New Year

For classical music fans, jaunty dance rhythms are just as much a part of New Year’s Eve as the sound of corks popping and fireworks. But need it be waltzes from Vienna, the city on the Danube, ringing in the New Year? By no means, according to the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle – and they traditionally programme different music for their New Year’s concerts along the river Spree.

For the coming year-end celebration you can hear two of the most popular Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms, Viennese by choice, as well as three of the Slavic Dances by Antonín Dvořák, both primitive and elegant rhythms from the geographical centre of Europe, so rich in musical tradition. Not quite as well-known are the melodies from the ballet Gayaneh, premiered in 1942, by the Soviet Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian – but hold on: at least one piece from this work – the famous “Sabre Dance” – is familiar to any music fan! An exciting counterpoint to this spirited musical titbit is the third movement of Paul Hindemith’s Symphonic Dances, premiered in London in 1937.

The programme of the Berliner Philharmoniker New Year’s Eve concert will be complemented with Sergej Prokofjew’s Third Piano Concerto. The Chinese pianist Lang Lang, soloist in this work, is a truly exceptional artist who is returning to the stage of Berlin’s Philharmonic Hall. His brilliant, sensitive piano playing – which always sounds spontaneous despite all his artistry – equally wows musician colleagues and the public.

Ticket information

Ticket price: 3600 HUF

Tickets are available at the Cassa of the Urania National Filmtheater (open every day 11:00-20:30, Credit Cards are accepted) and in the Ticket Sale System of Jegymester (available in English too)

www.jegymester.hu

Director:

Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle

Solist: Lang Lang