who comes from Venezuela, has found his adopted home and Paterson works as an organ professor - and the well-rehearsed duo has also already been in the recording studio. In their musical luggage, the two have not only Johann Sebastian Bach's popular cantata "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" but also their own compositions. For example, the "Méditation sur Salve Regina" from the "Scènes Mystiques d'une Paraphrase Grégorienne", which Carlos Paterson composed in 2021. In the same year, Pacho Flores wrote "Musas y Resuello", which he dedicated to the Argentine tango king Astor Piazzolla. There is also a rousing Canarian dance, “Canarios”, by the Spanish composer and guitarist Gaspar Sanz. It was originally written for guitar, but in the concert it will be performed in an arrangement by Carlos Paterson, who also arranged Oskar Böhme’s trumpet concerto, while the cadenza was written by Pacho Flores.

Trumpet & Organ

The Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is considered a magician of sound and a master of spirituality. With his Tintinnabuli style, developed at the end of the 1970s, he broke with the musical zeitgeist and invented a compositional language that does not strive for ever greater complexity, but rather for reduction and focus on the essentials - on the true core of the music. In "Fratres", composed in 1977 as one of the first Tintinnabuli pieces, sounds of beguiling beauty emerge from forms inspired by Renaissance music and strict mathematical rules. Originally notated without any specific instrumentation and not tied to any fixed timbres, "Fratres" develops in nine variations into a hypnotic interplay of meditation and mania: a true classic of contemporary music, which Kai Schumacher places at the center of the eighth edition of his cult series "Kai Schumacher & Friends". Together with cellist Benedict Kloeckner and other musical guests, the pianist explores the minimalist structures and mystical sound worlds of Arvo Pärt and other spiritually related composers such as Philip Glass and Valentin Silvestrov.

Kai Schumacher & Friends Vol. 8

Since the ensemble was founded in 2009, the Aris Quartet has long since played its way into the top league of chamber music, is a regular guest on the most renowned stages in the world - and has developed a preference for programs rich in relationships. In the 3rd chamber concert, the four musicians focus on two of the most important romantic composers who have a few things in common: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Johannes Brahms. Both come from Hamburg and both share a passion for Switzerland: Brahms traveled 14 times to the beloved Alpine country, about which Mendelssohn Bartholdy raved euphorically: "Of all the countries I know, this is the most beautiful." But both also share a respect for the "giant Beethoven", as Brahms once called his larger-than-life role model. The string quartets of the two romantics are therefore also a musical confrontation with the shadow of their idol. Fanny Hensel, however, had to contend with a completely different shadow: while her younger brother Felix was celebrated as a musical prodigy, her conservative father pushed her sister into the role of "housewife and mother who also composed music on the side". However, her more than 460 works tell a completely different story. So it's time we heard them!

Aris Quartet

Why did Romuald Grimbert-Barré become a violinist? Why is it important for a musician to take part in competitions? And how does it feel to be constantly travelling and playing with the world's great orchestras? The French violinist is a guest at the 6th Philharmonic Concert and answers the students' questions in "solo4teens" - giving them an insight into the exciting life as a musician and soloist.

klasse.klassik 4teens addresses children and young people with musical experiences on site in secondary schools. Whether saz4teens, art4teens, solo4teens or new phil4teens - students experience top-class music at eye level with our community musician, the artist in residence, well-known soloists and musicians from the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

solo4teens

We can only imagine how much courage, self-confidence and steadfastness the African-American Julia Perry had to muster on her way to becoming a composer, at a time when the doors of classical music were not open to women or people of color. And yet she pursued her goal unswervingly, studying first with Luigi Dallapiccola and later with the legendary Nadia Boulanger. Her career began in 1951 with the "Stabat Mater", but it was never given the attention it deserved. A fate that Florence Price had already suffered at the end of the 19th century. She was also a woman and an African-American - and, against all odds, managed to compose an impressive number of around 300 compositions. And a century earlier, Joseph Bologne also had to struggle with racism and discrimination, for he was born in Guadeloupe to a slave and a French nobleman and was later admired at the court of Paris as the "black Mozart". With Brandon Keith Brown, the conductor is vehemently committed to ensuring that people of color, both past and present, are finally given the attention they deserve. As part of the "New Ways" project "Music-Axis-Times", the concert aims to help finally establish this repertoire that has been suppressed for too long and to give people of color a visible place on the stage.

Silenced Black Voices

Just as every new year has its January 1st, (almost) every opera has an overture: sometimes as a turbulent introduction to a comedy full of intrigue and passion, as in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Figaro", sometimes as a departure into an adventure fairy tale full of magic, as in Mikhail Glinka's "Ruslan and Ludmilla". The Duisburg Philharmonic's salon orchestra welcomes the year 2025 with a selection of overtures that is as varied as it is virtuoso, mixing lively sounds in three-quarter time. "Everything is a waltz" is not only the motto of Johann Strauss and his brother Josef, but also in Carl Maria von Weber's "Invitation to the Dance" from 1819 - the epitome of Biedermeier waltz bliss.

New Year's Concert with the Salon Orchestra

The Küppersmühle Museum in Duisburg's inner harbor is one of the largest German private museums. Covering a good 6,100 square meters, it features highlights from the Ströher Collection, one of the most important and extensive collections of German art after 1945.

In three concert performances, musicians from the Duisburg Philharmonic and director Ludger Engels explore new levels of experience that are developed from the themes and content of the exhibited works or enter into a direct dialogue with them. These sound interventions open up new perspectives on the architecture of the house as well as the works in the collection and the current exhibition.

Concerts in the Museum Küppersmühle

Museum Küppersmühle

Sparkling music and sparkling melodies are on the programme of the New Year's Concert - with duets, arias and ensembles from popular operettas, including several evergreens of this champagne-sparkling genre, from global successes such as "The Land of Smiles" or "The Merry Widow", from "The Csárdás Princess" or "The Bat". The New Year's Concert is also a musical homage to a famous Duisburg artist, because with his arias, tenor Sebastian Kohlhepp follows in the footsteps of the legendary Rudolf Schock, who was born in 1915 as the son of a Duisburg dock worker. With his radiant tenor voice, he has captivated an audience of millions and is still considered one of the best operetta tenors of the last century.

