150 days later to the day, Johannes Brahms’s “Ein Deutsches Requiem” returns to the place of its triumphal premiere on 10th April 1868, the stunning Bremen Cathedral, thanks to Grammy Award winner Paavo Järvi. He conducts the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen & State Choir Latvija as well as acclaimed soloists Matthias Goerne and Valentina Farcas – “rarely you hear such an insightful performance!” (FAZ) Järvi shows the masterpiece in Brahms’s final version with all seven movements, using the same number of musicians as the composer himself, which is less than what is common practice today.
Ein deutsches Requiem
“A powerful moment of musical history recreated” says Classic FM about the Brahms Requiem interpretation by Paavo Järvi, the Grammy Award-winning Estonian-American conductor, and his orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. The performance corresponds with Brahms’ final version including all seven movements and using the same number of musicians as the composer himself. The premiere of the German Requiem took place on April 10, 1868, in Bremen Cathedral under the direction of the composer himself, although the fifth movement, which was created later, was still missing. On April 10, 2018, for its 150th anniversary, the work is back to the exact place of its premiere in Bremen Cathedral. “Valentina Farcas was the perfect female counterpart to Goerne, which was not easy. She convinced with impeccable phrasing, diction, and legato, she never got shrill and she was not afraid to take risks in the high notes.” (El Pais), “rarely you hear such an insightful performance!” (FAZ)
The Brahms Symphonies
The Brahms interpretations of Paavo Järvi, the Grammy Award-winning Estonian-American conductor, and his Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen have been receiving the highest public and critical acclaim. “A Brahms revelation“ was the headline in the New Yorker, for the Zeit it’s „a reference recording“ and the Hamburger Abendblatt wrote “the greatest experts of Brahms come from Bremen (die besten Brahms Versteher kommen aus Bremen)“. The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen perform Brahms nowadays exactly to the size that the composer himself was accustomed to at the time. This interpretation puts Brahms´ symphonies in a new light, which is explored in the additional documentary through the eyes of the musicians and their artistic director Paavo Järvi. BONUS: The Brahms Code – A music documentary by award-winning film director Christian Berger explores the four symphonies by Johannes Brahms through the eyes of the musicians and their artistic director Paavo Järvi.
Omer Meir Wellber conducts Bach and Schubert
American violinist Hilary Hahn – “one of the essential violinists of our time” (The New York Times) – appears for the first time at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Switzerland, with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Violin Concertos in A minor and E major. At the age of 17 she made a huge impression with the recording of Bach’s six sonatas and partitas. Twenty years later she still interprets Bach with the same ease and fascinates by her unaffected, brilliant playing. Together with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, who later perform Schubert’s “Tragic” 4th Symphony, this results in an enchanting interplay in the beautiful Mauritius Church. The conductor is the Israeli Omer Meir Wellber, who also reaches for the bandoneon in Piazzolla’s rousing Oblivion encore.
The Haydn Expedition
Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen have a mission: to dispel the prejudice that Joseph Haydn’s music is boring – and so far, their passion seems to be contagious. The orchestra received the OPUS Klassik as well as the Gramophone Award in the category of best orchestra for their recording of Joseph Haydn’s London Symphonies 101 and 103. Filmed in Vienna, Bremen and Estonia, this documentary follows the conductor and orchestra as they work on their interpretation of Haydn’s London symphonies, giving insight into rehearsals, concerts and recording sessions. Paavo Järvi is a great champion of Haydn’s compositions and his enthusiasm for this often underrated composer shines through in this film.
“Haydn, the Shakespeare of Music” – Paavo Jäarvi & Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Haydn was composer in residence in London twice: in the 1791/92 season and in the 1794/95 season. At that time, the city was in the throes of music fever, to which Haydn had contributed significantly. Today, one of his London symphonies often merely stands at the beginning of a concert in which a musical heavyweight by another – later – composer follows. The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, on the other hand, devotes itself entirely to the “Shakespeare of Music”, as Haydn was called by the press. The program includes an overture by his London composer friend William Shield and three of his London symphonies, for which Haydn reached into his great compositional bag of tricks.
“Haydn in particular has to be played as vividly as possible, and deliberately sometimes quite unconventionally, so that the hidden wit of his symphonies comes to the fore. And Paavo Järvi, Artistic Director of the Kammerphilharmonie Bremen for almost two decades, and his orchestra are true masters at this.” (Hamburger Abendblatt)
Järvi conducts the Brahms Symphonies
With multiple critically-acclaimed symphonic cycles already under their collective belt, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and its artistic director Paavo Järvi follow up their 2009 Beethoven cycle and 2011 Schumann cycle with a Brahms cycle! In concerts at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, they present all of Brahms’s symphonic masterpieces. “A Brahms revelation” The New York Times
Golda Schultz, Rolando Villazón, Ludovic Tézier at Neuschwanstein Castle
The internationally acclaimed artists Rolando Villazón, Golda Schultz and Ludovic Tézier crown the castle concerts on the final evening at Neuschwanstein. At the grand finale in the castle courtyard, the names of the soloists are as impressive as those of the composers: Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, Mascagni and Léhar. As at the beginning, the finale of the Neuschwanstein Concerts 2025 is once again a passionate journey through the world of opera. Realised with the highest musical finesse and quality by the renowned Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. The conductor is none other than Omer Meir Wellber. The conductor and composer is regarded as one of the hottest opera and concert conductors of our time.