Berliner Philharmoniker Scores Globally

Leave it to the adventurous management and musicians of the celebrated Berlin Philharmonic to break the sound barrier. That is, to cross national boundary lines and continental divides by making its concerts easily and inexpensively available to music lovers throughout the world. Taking maximal advantage of new technology, the Berliner Philharmoniker offers either subscriptions or single-concert "entry" not only to new performances now taking place but also to a vast archive of past performances featuring a variety of conductors and solo artists.

All it takes to access this growing treasury of great performances is a one-time registration procedure and a credit card. One may then either "attend" a live performance as it is taking place or wait a couple of days until that performance is "archived." (The only problem with the former is the time difference: an 8:00 p.m. concert in Berlin would be heard at 2:00 a.m. Eastern Time, so most people in the U.S. might prefer hearing the archived transmission at their own convenience.)

Just for example, the programs announced for May 2009 include performances conducted by Seiji Ozawa (Mendelssohn Elijah), Claudio Abbado (Schubert, Mahler, Debussy), and music director Sir Simon Rattle featuring the world premiere of Siegfried Matthus's Concerto for Woodwind Quintet and Orchestra, a commission of the Berliner Philharmoniker.

The super-sophisticated home page (dch.berliner-philharmoniker.de/#/en/liveconcerts/) gives all pertinent details and even provides amazing sound bites by one of the world's greatest orchestral ensembles.