Berliner Philharmoniker returns

Top German orchestra excited about Samsung app for 'Digital Concert Hall'

By Do Je-hae

The Berliner Philharmonilker started an unprecedented initiative to stream live concerts through the “Digital Concert Hall” program three years ago.

During a press conference in Seoul, Tuesday, the orchestra’s leaders expressed their excitement for the future role of Samsung’s “Berliner Philharmoniker app” in bringing the program to a wider audience.

“This visit to Korea is special for us because of our new cooperation with Samsung. As of September this year, the Digital Concert Hall is now available as an app on all new Samsung smart TVs and blue ray players,” Stanley Dodds, the orchestra’s media chairman, said.

Dodds, a member of the second violin section, has been with the Berliner Philharmoniker since 1994.

“This new cooperation with Samsung means that access to the Digital Concert Hall and its huge programs, content and documentation of the orchestra’s work, in particular with Sir Simon Rattle, is as easy as controlling a Samsung TV,” Dodds said.

“We hope that this eased availability will be effective for a new generation of users around the world.”

One of the world’s foremost symphonic orchestras is in Seoul this week to present a much-anticipated program of Mahler and Bruckner symphonies.

The orchestra will play Mahler’s 9th symphony in D major at Seoul Arts Center Tuesday and the 9th symphony in D minor by Bruckner Wednesday at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts.

“On behalf of the musicians of the orchestra, I would like to say what a great pleasure it is to be again in Korea, to be performing for an audience of music lovers,” Dodds added.

In the last three years, the Digital Concert Hall has accumulated an impressive archive of more than 100 performances and this continues to grow.

There are two options when exploring the digital concerts. People can watch concerts via live stream Web cast; or access from an on-demand archive of past performances.

Some of the most memorable moments in the orchestra’s history, such as the 1989 inaugural concert of former music director Claudio Abbado’s Mahler symphony No. 1, are available at the digital concert hall web site.

Specialized digital content

The Digital Concert Hall project is unique, in that it also offers a growing amount of backstage footage and interviews with composers and performers, hosted by members of the orchestra.

Founded in 1882, the BPO has maintained its indisputable status as one of the world’s most respected orchestral institutions for its consummate level of performance.

Its most recent showing in Seoul was in 2008, led by music director Rattle in the form of two performances of Brahms’ Four Symphonies.

The project is, without a doubt, one of the towering achievements of the “Rattle Era” that started in 2002, after he succeeded to the position of music director from Italian maestro Abbado. Rattle is expected to stay on as music director until 2018, after which members will vote on whether to extend his tenure.

The 56-year-old British maestro has made Berlin his home for almost a decade now. He is one of the top conductors in the world who are obsessed with Mahler.

“It was the music that made me become a conductor. It’s part of my DNA,” Rattle said.

In presenting the program of the two Seoul concerts, he said the two symphonies by the master symphonists were about “the end of things.”

“They are two great 9th symphonies from the very center of the orchestra’s repertoire and tradition,” Rattle explained.

“There is an audience here that listens so deeply. We are here for absolutely selfish reasons, which is that we like to play for your people. It’s as simple as that.”

While in Seoul, the orchestra will also hold open rehearsals for underprivileged children and youth orchestras.