The operetta gala is led by the expert conductor Srba Dinić, who is already known to the audience in Duisburg from the “Philharmonic Debate” in March 2024. Also no strangers are soprano Mandy Fredrich , who has been a guest with the orchestra several times, and mezzo-soprano Sarah Ferede, a member of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.

Operetta Gala New Year's Concert 2025

"Music is music, whether it comes from South America or Europe. In my opinion, Venezuelan pop music is no less serious than classical music," says trumpeter Francisco "Pacho" Flores . In his playing, he combines jazz and Latin American influences with his classical training. As artist in residence of the Duisburg Philharmonic this season, he takes the time to go to schools to introduce his instrument to young listeners and inspire them for the music that is close to his heart.

Art4teens

With his symphonies, Gustav Mahler wanted to create a musical image of the world. At the beginning of his First Symphony, we see this world slowly emerging from the morning mist in the shimmer of the strings - shortly afterwards, man enters the scene in the form of the "Titan". The late Romantic Mahler viewed the world from the Eurocentric perspective that was common at the time: in the second movement, for example, the young hero dances to a coarse Ländler from Austrian folk music. In the 5th Philharmonic Concert, however, this purely European view is broadened to include a global perspective, when the "Concerto Venezolano" by Paquito D'Rivera is played right at the beginning, complete with the exuberant flair of various Latin American dances. The Cuban composer wrote his concerto especially for Pacho Flores , this year's Artist in Residence of the Duisburg Philharmonic. And in this concert he shows the full diversity of his artistic personality: in the "Concerto Venezolano" he plays four instruments, from the piccolo trumpet to the flugelhorn; then he is the soloist in his own composition "Cantos y Revueltas". At his side both times: Leo Rondón on the Cuatro Venezolano, a kind of small guitar that is played with fast rhythmic beats, and the Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra .

Old and New World

“Rejoice, be glad”: With his “Christmas Oratorio”, Johann Sebastian Bach created his great Christmas classic for the church. The festive music also comes into its own in the Duisburg Opera Foyer, where highlights from it can be heard. In addition, the Capella Fluviale, the baroque ensemble of the Duisburg Philharmonic, and their guest singers will present a program from the time period of the great Thomaskantor, from Heinrich Schütz's “Small Sacred Concerts” to atmospheric works by Georg Friedrich Händel, Jean-Marie Leclair, Gaetano Maria Schiassi, Dieterich Buxtehude, Gregor Joseph Werner and Michel Corrette. Speaking of classics: traditional Christmas carols are of course not to be missed at this meeting of song and word.

Christmas in Song and Word

At the Duisburg Philharmonic's winter concert, candles and string sounds compete for glory - this time in a particularly festive musical setting, when works by Italian baroque composers and contemporary colleagues from the north are performed. The dance sequence from Henry Purcell's stage spectacle "The Fairy-Queen" is already very varied. And while it is not only the spherical "Air" that enchants in Bach's 3rd orchestral suite, selected concerti grossi by Antonio Vivaldi, Arcangelo Corelli and Pietro Locatelli testify to the inventiveness and melodic seductive power of these masters.

Baroque Concert in the Light

It is the largest charity event of its kind organised by the German Red Cross in Germany: the festive opera gala of the Duisburg Red Cross has been a highlight of the city's social life for years and is well-known and popular far beyond its borders.

DRK-Gala

CityPalais

The enthusiastic and witty young saxophonist Asya Fateyeva is coming to Duisburg as an improviser - so she can do that too! We can look forward to a very spontaneous dialogue: Asya Fateyeva and Michael Gees are playing together for the first time today. A chamber music collaboration in the here and now, the only theme: finding common ground without looking for it.

KOMED is a format for the spontaneous, collaborative invention of contemporary music. In the text, in the noise, in the moment, we listen to sounds, put them under the magnifying glass of attention (meditation) and create connections.

We commit ourselves to starting something together for about an hour, to staying in touch and letting ourselves be guided by the idea we recognize as shared. Every acoustic event counts and contributes to the whole. The unexpected can happen at any time and challenge us to integrate. Ideally, and not infrequently, we discover music that none of us would have thought of on our own. Those present increasingly experience themselves and each other as participants: without them and their intentional listening, nothing would have been heard. After all, who would want to bear witness to the present if not those who are there?

Theatre, theatre everywhere! During rehearsals for the highly tragic period piece ‘Romulus and Ersilia’, everything somehow goes wrong: the prima donna doesn't feel well, the trouser role doesn't like itself and the tenor finally wants to play first violin.
And to make matters worse, Mamma Agata, the second soprano's weird helicopter mother, bursts in...

Prima la Mamma!

Violetta Valéry is beautiful, clever, warm-hearted - and terminally ill. Her life as a noble courtesan is preordained. There is no room for private happiness, not even for her love for the young Alfredo Germont, who conquers her heart and wants to save her from the vicious circle of venal love into a carefree private sphere. There she meets her doom in the shape of Alfredo's father Giorgio Germont....

La travi­ata

Music can play an important key role for people with dementia. It provides access where language can no longer do so, it can evoke memories and appeals to the emotions of all people equally. Our "Heart Music" concerts offer a relaxed hour of music for people with dementia and their companions. At the end of each lovingly selected program of chamber music and popular classics of the concert literature, the musicians invite you to sing along.

