Audiences the world over long to hear live music after nearly a year with sharply reduced or obliterated performing arts seasons. In-person attendance remains impossible in many places, but Berlin will honor Weill with four different streamed concerts during February 2021. In order:
13 February: Symphonie in einem Satz (Symphony no. 1) with the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko, paired with Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. Weill's first symphonic venture was composed when he was still a student of Ferruccio Busoni. The Philharmonic not only presents a rarely performed work, it offers the world premiere of the recently completed critical edition (part of the Kurt Weill Edition) prepared by world-renowned conductor and Weill specialist James Holmes. Live stream begins at 1:00 p.m. Berlin time (GMT + 1).
16 February: Symphony no. 2 and the Violin Concerto, along with Eisler's Suite no. 3 for Orchestra. Scholarship students at the Karajan Academy form the ensemble. Marie Jacquot (First Kapellmeisterin of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein) conducts; Kolja Blacher (who has recorded the Concerto for Deutsche Grammophon) appears as soloist. The live stream begins at 2:00 p.m. Berlin time.
20 February: Donald Runnicles leads the Berlin Philharmonic in the Suite from Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (arranged by Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg) along with works by d'Albert, Schreker, and Berg.
23 February: Members of the Berlin Philharmonic team up to deliver three of Weill's works along with music by Stefan Wolpe and Mátyás Seiber. The program, titled "The Golden Twenties: A Night at the Moka Efti," includes Weill's "Berlin im Licht," Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, and Suite panaméenne. The stream of the pre-recorded concert begins at 2:00 p.m. Berlin time.
A year ago, these concerts were planned as a small part of a big festival devoted to Weill's stage works as well as orchestral music, with participation from Berlin's Komische Oper and the Berliner Ensemble. Those plans are in abeyance, but a new production of Weill, Brecht, and Hauptmann's Die Dreigroschenoper with the Berliner Ensemble is in process right now, set to open in the spring. Helmed by Barrie Kosky (a driving force behind the original festival project) and conducted by Adam Benzwi, the performances take place in the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, site of the epoch-making world premiere in 1928. The new staging joins the Berliner Ensemble repertory, replacing Robert Wilson's lauded production, which premiered in 2007 and traveled all over the world. For an interview with Kosky and a sneak preview of rehearsals, click here.
Recommendation from the New York Times
Learn more about Symphony in einem Satz
Learn more about Symphony no. 2
Learn more about the Violin Concerto
Learn more about Suite from Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny
Learn more about Kleine Dreigroschenmusik
Learn more about Suite panaméenne
Learn more about Die Dreigroschenoper
Originally posted: 28 January 2021
Last updated: 2 February 2021