Sun, Jan. 18, 2026, 11.00 am | Elbphilharmonie, Grand Hall

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5th Philharmonic Concert

RACHMANINOW / PLETNEV

conductor: Mikhail Pletnev
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

Mikhail Pletnev

conductor

Born in 1957, in Arkhangelsk, Pletnev demonstrated his talent early, entering the Moscow Conservatory at the age of 13. In 1978 he won first prize and the gold medal at the Sixth International Tchaikovsky Competition. He has since performed countless times as a soloist with the world’s most esteemed orchestras and conductors.
In 1990, with the assent of then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Pletnev founded the Russian National Orchestra – Russia’s first non-governmental, privately financed orchestra. Today the RNO is considered one of the world’s finest orchestras; each year, led by Pletnev and other distinguished conductors, it tours Europe, the U.S. and Asia. In 1996, the orchestra performed at the opening of the Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Pletnev has recorded with Deutsche Grammophon since 1993, and his discs have been repeatedly nominated for Grammy Awards.
Pletnev has also attained international acclaim for his work as a composer. The 1998 premiere of his Viola Concerto dedicated to (and performed by) Yuri Bashmet was enthusiastically received by both the press and the public. His arrangements of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty for piano are legendary – for pianists the world over they have become technical exams that demonstrate one is a master of the instrument.
Pletnev has been the frequent recipient of state honors and international awards, including a Grammy (2005). In 2007 he was awarded a Presidential Prize and Order “For Service to the Homeland.”

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Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

Orchester

The Philharmonic State Orchestra is Hamburg’s largest and oldest orchestra, looking back on many years of musical history. When the “Philharmonic Orchestra” and the “Orchestra of the Hamburg Municipal Theatre” merged in 1934, two tradition-steeped orchestras combined. Philharmonic concerts have been performed in Hamburg since 1828, artists such as Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms being regular guests of the Philharmonic Society. The history of the opera company goes back even further: Hamburg has been home to musical theatre since 1678, even if a regular opera or theatre orchestra was only formed later. To this day, the Philharmonic State Orchestra has embodied the sound of the Hansa City, a concert and opera orchestra in one.

During its long history, the orchestra encountered great artist personalities. Apart from composers of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, such as Telemann, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Mahler, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, since the 20th century chief conductors such as Karl Muck, Joseph Keilberth, Eugen Jochum, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Aldo Ceccato, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gerd Albrecht, Ingo Metzmacher and Simone Young have shaped the orchestra’s sound. Renowned conductors of the pre-war era such as Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Karl Böhm and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt gave brilliant performances, as did outstanding conductors of our times: suffice it to mention Christian Thielemann, Semyon Bychkov, Kirill Petrenko, Adam Fischer and Sir Roger Norrington.

Starting with the 2015/2016 season, Kent Nagano has taken on the position of Hamburg’s General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra and the Hamburg State Opera and since June 2023 also its honorary conductor. In his first season Kent Nagano initiated a new project, the Philharmonic Academy, focusing on experimentation and chamber music. In 2016, Nagano and the Philharmonic toured South America, followed by concert tours to Spain and Japan in 2019, and in the spring of 2023, the Philharmonic State Orchestra made its debut at New York's Carnegie Hall under his direction, which was acclaimed by audiences and the press. Since 2017 Kent Nagano and the Philharmonic State Orchestra have continued the traditional Philharmonic Concerts at the new Elbphilharmonie, for which they commissioned Jörg Widmann to compose the oratorio ARCHE, which was given its world premiere during the hall’s opening festivities. The concert recording has been released by ECM, for which Widmann received the OPUS KLASSIK as Composer of the Year 2019, and ARCHE was performed again in 2023 to great acclaim.

The Philharmonic State Orchestra offers approximately 35 concerts per season and performs more than 240 performances per year at the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier, making it Hamburg’s busiest orchestra. The stylistic bandwidth covered by the 140 musicians, ranging from historically informed performance practice to contemporary works and including concert, opera and ballet repertoire, is unique throughout Germany. Chamber Music has a long tradition at the Philharmonic State Orchestra: what began in 1929 with a concert series for chamber orchestra has been continued since 1968 by a series of chamber music only.

In 2008 Simone Young and the Philharmonic State Orchestra won the Brahms Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society. The orchestra has recorded the complete Ring by Wagner as well as the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner – the latter in the rarely-performed original versions – as well as works by Mahler, Hindemith and Berg, and has released DVDs of opera and ballet productions by Hosokawa, Offenbach, Reimann, Auerbach, J.S. Bach, Puccini, Poulenc and Weber.

The members of the Philharmonic State Orchestra feel equally beholden to Hamburg’s musical tradition and responsible for the city’s artistic future. Since 1978 the musicians have been participating in education programmes in Hamburg’s schools. Today, the orchestra maintains a broad education programme, including school and kindergarten visits, patronage for music projects, introductory events for children and family concerts. The orchestra’s own academy prepares young musicians for their professional careers. The Philharmonic’s musicians thereby make an equally enjoyable and valuable contribution to tomorrow’s music education in the music metropolis of Hamburg.

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The Hamburg State Orchestra's Philharmonic Concerts become ZeitSpielen and transcend the boundaries of the ordinary: In this concert, the fruits of Mikhail Pletnev's inspirations will be heard - for his new composition based on Rachmaninov's music will be juxtaposed with the original orchestral fantasy The Rock. We thus encounter Rachmaninov in our present day as a mirror of the past and at the same time, through Pletnev, as part of the here and now! This musical game without fear of contact opens up new perspectives on our musical culture, our way of thinking and being, on our way of receiving music.

“Like Rachmaninov, I don't reveal what inspired me - and leave it to the listeners to find out for themselves what the music suggests most to them.” MIKHAIL PETNEV