Heart music

Philharmonic Mercatorhalle

George Gershwin made history with his "Rhapsody in Blue": He wanted nothing less than to give his fellow countrymen their own, American music, beyond all ethnic and cultural boundaries - and initially even had the title "American Rhapsody" in mind. Blue notes and jazz can be heard in this work, as can the hustle and bustle of New York; the audience was absolutely thrilled after the premiere. Gershwin's hit actually has three big cadenzas for piano, and at the premiere the composer himself took on the solo part. In the 4th Philharmonic Concert, the young Lithuanian Martynas Levickis will play it on the accordion in his debut with the Duisburg Philharmonic. A lyrical theme in "Rhapsody in Blue" is somewhat reminiscent of Sergei Rachmaninoff, whose "Symphonic Dances" are on the program afterwards. However, it is not really exuberant, but the composer quotes from his "Isle of the Dead" and plays the "Dies Irae" from the Last Judgement several times. Cheerful and reminiscent of Haydn's classical musical language, the concert begins with Sergei Prokofiev's 1st Symphony, conducted by Delyana Lazarova, who has already performed on the concert stage with Martynas Levickis and is also making her debut with the Philharmonic.

Double debut

Two Russian composers from two centuries, both with tragic life circumstances: While Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky became increasingly depressed because he had to keep his homosexuality a secret, Dmitri Shostakovich lived and composed at times even at the risk of his life because he had aroused the suspicion of Stalin's cultural guardians. In Tchaikovsky's 1st String Quartet, it is the tear-jerking, simple Ukrainian folk melody at the beginning of the slow movement that contributed to the piece's popularity. And Shostakovich's 3rd String Quartet is also one of his most popular quartets. After the dramatic and turbulent war years, he took inspiration from his relaxed and cheerful 9th ​​Symphony, the first one he composed after the war.

Russian

Listen to Art takes place in cooperation with the Lehmbruck Museum Duisburg, where seniors and children of preschool and primary school age discover music and art. Together with a musician from the Duisburg Philharmonic and a museum educator, we go on a journey of discovery that enables personal encounters between children and seniors.

The klasse.klassik senior program is aimed at the older generation - and those who are musically young at heart - with a variety of concerts and cross-generational projects. In addition to the popular Herzmusik concerts and the accompanied profile and winter concerts "Plus", the tandem projects "Hör mal Kunst" and "Hör mal ein Buch" in cooperation with the Lehmbruck Museum and the Duisburg City Library enrich the range of music education for young and old.

Listen to Art

Listen to Art takes place in cooperation with the Lehmbruck Museum Duisburg, where seniors and children of preschool and primary school age discover music and art. Together with a musician from the Duisburg Philharmonic and a museum educator, we go on a journey of discovery that enables personal encounters between children and seniors.

The klasse.klassik senior program is aimed at the older generation - and those who are musically young at heart - with a variety of concerts and cross-generational projects. In addition to the popular Herzmusik concerts and the accompanied profile and winter concerts "Plus", the tandem projects "Hör mal Kunst" and "Hör mal ein Buch" in cooperation with the Lehmbruck Museum and the Duisburg City Library enrich the range of music education for young and old

Clear the stage for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon! Five musicians guarantee special excitement in the large circus tent. They conjure up breathtaking sounds and wonderful melodies without a net or a safety net - each of the instruments can perform special tricks. The flute animal is of course there again - as a circus director or as an attentive spectator? Young and old guests will experience many a surprise in this concert.

Breathe until Encore

Joseph Haydn's Opus 33 was a big bang in music history, because with it he achieved nothing less than the invention of the classical string quartet. The quartets of Opus 20 were a milestone on this path: They are an exciting look right into the composer's workshop. We look over Haydn's shoulder, so to speak, hear how he experiments, how he tries out new things and pushes boundaries - and finally finds his very own personal language when it comes to string quartets. Haydn's quartets were so perfectly balanced, so precisely formed, that he became a role model for subsequent generations of composers. And the young British Barbican Quartet, which won first prize at the renowned ARD Music Competition in 2022, is tracing these lines of development. For example, with Ludwig van Beethoven, who gave Haydn's classical tone an emotional depth, particularly impressively in the harrowing and at the same time immensely comforting "Song of Thanksgiving" from the String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132. While Alban Berg takes the string quartet genre into the modern age with his Opus 3, the last work he composed during his studies with Arnold Schoenberg.

Barbican Quartet

The quintet by Amy Marcy Beach, an important figure in American late Romanticism, begins in a romantic, luxuriant manner with lush melodies. She owes her fighting spirit to the fact that she even got this far. In the gloomy, puritanical life on the east coast of the USA, the highly gifted girl with perfect pitch had to learn to compose autodidactically. Mozart, another highly gifted young man, had it easier, and his quintet, in the then unusual all-string ensemble, is surrounded by a dark aura. Schubert's Opus 44, his first chamber music work with piano, then concludes the concert with explosive power, rich melodies and dazzling timbres.

Quintets

Saz4teens

Wagner's opera "Tannhäuser" lasts a good three hours, but in the overture he tells us, using purely instrumental means, what it will be about: the conflict between chaste and carnal love, lust and faith - set in powerful tones in the monumental overture. For example, with the motif of the pilgrims' choir, which is gently sung by the woodwinds at the beginning, but later shines triumphantly in the brass. No less monumental is Strauss' symphonic poem "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", with which he created one of the most famous works of classical music. The natural tones of the trumpets emerge from the formless rumbling of the orchestra at the beginning, before the sun breaks out in radiant C major - over a powerful organ tone. The late romantic Strauss, on the other hand, shows himself cheerful, idyllic and from his quasi-chamber music side in his oboe concerto. He himself once described it as a "wrist exercise" - and yet he still managed to conjure up one of the most charming concertos for oboe on paper. In it, the audience can also get to know an orchestral musician from his solo side: Mikhail Zhuravlev is the principal oboist with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Thus spoke zarathustra

The music year 2024 offers numerous opportunities to congratulate: 200 years of Bruckner, 215 years of Mendelssohn Bartholdy, 150 years of Schönberg.” Members of the Western Balkans Youth Orchestra and the Essen Chamber Orchestra Les essences also presented a musical bouquet of flowers. With the program “Mendelssohn & Friends - a message of peace”, this unique ensemble group is stopping in Duisburg on its tour through several Balkan states and Central Europe. Together with the soloists and ensemble leaders Önder Baloglu and Desar Sulejmani, the young musicians from over ten nations will shed light on the lesser-known aspects of the work of the prominent jubilarians. The symphonist Anton Bruckner as a chamber music fine artist or the “modernist” Arnold Schönberg on a nostalgic journey into the past? This programme, supported by the Federal Foreign Office, is full of surprises and offers, as a special highlight, two strokes of genius from the teenage days of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, whose Octet will be heard here for the first time in a new arrangement for chamber orchestra that is as fascinating as it is sonorous.

