For two weeks, the “Aus den Fugen” festival at the Konzerthaus brings together visionary works that have unjustly not yet found a permanent place on concert stages, artists responding to a world out of kilter, and formats that upset the normal concert hall routine.

The audience danced exuberantly to Jazzrausch and the Unterbiberger Hofmusik, there were ovations for Patricia Kopatchinskaja's plea for peace, an enthusiastic community at the voguing evening ‘Our People’, dignified commemoration of 70 years of Yad Vashem with Lera Auerbach's 6th symphony ‘Vessels of Light’, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin under Joana Mallwitz and guests as well as many other concerts.

Photos: Sebastian Runge

Our former Artist in Residence, violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and an ensemble of renowned musicians opened the second ‘Aus den Fugen’ festival with a semi-staged concert.
‘In the name of peace’, they took a sensual approach to works from Purcell to Nono which bear witness to war as a humanitarian catastrophe, but also a moving plea for peace and a means of strengthening hope and the belief that peaceful coexistence is possible.

Photos: Pablo Castagnola

Marginalised by society, queer black and Latino New Yorkers developed the dance style ‘voguing’ in the 1970s and 80s as a means of artistic expression and self-discovery. In the so-called ‘ballrooms’, the stage  became an emotional catwalk for conquering respect, recognition and belonging. 

With ‘Our People’, tenor Frederick Ballentine and pianist Kunal Lahiry have created an inspirational evening in honour of black and queer voices with voguing and songs by Aaron Copland, Franz Schubert, Margaret Bonds, John Musto, Nina Simone and others. And they created a space for the Berlin voguing community in the Konzerthaus. 
 

Fotos: Sebastian Runge

Under the direction of Kevin John Edusei, Chineke! Orchestra, Europe's first majority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra, played its Berlin premiere. In the sold-out hall, the audience celebrated Derrick Syke's ‘Prisms’, which combines influences from the Balkans, Ghana and Hindu classical music, the nature-loving spirituality of Brian Raphael Nabors' “Concerto for Orchestra” and the young soloist of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3, Isata Kanneh-Mason. She is the sister of our current Artist in Residence cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

Photos: Pablo Castagnola

Whether the ‘Bibi and Tina Intro’, Britney Spears‘ “Toxic” or Billie Eilish's “Bad Guy”, John Williams’ theme to Harry Potter's owl Hedwig or Wagner's ‘Tannhäuser’ overture, Bach's ‘Toccata’ or Grieg's ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ - our combatants, organists Thomas Cornelius and Thomas Ospital, literally pulled out all the stops of their tremendous skills. Bottom line: There is a lot of humour in the organ. And evidently, also in some of those often serious-looking organists!

Photos: Sebastian Runge

What is home, where is home, what connects people in Berlin across all differences, what is this city for us and what does it sound like? This was the subject of NEXT STOP: BLN, a project by young workshop participants from Marzahn, project designer Kian Jazdi and pianist Hanni Liang - with music from Sally Beamish, Ethel Smyth and Emmanuel Séjourné.

Photos: Simon Pauly

To mark the 70th anniversary of the International Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem, Lera Auerbach composed her 6th symphony entitled ‘Vessels of Light’. She dedicated it to the Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who was stationed in Lithuania and saved thousands of Jewish people during the Second World War by issuing visas, including the father-in-law of cello soloist Kristina Reiko Cooper. Joana Mallwitz conducted the Konzerthausorchester, the Kaunas State Choir and a vocal soloist ensemble.

The Kabbalistic tale of the ‘breaking of the vessels’ at the creation of the world, the cherished art of Japanese Kintsugi, which uses lacquer and gold powder to save broken porcelain or ceramics, and the quiet words of the biblical Psalm 121 were woven by the composer, who was present in the hall, into a tapestry of words and music that left a deep impression on the audience. 

Photos: Pablo Castagnola

Our Artist in Residence, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and jazz pianist Harry Baker took our festival audience on a journey of discovery from Bach to Lianne La Havas and Pat Metheny.