In 2010, conductor Ion Marin and the charismatic American soprano Renée Fleming joined the Berliner Philharmoniker to perform some of the most beautiful love songs of the classical repertoire in a concert entitled Night of Love. Works like Dvořák's "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka took on a special significance when performed with the moon itself shimmering above the stage: as Fleming herself explained to the Berliner Zeitung, "When you're standing there on the stage, you have the feeling that you can sing into the sky."
One of Europe's most beautiful open-air concert halls, Berlin's Waldbühne is the summer residence of the Berliner Philharmoniker. The orchestra's summer performances there are among the most popular classical music concerts in the world, with audiences regularly numbering more than 20,000.
Photo: © Thomas Rosenthal