Mendelssohn & Friends

It is a bit like a homecoming when the world-class pianist Haiou Zhang comes to Duisburg for a piano extra. One of his first concerts was not far from here, in Oberhausen - he was still a student at the time. Today, Haiou Zhang is praised in the specialist press for both his sharp analytical mind and the expressive intensity of his playing. He demonstrates his immense skill with a program that not only shows the most diverse facets of piano literature, but also exciting connections between eras. The program begins with "Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue", a fascinating work by Johann Sebastian Bach: without regard to conventions and full of excessive chromaticism. And he was in turn a role model for Claude Debussy, who refers to Johann Sebastian Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier" in his Préludes, some of which Haiou Zhang plays. Or Ludwig van Beethoven, who initially followed in the footsteps of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with his piano works, but then set out on his own shores and took the piano sonata genre into completely new dimensions. Haiou Zhang plays his piano recital on a special instrument, because "certain timbres and nuances that I want can only be realized on a Bechstein."

Time travel

For decades, Tanja Tetzlaff has been one of the most influential artists of her generation - as a passionate chamber musician and as a virtuoso soloist with orchestra, which she has already demonstrated in various concert formats as a regular guest with the Duisburg Philharmonic. But she is also just as passionate about climate and environmental protection. She is now receiving the Music Prize of the City of Duisburg for this comprehensive commitment.

It is by no means the first prize that Tanja Tetzlaff has won, but it is one that she is particularly pleased about: "Above all, because it is not just about my musical commitment, but also about the fact that I am dealing a little with the issues of our time, especially sustainability, environmental protection and what we are doing to nature." She shows this commitment, for example, with the extraordinary film project "Suites4Nature", in which she relates Bach's famous cello suites and works by other composers to nature and questions of climate change. She also plays pieces from it in the 1st Chamber Concert, which is a joint project with the Orchestra of Change and which deals with the topic of "energy". "I have the feeling that you can't just make music or just be an artist," she says of her ever-increasing commitment. "The issues that are depressing and threatening at this time are so huge that we simply can no longer ignore them. And I hope that as an artist I can reach people on stage, that in connection with my music maybe some of them will be awakened or made to think.”

Music Prize of the City of Duisburg 2024

Do you remember your favorite (picture) book from childhood? Was it "Struwwelpeter", "Urmel" or perhaps "Max and Moritz", "The Little Witch" or "The Robber Hotzenplotz"? The musicians of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra are bringing their treasures to the city library. In addition to reading excerpts from their favorite books, there is an individual and loving musical setting of the stories. Young and old are invited to listen to words and music together and to learn new things or rediscover familiar things.

Listen to a Book takes place in cooperation with the Duisburg City Library.

The open ensemble for collective vocal musical invention under the direction of Dagmar Boecker explores and practices a different kind of chamber music making: the young singers (students and graduates of the Cologne University of Music and Dance) do not sing notes today, but listen to and make music of what is "in the air". In compositional dialogue, they set poems, texts, concepts, images, places and situations to song-like, floating forms. They create musical figures from their own creative imagination, in responsibility for themselves and for what they leave to others.

KOMED is a format for the spontaneous, collaborative invention of contemporary music. In the text, in the noise, in the moment, we listen to sounds, put them under the magnifying glass of attention (meditation) and create connections.

We commit ourselves to starting something together for about an hour, to staying in touch and letting ourselves be guided by the idea we recognize as shared. Every acoustic event counts and contributes to the whole. The unexpected can happen at any time and challenge us to integrate. Ideally, and not infrequently, we discover music that none of us would have thought of on our own. Those present increasingly experience themselves and each other as participants: without them and their intentional listening, nothing would have been heard. After all, who would want to bear witness to the present if not those who are there?

KROHNE Messtechnik event hall or auditorium

With their program, Lin Chen and Kerstin Petersen take the audience into the diverse sound worlds of American, European and Asian composers. The focus is on two works that were recently composed for the duo Drums & Pipes: "aufstieg.entspannung" by Alyssa Aska - based on a spectral analysis of the gong - and "Mikoshi" by Rikako Watanabe, inspired by the traditional Japanese music that sounds during the processions of the summer Matsuri festivals. We also encounter various mythical creatures, such as the "Black Sphinx", who loves to pose almost unsolvable riddles, or the sea monster "The Kraken", who rises from the roaring ocean in the virtuoso sounds for organ pedal and tam-tam. Appropriately, the composer William Albright once described his "Fanfare" as "demonic", while in "Nocturne" moths flutter through the twilight. A special highlight of the program is an improvisation that merges the rhythms of East and West in the interplay of percussion instruments with the majestic organ.

Duo Drums & Pipes

The traditional NEUE STIMMEN singing competition of the Liz Mohn Foundation has established itself as one of the most important prizes for young singers. Those who win here usually find themselves on the world's big stages a short time later - the names of former winners such as Vesselina Kasarova, Franco Fagioli, Marina Rebeka and Elsa Dreisig are impressive evidence of this. In numerous pre-selections around the globe, from New York to London, from Amsterdam to Vienna or Cape Town, the expert scouts of NEUE STIMMEN search for the best young singers worldwide. The crowning conclusion of the competition is the final round week, which takes place in the Gütersloh town hall. The selected finalists are given another opportunity to present their talent to a prominent jury and also to recommend themselves for an engagement. In addition to the jury chairman Dominique Meyer, artistic director of La Scala in Milan, there are also Brian Dickie, former general director of the Chicago Opera Theater, Sophie Joyce, casting director of the Opéra national de Paris, Sophie de Lint, director of the Dutch National Opera, and Bernd Loebe, artistic director of the Frankfurt Opera. The Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra has been a competent partner in the final rounds in Gütersloh for years - this time again under the direction of its former general music director Jonathan Darlington .

