With a rousing performance of Mendelssohn Octet on June 19, our Season 0 came to a conclusion! This third and final concert, “Made in Berlin”, was especially meaningful to us because it celebrated the vibrant artistic city we call home. We were immensely grateful to be joined onstage by our teachers and Tonhain Kollektiv honorary members Jens Peter Maintz and Hartmut Rohde.
The program also featured a thrilling performance of American composer George Crumb’s Sonata for Solo Cello by our chairman Benjamin Lai, and a wonderful performance of a string quartet by Crumb’s teacher in Berlin, Boris Blacher. In between came Rebecca Saunders’s “Fletch”, a devilishly difficult and colorful work by the Berlin-based British composer. We were especially happy to share news of our concert with her and get her advice on performing the piece, even though she was unable to attend the live performance. We are excited to share many more works by living composers, especially those with connections to Berlin, in our upcoming Season 1.
Our concert happened to take place at the same time as the Germany-Hungary European Championships game, but we were honored to nonetheless have another sold-out crowd. The musicians even found time during breaks to catch up with the game’s progress!
As we look ahead toward Season 1, which kicks off on September 20, 2024 in our home hall, Tonhain, we feel extremely lucky to have had such a strong start thanks to our donors, and countless other supporters, volunteers, and preview concert hosts.
And we’re just getting started. We have received so much positive feedback and encouragement from our audiences, who have raved about the intimate setting, thrilling music-making, and the focus on Berlin-based musicians of the younger generations who they don’t often have the chance to hear perform. Full information about Season 1 (programs, artists, tickets, etc.) is about to go online, so be sure to subscribe to our newsletter in order to be notified first about it!
all photos ©Clara Evens