Orchestra concerts don't usually leave people laughing. But, as WRTI’s Susan Lewis reports, some contemporary composers are combining serious music with comedy. Berlin Philharmonic Music Director Sir Simon Rattle is introducing innovative works to audiences in Germany, and brings an example with him in his upcoming visit to Philadelphia.
Simon Rattle announced yesterday to the Berlin Philharmonic that he will be leaving his position there as artistic director and chief conductor in the summer of 2018. Said Rattle, "In 2018 I will have been with the orchestra for 16 years. Before this I was chief conductor in Birmingham for 18 years. In 2018 I will be nearly 64 years old. As a Liverpool boy, it is impossible not to think of the Beatles' question, 'Will you still need me ...
Simon Rattle, the British-born conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, is one of the best-known classical musicians alive. His influence shows up in all sorts of places: at the Metropolitan Opera, where musicians still speak of his presence there in reverent tones, and in West Philadelphia where his advocacy of Venezuela’s El Sistema helped inspire trumpeter Stanford Thompson to create Play On Philly, a music education program that touches hundreds of lives.
As the Olympics in London get into full swing, WRTI's Susan Lewis talks with a featured player in the Cultural Olympiad: Sir Simon Rattle, music director of the Berlin Philharmonic. The world-renowned conductor shares his thoughts about the nexus between sports and music, his own path to the podium, and his relationship with Philadelphia.
Rattle conducted the London Philharmonic and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in performances featuring the UK premiere of Wynton Marsalis's Symphony No. 3 or "Swing Symphony" as the games began.