International Singing Competition NEUE STIMMEN

Gütersloh

The horror is unimaginable: On October 7, 2023, the radical Islamic Hamas attacked Israel. In the south of the country, its members carried out a massacre, torturing and kidnapping defenseless civilians. As a result of the barbaric terrorist attack, a war broke out in the Gaza Strip, bringing immeasurable suffering to people on both sides. In memory of the day of the terrible attack, the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra is organizing a concert with Jewish music and Jewish artists - as a sign of solidarity and as a signal of hope. Because music can achieve what often seems unattainable in real life: people of different backgrounds and religions find each other in the intimate dialogue of chamber music, united in their devotion to a common cause: music.

Memorial concert

In 1866, the composer Hermann Zenta published one of his first works, a charming French "Mélodie". Never heard of him? No wonder! Behind the male pseudonym is Augusta Holmès, born in Paris in 1847. With this little trick, she tried to counter the prejudices of her contemporaries, who simply denied women any creativity. Nevertheless, she took private lessons from César Franck, one of the central figures in the French music world at the time. And she was not alone in this fate: Mélanie Bonis, a good ten years older than her, was also a student of Franck, but was pressured by her parents to marry her. And she also used a pseudonym as a composer: Mélanie became the gender-neutral Mel. And Charlotte Sohy, also born in Paris in 1887, was forced to resort to a similar maneuver and initially signed her works with the name of her grandfather, Charles Sohy. The 2nd Philharmonic Concert is also intended as a contribution to the rediscovery of these unique and strong artistic personalities. And with Debora Waldman, a conductor is at the podium who is very familiar with what was once a male domain. The Brazilian-Israeli conductor, who began her career as Kurt Masur's assistant, is making her debut with the Duisburg Philharmonic.

Strong Women

His beautiful melody "Good evening, good night" still accompanies many children into dreamland today, and his "Hungarian Dances" are world famous. It is hard to believe that the great composer Johannes Brahms had doubts and was not always sure whether he was doing everything right. But the story of the creation of his 1st Symphony in C minor, which the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra plays under the direction of Sebastian Ludwig, shows that it is worth not giving up and trying again and again until you finally succeed. But who was this Johannes Brahms, who was already a star during his lifetime and yet needed more than 20 (!) years to write his first symphony? And who sometimes preferred to be "free but lonely" and listened to a "giant" marching behind him for a long time? The audience learns all this from actor Kai Bettermann, who tells us the story of one of the great masterpieces of music.

Masterpieces

The music of French composers in the early 20th century was colorful and oscillating. Claude Debussy's "Syrinx" sounds like an incantation, and the mystical atmosphere of his sonata for flute, viola and harp is also full of fantastic sounds. An instrumentation that Debussy's compatriot Ladislas de Rohozinski, born in St. Petersburg, also honored with a charming composition. Similar to Jacques Ibert, the third Frenchman in the group. The Belgian Henri Vieuxtemps comes from the immediate neighborhood and sends the viola on a virtuoso journey in his "Capriccio", while Arnold Bax, a short jump from Calais to Dover, traces the role of the harp in Celtic history.

Salutations à Calais

Music can play an important key role for people with dementia. It provides access where language can no longer do so, it can evoke memories and appeals to the emotions of all people equally. Our "Heart Music" concerts offer a relaxed hour of music for people with dementia and their companions. At the end of each lovingly selected program of chamber music and popular classics of the concert literature, the musicians invite you to sing along.

The klasse.klassik senior program is aimed at the older generation - and those who are musically young at heart - with a variety of concerts and cross-generational projects. In addition to the popular Herzmusik concerts and the accompanied profile and winter concerts "Plus", the tandem projects "Hör mal Kunst" and "Hör mal ein Buch" in cooperation with the Lehmbruck Museum and the Duisburg City Library enrich the range of music education for young and old.

The first Philharmonic Concert draws attention to two beginnings and one end of three great composers. For example, the young Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who at the age of 20 made his first great journey to England and Scotland. He visited the mythical Fingal's Cave in the Hebrides by steamship - and was terribly seasick from the stormy crossing. Nevertheless, the sea cave, battered by waves, made such a big impression on him that he immediately wrote down a few bars of music: it was the beginning of the tone-painting "Hebrides" Overture. Robert Schumann, on the other hand, was at the end of his life when he composed his Violin Concerto. He was dead only a short time later, having died in a mental hospital near Bonn. It was precisely the proximity to this tragic and sad end that had a long-lasting effect on the work - its creator was accused of lacking mental strength. The first Urtext edition with the correct musical text was not published until 2009. And the German violinist Lena Neudauer, who has studied Schumann's violin works intensively, will play it in her Duisburg debut. Another beginning is Brahms' 1st Symphony, which he struggled with for almost 15 years because the "giant Beethoven" had cast such a heavy shadow over him. In the finale he even quotes his role model's 9th Symphony, only to finally free himself from it in the triumphant conclusion.

Suffering and life paths

A traditional highlight at the start of the season: At the 6th Haniel Klassik Open Air, the family-run company Haniel, together with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Duisburg cultural companies and the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, is once again inviting people to enjoy classical music for free in the open air. Against the impressive backdrop of the Duisburg opera house, the new opera general music director Vitali Alekseenok will make his debut at the podium at the popular event, which has delighted thousands of Duisburg residents and their guests from outside since 2013 under the motto "Free and outdoors". In addition to the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonic Choir and soloists from the opera ensemble will once again gather on stage for a varied program with samples from the opera repertoire and a look ahead to the 2024/2025 season, which will be enriched by guest artists Olvido Ruiz (vocals) and Marialy Pacheco (piano) with a lively Cuban touch and cleverly interspersed jazz elements. As prominent and knowledgeable as ever, the presenter and all-round musician Götz Alsmann will once again lead the audience through the music-filled late summer evening.

