Just in: Berlin Philharmonie reopens next week

Message received:

Subject to a positive decision by the Senate on 1 June, the Berliner Philharmoniker are to resume playing to the public from 5 June. The concerts would take place under the current hygiene rules (seating the audience in a chessboard pattern, the wearing of FFP2 masks, and the testing of all members of the audience except those who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid in the last 6 months).

Andrea Zietzschmann, general manager of the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation: “In March, we successfully demonstrated with our pilot project how we can hold concerts with an audience under safe conditions. The special atmosphere and delighted reactions to the concert will certainly never be forgotten by the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko. We now very much hope to finally be able to open the doors of the Philharmonie to you again on a regular basis from 5 June. This encounter with our audience at the end of a season in which we were only able to play a few concerts in front of a live audience means such a lot to us! The three June programmes offer a wide-ranging repertoire from Antonio Vivaldi to Beethoven, Brahms to Unsuk Chin, and feature old friends such as Herbert Blomstedt, plus exciting
debuts with Jean-Christophe Spinosi and Philippe Jaroussky.’