Catch the Piano Fever

The Kulturforum comes alive with Klavierfieber, a week-long festival linking art works in the Neue Nationalgalerie, the Alte Nationalgalerie, the Pergamonmuseum and the Neues Museum with compositions for the piano inspired by them. Klavierfieber brings together six works of art, six young composers and six international pianists. 

The concept is a novel one: the link between art and music is not intended to be merely decorative. Six composers were commissioned to create pieces for the piano, taking their inspiration directly from a painting or sculpture. The results are intriguing: Jens Joneleit (his opera Metanoia was premiered at the Staatsoper's opening at the Schiller Theater last year) created Schnitt ("Cuts"), using a Dada-ist composition form inspired by Hannah Höchs's Dada Collage; and the Danish-German composer Nils Eichberg presents his Nefertiti, to be performed by the brilliant 20-something Russian pianist Denis Kozhukin, who is making waves at all the top European competitions.

Compared to the large music/art festivals with long traditions in Berlin -- the Tanz im August, the Musikfest in September, the Art Forum in October, the Jazzfest in November -- Klavierfieber is diminutive: six evening and lunch/teatime concerts, six pianists, composers and works of art. But it has a special significance for Berlin cultural life. If the Klavierfieber proves infectious, it will rejuvenate the Kulturforum.


Klavierfieber is supported by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and Young Euro Classic. It takes place  between Monday, June 20, and Sunday, June 26 in the Kulturforum -- in the museums as well as in the Staatsbibliothek (State Library) and the St Matthäuskirche (St. Matthew's Church). 
The English page of the festival web site is here.

Taking Classical Music outside the Concert Hall (2)

The building opposite the Schlossplatz in which you find one of Berlin's premier music conservatories, the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, once housed the royal stables. The exterior is neo-baroque, the interior sleekly modern. In the Galakutschensaal (literally, the carriage hall) you can hear wonderful music for free.

The conservatory has a rich program of events all through the year: concerts, master classes, lecture concerts, workshops, international music contests -- and the standard is always high.  There is a closer, more intimate relationship between the performers and audience than in the concert hall. I like sneaking in well before the concerts or master classes begin. The spacious quietness in the room -- soaring ceilings, parquet floors, two black Bösendorfer grand pianos. tall windows letting in a view of the Dom, the Spree and the green quadrant of the Schlossplatz -- is a first intimation of the purity of sound that will follow.

You can check Hanns Eisler's concert schedule here. The Hanns Eisler and the Universität der Künste have teamed up to form the Jazz-Institut Berlin on the Einsteinufer, and some great free concerts are on offer at this location, too. The Jazz-Institut's program is available here.

An unusual series outside the concert hall takes place in the Bröhan-Museum in Charlottenburg. In Berlin's museum for Art Nouveau decorative arts, music students give concerts on the first Thursday of every month. In their interaction with the audience, musicians make imaginative connections between the 30-minute program and a selected museum piece. The next concert is on Thursday, July 7, at 14:00. Tickets (which includes entrance to the museum) are 4 EUR.

My last tip for this post is the "Jour Fixe" free concert series at the Musikinstrumenten Museum (or the MIM) every other Wednesday afternoon. Once again, the performers are from Berlin's music conservatories. Originally, the program was reserved exclusively for the piano; now it includes a broad spectrum of solo and chamber music.

The concerts begin at 15:30, but this is a very popular little series for those "in the know." So get there at 14:30 to pick up your ticket, then wander around the museum (or  find something interesting to do around Potsdamer Platz) till doors to the music auditorium open. The next "Jour Fixe" is on Wednesday, June 29. Check MIM's concert calendar here.