6th Haniel Klassik Open Air

Opernplatz in front of the Theater Duisburg

Not least thanks to Beethoven, the first half of the 19th century is one of the most turbulent periods in music history. The very first bars of the "Coriolan Overture" reveal the harsh energy of his music, which made it difficult even for a great colleague like Franz Schubert to break free from its spell. This varied evening shows that there were other independent composers' voices during the lifetime of the two geniuses, through the work of Johann Wilhelm Wilms and Norbert Burgmüller, who died all too early in a tragic accident. Music greats such as Schumann and Mendelssohn Bartholdy mourned not only the man, but also his outstanding talent.

Concert in St. Maximilian

Church of St. Maximilian in Duisburg-Ruhrort

1st Serenade Concert

Abbey Church in Duisburg-Hamborn

Howling wolves, whispering winds, wailing whales, banging doors, ships searching for their way and grinding engines - we listen to the sounds of our fellow world, think they are melodies - intentionally - and "get into conversation" with them. As we did recently with Margarita Rumyantseva's electric violin and George Warren's synthesizer, in the KROHNE Auditorium we find the ideal acoustic and technical conditions for the playback of the sounds - and with the recently overhauled Steinway concert grand piano D, we have a wonderfully suitable correspondence partner.

Tell me, Pinocchio, what are you saying? You've seen people turn into donkeys? You sat in the belly of a shark? And you've met the blue fairy, who is the very best anyway? You're teasing us! Don't you know that lies have short legs? Uh... Pinocchio, wait a minute! That can't be true! You made up all these stories!

Pinocchio

A deliberate misinterpretation seals Beatrice di Tenda's miserable fate: an intimate conversation with Orombello comes at just the right time for her heartless and unfaithful husband Filippo. Because he does not love his Beatrice and wants to get rid of her as quickly as possible, the Duke of Milan puts all his eggs in one basket - and demands her death for the adultery that did not take place.

Beatrice di Tenda

German Oper am Rhein

The Portuguese word Saudade translates as longing. But it means much more than that: it is an attitude to life, a very specific form of world-weariness, full of wistfulness and gentle melancholy. And these also characterize Fado, which has become popular in Germany primarily through strong female voices such as those of Carminho, Mariza or Ana Moura. But António Zambujo, with his gentle and slightly hoarse voice, is also a representative of this emotional singing. However, there are also other influences in his personal style: the song tradition of his home region in southern Portugal, for example, called Cante Alentejano. There are also echoes of the Brazilian composer Antônio Carlos Jobim, the inventor of the Bossa nova, for which António Zambujo has a soft spot as well as for the Brazilian Samba.

Under the title "Cidade", the Portuguese songwriter Miguel Araújo has composed a whole series of touching songs especially for António Zambujo, which clothe the everyday life and loneliness of people in a big city in almost unspectacular tones. But it is precisely through their apparent simplicity that these songs unfold their irresistible saudade pull. For the atmospheric opening of the "Eigenzeit" festival, there will be dancing in the foyer with samba, salsa and bachata.

António Zambujo

Apparently familiar, in an unusual form – that is the motto of the 7th Chamber Concert. It was put together by violinist Alissa Margulis, who has a close relationship with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra and is co-curating the “Eigenzeit” festival this season. Together with her siblings, she plays classics of literature, which she dresses up in unusual sounds in different ensembles, thus enabling new listening experiences in actually familiar works. Johann Sebastian Bach's famous “Chaconne”, for example, a lonely high point of literature for solo violin, but here with the piano part supplemented by Robert Schumann. Or Arnold Schönberg's romantic-expressive “Verklärte Nacht” – here in Eduard Steuermann's version for piano trio instead of the original version for string sextet. Camille Saint-Saëns' diabolical “Danse macabre” was originally intended for orchestra, but now sounds on the piano solo. Modest Mussorgsky composed the original version of his famous “Pictures at an Exhibition” for this purpose; however, they became even more popular in the brilliant orchestration of Maurice Ravel. The Margulis Trio is now exploring the tone-painting cycle using chamber music techniques.

Margulis Trio

Hör mal Kunst takes place in cooperation with the Lehmbruck Museum Duisburg, where seniors and children of preschool and primary school age discover music and art. Together with a musician from the Duisburg Philharmonic and a museum educator, we go on a journey of discovery that enables personal encounters between children and seniors.

 Conductor Stefan Blunier has put together an exciting program full of discoveries and various references for his return to the Duisburg Philharmonic. At the end is Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky's darkly flowing "Symphony of Fate", which fits wonderfully with the magnificent overture by Dora Pejačević at the beginning, which also has a tragic undertone. The Croatian countess who composed was a real superstar during her lifetime, but was pushed out of the collective memory by music history. However, she is slowly emerging from oblivion, thanks in part to initiatives such as those of Stefan Blunier and the Duisburg Philharmonic. The program then includes one of Franz Liszt's rarely played symphonic poems. In it, the virtuoso piano composer deals with the ancient Orpheus myth, which also builds a content-related bridge to Manfred Trojahn's work, which will premiere in 2023. The name "Achéron" also comes from Greek mythology and refers to the river of suffering and pain into which the other rivers of the underworld flow. The concert is thus also a continuation of the orchestra's intensive engagement with the work of one of the most important living composers.

Excursion into the Underworld

heart music

Philharmonic Mercatorhalle, foyer

By carriage from classical music to our time: Anke Becker, together with the string ensemble of the Duisburg Philharmonic, brings Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to life. Colorful birds are caught with magic flutes and witch's spells, Don Giovanni invites you to dance the minuet at his big party, and at the end, listeners young and old can dream and relax with the little night music.

Mozart on Tour

By carriage from classical music to our time: Anke Becker, together with the string ensemble of the Duisburg Philharmonic, brings Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to life. Colorful birds are caught with magic flutes and witch's spells, Don Giovanni invites you to dance the minuet at his big party, and at the end, listeners young and old can dream and relax with the little night music.

In the klasse.klassik junior family and school concerts in the opera foyer or in the large theater hall, the youngsters are very close to the orchestra! The Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra presents orchestral fairytales, great classics and modern pieces in the best possible mood with special guests, narrators, choirs, singers and actors.

