The end of an era JNLINE: THE 20 Today's annual press conference of the Berliner Philharmoniker was marked both by excitement and a hint of sadness. The 2017/18 season is again full of top-class concert programmes — but at the same time, it also signals the departure of Sir Simon Rattle as the orchestra's chief conductor. The good news is that many of the upcoming concerts give us the opportunity to relive highlights of the Rattle years. EFTA00687999

--=PAGE_BREAK=--

A performance of the oratorio The Creation, for example, lets audiences enjoy Rattle the celebrated Haydn conductor once more, while with Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri, Sir Simon presents one of his favourite works of the Romantic repertoire. We also have another opportunity to hear the completion of Bruckner's Ninth Symphony which caused a sensation in 2012, and Rattle conducting Stravinsky is, of course, also an absolute must. On top of all that, there are joint appearances with artistic friends such as Mitsuko Uchida and Daniel Barenboim. Other than all these reminiscences are Wagner's Parsifal and Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen, two operas Sir Simon has never performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker before. Concerts with Mahler's Sixth Symphony — with which Rattle made his debut with the Philharmoniker in 1987 — and the traditional end-of-season concert at the Waldbihne bring this great chapter in the history of the orchestra to a close. In addition to Simon Rattle, there are also many other first-class guest conductors in the Philharmonie and the Digital Concert Hall this season, including Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Ivan Fischer, Daniele Gatti, EFTA00688000

--=PAGE_BREAK=--

Alan Gilbert, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Marek Janowski, Mariss Jansons, Paavo Jarvi, Ton Koopman, Zubin Mehta, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, Tugan Sokhiev and Christian Thielemann. Other outstanding soloists of the season include Yefim Bronfman, Joyce DiDonato, Vilde Frang, Janine Jansen, Leonidas Kavakos, Magdalena Kozena, Maria Joao Pires, Gil Shaham, Baiba Skride, Daniil Trifonov and Yuja Wang. As in the current season, one musician will attract particular attention: Kirill Petrenko, who takes up office as the new chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2019. Your access to the Digital Concert Hall TICKETS, SUBSCRIPTION AND GIFT CERTIFICATES Download on the App BPcet it on Google Play Pavailable on Kindle Fire Store EFTA00688001