Berliner Philharmoniker premiere Widmann’s ​‘Tanz auf dem Vulkan’

22/5/2018

Jörg Widmann

On 27 May, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle will premiere Jörg Widmann​’s new work Tanz auf dem Vulkan (Dance on the Volcano), which was commissioned by the Orchestra and is dedicated to Sir Simon who will leave his post as the Orchestra’s principal conductor this year.

Jörg Widmann says about the piece:

“Over the past few years, I have been closely involved with the Berliner Philharmoniker in an intense musical partnership and was therefore only too pleased to fulfil their request to compose a short farewell piece for Sir Simon. My composition has evolved into an insistently explosive work. The job description for a chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic is these four words, in my opinion very aptly described: Dance on the volcano.”

The Berliner Philharmoniker will take Tanz auf dem Vulkan on tour with concerts at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 31 May, at Vienna’s Musikverein on 2 June and at Cologne’s Philharmonie on 6 June. On 7 June the Spanish premiere will take place at the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid with a subsequent performance in Barcelona on 8 June.