Berlin Phil freshens up for Kirill Petrenko’s first US tour

The Berlin Philharmonic has been briefing local media about its forthcoming 15-day US tour, starting on November 8.

It will be the orchestra’s first visit with music director Kirill Petrenko and its first US tour for six years. Nerves are evident. Petrenko made it a condition of his contract that he will never give media intervews.

How the US media will react to his silence ahead of a three-day residency at Carnegie Hall will be a test of journalistic humanity.

Content for the tour incudes Mahler’s 7th symphony, Korngold’s F# symphony and a piece called Unstuck by the US composer Andrew Norman. The orchestra’s American concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley will feature in Mozart’s first violin concerto.

Other venues are Boston, Chicago, Ann Arbor (Michigan) and a first visit by the orchestra to Florida.

UPDATE: Also sprach Petrenko