Famous Orchestras - The world’s finest orchestras : The Orchestre national de France

Discovering the world’s most prestigious orchestras. In this episode: founded in 1888, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra continues to inspire its young conductor, Klaus Mäkelä. Before him, great composers worked closely with the orchestra, including Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky and Gustav Mahler.

Discovering the world’s most prestigious orchestras. In this episode: founded in 1882, the Berlin Philharmonic initially comprised around fifty musicians. Following Hans von Bülow, its first permanent conductor, his successors , notably Wilhelm Furtwängler, Sergiu Celibidache and Herbert von Karajan, helped to establish its international reputation.

Discovering the world’s most prestigious orchestras. Founded in 1842, the Vienna Philharmonic is a true institution. Horn player Wolfgang Vladar, timpanist Thomas Lechner and oboist Clemens Horak explain how this legacy is passed on to each new generation.

Understanding how the musical world was impacted by the World War I.

A group of social welfare workers led by their new director tries to provide necessary aid to people struggling with various problems.

The film Short Rides with John Adams by Magdalena Zięba-Schwind and Daniel Finkernagel documents the composer and conductor’s residency: it shows him in rehearsals, in conversation with artist friends, and accompanies him on visits to museums and walks through Berlin.

The performance of all of Beethoven’s symphonies in the autumn of 2015 was a high point in the collaboration of the Berliner Philharmoniker and its chief conductor, Sir Simon Rattle. The film Living with Beethoven accompanies the ascent of this “Mount Everest” (Rattle) with many views behind the scenes. The conductor and orchestra musicians all contribute, clearly inspired by the desire to make the often performed works sound again as if they were just written.

On June 8, 2024, Oscar-winning French actress Marion Cotillard joined the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for a performance of Arthur Honegger’s oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher (Joan of Arc at the Stake), conducted by Alan Gilbert, performed at the Berliner Philharmonie in Berlin, Germany and broadcast live on Digital Concert Hall, the online concert hall of the Berliner Philharmonie. In the oratorio, Joan of Arc looks back on her life, her visions, and her successes during a show trial in which she is sentenced to be burned at the stake.

Clara Schumann led an almost cinematic life as the daughter of a strict and ambitious father, as an internationally extremely successful pianist, as the wife of a famous composer and as the mother of seven children.