Violinist & KHKO board member Karoline Bestehorn is looking forward to the Konzerthaus Kammerorchester's last concert of the season with pieces by Mendelssohn, Schönberg, Weill and Bartók. The chamber orchestra is led by one of our First Concertmasters - on June 13, it's Suyoen Kim's turn. The pieces and the soloists are always chosen by the musicians themselves, who are also responsible for the administrative part.

"Our chamber orchestra has been in existence for 15 years and we are very happy to be able to practise this form of music-making. It gives us musicians the opportunity to get in touch with each other in a very intimate and subtle way, to listen and react to each other. Each and every one of us is important! After each concert, we all meet in the canteen, toast the successful concert together and the atmosphere is relaxed and warm. We need three things: excitement, joy and pleasure!"

Violist Mao Konishi is a member of the Konzerthausorchester's Kurt Sanderling Academy. She is looking forward to play in a concert on June 5, which was devised by our Youth Advisory Board:

"For me, it's something completely new that young people are thinking about how to put together a concert. I definitely think that's great. I'm also looking forward to playing with the Notos Quartet. I've heard recordings of their viola player and was thrilled. In the concert, we'll be playing Schönberg's ‘Verklärte Nacht’, for example, but also pop music by Coldplay. The theme of the concert is the night. That suits me, because I'm a real night person (laughs)."

Micha Häussermann from the programme department is a trained oboist. He's really looking forward to a collegial post-concert talk with François Leleux, who will conduct – and also play part of – the concerts and the Mozart-Matinee on June 15 & 16. The programme before the talk is his concert tipp for June:

“One of the things I'm looking forward to is George Bizet's First Symphony. It has such an infectious energy and vibrancy that when I listen to it I almost think it could only have been written by a 17-year-old! François Leleux is exactly the right sparring partner for the Konzerthausorchester, who radiates just as much lightness and musical playfulness on the oboe as he does in conducting.“

Organ specialist Dietmar Hiller from the programme department is looking forward to our organist in residence Iveta Apkalna celebrating a two-hour organ festival towards the end of her three-season residency on June 23. Soprano Katrīna Paula Felsberga and accordionist Martynas Levickis will be joined by our cellist Taneli Turunen – enjoy the surprise programme.

Iveta Apkalna can also be heard as a soloist with the Konzerthausorchester under the direction of Juraj Valčuha from July 5 to 7 in Bernd Richard Deutsch's organ concerto ‘Okéanos’, whose title means both ocean and origin of the world.