The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus are spending Holy Week in Berlin, where they are presenting three concerts as part of Festtage 1999, the city’s annual Easter music festival.
Concerts will be given at the Berlin Philharmonie under the baton of music director Daniel Barenboim and principal guest conductor Pierre Boulez. The tour marks the orchestra’s third appearance at the festival, which was created by Barenboim in 1996.
Barenboim will lead a performance of Brahms’ “A German Requiem” on Wednesday and an all-Richard Strauss program (“Don Juan,” “Till Eulenspiegel” and “Ein Heldenleben”) on Saturday. On Thursday Boulez will conduct a concert performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s opera “Moses und Aron,” heard in Chicago last week.
Other events scheduled for Festtage 1999 include productions of Wagner’s “Tannhauser” and “Lohengrin” by the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Barenboim conducting; and two orchestra concerts by the Staatskapelle Berlin, one led by Barenboim, the other by Boulez.
Illinois Tool Works is sponsoring the tour, which marks the CSO’s sixth visit to Berlin and its 10th international tour under Barenboim.
The CSO will resume subscription concerts April 9 at Symphony Center.