Get off the sofa - out into the countryside. The Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Nature Workshop - Association for Environmental Education invite all curious environmental detectives to a nature rally at the Sechs-Seen-Platte in Duisburg-Wedau. On the way through the Duisburg forest, members of the orchestra and the Nature Workshop combine music, forest and environment in an exciting and creative way.


Owl and Woodpecker in the Forest Concert

Duisburg-Wedau

Concert and clubbing as an all-in-one pleasure? The Trio Repercussion makes it possible - in the eighth edition of BEAT, the somewhat different concert series of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra with its exploratory journeys into the unlimited sound worlds of percussion. This time the Mercatorhalle will become a nightlife temple, when virtuoso playing on classical percussion instruments turns into the driving force of energetic club sounds as part of a rousing live performance. With their own songs at the interface of neo-classical, electronics and drums, Repercussion creates a direct and intense connection to the audience on stage - like a DJ who breaks up the usual situation of a philharmonic concert and opens up new areas of experience. Listen, feel, go along: This evening releases unimagined energies and appeals to all the senses. At the end of BEAT #08, many will perhaps ask themselves: Was I at a concert or in a club? Therefore, it is advisable to bring along not only open and curious ears but also comfortable shoes – in case the urge to dance arises.

Beat #08

Venezuelan double: For the 8th chamber concert, our artist in residence Pacho Flores has invited his fellow musician, composer, arranger and producer Jesús "Pingüino" González, who also comes from Venezuela - the "Paganini of the Spanish guitar", as Pacho Flores calls him with a wink. The two have been in a close artistic partnership for some time, the result of which was the album "Entropía", which won the gold medal at the Global Music Awards, which was released in 2017. And that forms the basis of the program, for which the two multi-talented artists have put together pieces from their homeland, with a careful selection of important Latin American composers. In addition to excursions into the passionate world of "Tango Nuevo" by Astor Piazzolla, there will be the opportunity to get to know the Brazilian singer, pianist, guitarist and composer Antônio Carlos Jobim, one of the inventors of the bossa nova. The illustrious group of different composers is also joined by the two soloists, Pacho Flores and Jesús "Pingüino" González, who show another facet of their talent. Music full of longing, world-weariness and joie de vivre, perfect for a warm summer evening.

Pacho Flores & Jesús “Pingüino” González

To mark the 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel's birth, we are celebrating his anniversary with the creation of four choreographies of very different styles to four of his most famous compositions.

Soirée Ravel

Under the heading "Time Machine", the 11th Philharmonic Concert as part of the Duisburg Philharmonic's "New Ways" project offers a journey back in time: The program refers to a concert that was played exactly 100 years ago as part of a music festival in the city of Duisburg. The "Concerto for Orchestra" by Paul Hindemith had its premiere there, conducted by the prominent General Music Director Paul Scheinpflug. Also on the program from 100 years ago: Beethoven's Violin Concerto and music by Rudi Stephan, who was one of the most promising young composers at the time before he died tragically young in the First World War. Instead of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, Axel Kober has put his 4th Piano Concerto on the program, in which the young British pianist and rising star Isata Kanneh-Mason makes her debut with the orchestra. And as a musical tribute to the former General Music Director, there is also the "Shakespeare Overture" by Paul Scheinpflug. However, the concert is not just a reconstruction of Duisburg's rich musical history, but also a lively and critical examination of history: the music festival took place on the occasion of the "millennial celebration of the Rhineland", so it was definitely in a German-national context.

A music festival from old times

Folkwang in Duisburg – that means lively teaching and learning, extraordinary concert series, master classes and regular musical events throughout the year. Since an extensive university reform in 2002, the areas of chamber music, early music and piano have been located on the Duisburg campus.

There is traditionally a close connection with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, whose circle of influential teachers often works at the university. A comprehensive musical education qualifies young musicians for solo playing and chamber music as well as for orchestral work, which remains the most important professional field of activity for young university graduates. The Profile concerts of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra are a shining example of how high-level orchestral playing and passionate commitment to chamber music can inspire each other.

final concert of the master class 2024/2025

Folkwang University

Since 2019, Evgeni Bozhanov has been a professor at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen - in addition to his international career as a pianist - where he looks after the keyboard stars of tomorrow. The Bulgarian pianist, who has won the international Frédéric Chopin Competition in Varna, among other things, is now putting on a duo evening with one of these promising talents, his master student Hao Tian. Hao Tian, ​​who was born in China in 2002, can already look back on a number of successes in international competitions himself and joined Evgeni Bozhanov's master class in Essen in 2022. For the Piano Extra II, he has chosen two touchstones of piano literature. Robert Schumann's "Carnaval", for example, which is one of the composer's most important piano cycles. After the turbulent scenes of a masked ball in Schumann's Opus 9, Alexander Scriabin's two-movement sonata takes us out to sea: in the first movement of the "Sonata-Fantaisie" composed in Genoa, the composer evokes a calm evening atmosphere with nighttime moonlight, after which it becomes stormy - in the ocean whipped up by wave-like triplets.

Evgeni Bozhanov & Hao Tian

France has a long and glorious organ tradition. And this is also where Johann Vexo comes from. Born in Nancy in 1978, he was appointed organist at the choir organ of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral at the age of 25 and is also titular organist at the Cavaillé-Coll organ in Nancy Cathedral. For his Toccata, he has put together a program that includes some of the greatest names in the history of French organ music. César Franck, for example, was probably the most important French composer and organist of the second half of the 19th century. He was not only titular organist at the Parisian church of Sainte Clotilde, but also an influential teacher. His students included Louis Vierne, who was titular organist at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral. His mighty organ symphonies are monumental, colorful and full of power. Marcel Dupré also worked in Paris: as organist at the large Cavaillé-Coll organ in Saint-Sulpice. He was also the teacher of Gaston Litaize, who was blind from birth and was appointed titular organist at Saint François-Xavier in Paris in 1946. The program begins with Johann Sebastian Bach, a composer and organ virtuoso who represents German organ music, which is also rich in tradition.

