During the 2006-2007 season, the Berlin Philharmonic was celebrating its 125th year. The orchestra used its jubilee as an opportunity to examine a rather unknown chapter in its history: the years under the rule of the National Socialists...
Thanks to contemporary witnesses from the orchestra and its fringes who are still alive today, and thanks also to extensive and until now unappraised archive materials, it is possible to gain an insight into this microcosmos: where does the thin line run separating autonomy from entanglement, innocence from guilt? A chapter from the history of Germany and Berlin, as gripping as it is volatile, comes to life once more.
Waldbühne 2009: Russian Rhythms