À la française

Clarinet and string quartet: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart tried this combination for the first time in 1789 - and it was a great success. The quintet that Carl Maria von Weber composed 26 years later for the clarinetist Heinrich Joseph Baermann was just as popular. The fact that both pieces are still among the most popular of their kind today is not only due to their magical sound and melodies, but also to the humorous, cheerful mood that connects them. The path to Joseph Haydn, the grand master of musical humor, is of course not far. It was probably an enterprising publisher who first heard the many bird calls in his famous quartet op. 33 no. 3, to which the piece owes its sales-boosting nickname: "Bird Quartet".

2nd Serenade Concert

Abbey Church in Duisburg

Under the Italian sun: Every year the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra heads south, more precisely to Montepulciano - a picturesque little town near Siena. At the local Academy of Music and Performing Arts, the musicians study selected chamber music works, which are then presented to the Duisburg audience after returning home: the result of a concentrated rehearsal phase in a unique environment, made possible by the generous support of the Friends and Sponsors of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra. With Hugo Wolf's "Italian Serenade", a work is on the program this time that couldn't be more fitting. Complemented by string quartets by Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

Montepulciano

Not only the artist in residence and soloists - the musicians of the Duisburg Philharmonic also have a lot to tell. When they go to Duisburg schools in the new "phil4teens" series, there is a lot of music-making - and the musicians talk about their interesting and often unusual everyday life as orchestral musicians.

klasse.klassik 4teens addresses children and young people with musical experiences on site in secondary schools. Whether saz4teens, art4teens, solo4teens or new phil4teens - students experience top-class music at eye level with our community musician, the artist in residence, well-known soloists and musicians from the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

phil4teens

This year, the youngest voices of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and an ensemble from the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra will be welcoming the summer with music. With international and German songs as well as works from sacred and pop music, the children's choir on the Rhine will be creating a musical Sunday for the whole family.

With 55 singers, the children's choir on the Rhine can regularly be seen in major opera productions, including in the past in "Turandot" and "Carmen". In the 2024/2025 season, the children's choir will be on the big stage at the Theater Duisburg in "Tosca" by Giacomo Puccini and in the children's opera "Pinocchio" by Marius Schötz and Marthe Meinhold.

klasse.klassik invites you: Summer Concert

Siegfried Rivinius normally sits at the podium of the first violins with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, where he has been first concertmaster since 1985. In addition to the large symphonic repertoire, he also has a strong passion for the intimate form of chamber music. And so in 1995 he founded the RIVINIUS Piano QUARTET together with his brothers. The four have now put together an exciting program for the last chamber concert of the season. It begins with the first piano quartet by Camille Saint-Saëns, which he composed when he was just 18 years old but never published during his lifetime. Stephen Hartke follows, a composer who is even personally known to the quartet. His five tableaux from “The King of the Sun” refer to paintings by the well-known painter Joan Miró. The finale is the expansive Piano Quartet in E major by Paul Scheinpflug, who is also no stranger here in Duisburg: almost exactly 100 years ago he was the orchestra's General Music Director. The concert is therefore also an examination of Duisburg's music history, as is also the case in the 11th and 12th Philharmonic Concerts.

RIVINIUS Piano QUARTET

Singing has always been a priority in the Baltic states, but no other country in Europe has such a rich and diverse choral landscape as Latvia. The State Choir of Latvija, Latvia's largest professional ensemble of its kind, also comes from this environment. With unearthly sound power - from radiant soprano heights to unfathomable bass depths - this impressive ensemble not only causes a sensation in its homeland, but also regularly delights audiences in the world's major music metropolises. The Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra considers itself lucky to be able to welcome the approximately 70 singers from Riga again this season after their visit in the 2023/2024 season. Before its performance in Arnold Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder on July 9 and 10, 2025, the State Choir of Latvija will make an a cappella stopover in the Salvatorkirche. Under the direction of Māris Sirmais, an atmospheric program will be performed, which, starting with the romantic sounds of Anton Bruckner or Edward Elgar, touches on classical modernism and, above all, presents music by contemporary Baltic composers.

special choir concert

Salvatorkirche Duisburg

Axel Kober was orchestra director in Duisburg for almost eight years , where he developed the Philharmonic Orchestra into one of the most exciting and modern orchestras in Germany and anchored it even more firmly in Duisburg's urban society - with new concert formats and cleverly curated programs with many renowned soloists. But now it's time to say goodbye; the last Philharmonic concert of the season is also the last that Axel Kober will conduct in his role as General Music Director. It will be a farewell with drums and trumpets in the truest sense of the word, because the program includes Schönberg's monumental "Gurre-Lieder". The oratorio for five vocal soloists, speaker, choir and orchestra is one of the largest and most impressive works in music history - and not just in the overwhelming sunrise with its mighty choral performance. In addition to a select ensemble of soloists with illustrious names such as Albert Dohmen, Maximillian Schmitt and Jacquelyn Wagner, the concert also offers the opportunity to meet the State Choir of Latvija again , which was already a guest in Duisburg last season. But for Axel Kober, too, the final bang with the "Gurre-Lieder" will not be a farewell forever, as he will remain closely associated with the orchestra as a guest conductor. So there are great prospects for the end of the season.

Duisburger Philharmoniker

Apr 23, 2025

ConcertMeditation

Nov 29, 2024 - Apr 25, 2025

La traviata

Apr 27 - Jun 2, 2025

Pinocchio

May 2 - Jul 6, 2025

Beatrice di Tenda

May 3, 2025

António Zambujo

Apr 13, 2025

symphony concert

Apr 13, 2025

Akiko Suwanai & Jose Gallardo

Articles & News

Duisburger Philharmoniker

Duisburger Philharmoniker

Apr 23, 2025

ConcertMeditation

Nov 29, 2024 - Apr 25, 2025

La travi­ata

Apr 27 - Jun 2, 2025

Pinocchio

May 2 - Jul 6, 2025

Beatrice di Tenda

May 3, 2025

António Zambujo

Apr 13, 2025

symphony concert

Apr 13, 2025

Akiko Suwanai & Jose Gallardo

Articles & News

Duisburger Philharmoniker

La traviata