"I believe in the power of listening. I believe that listening can change a person and that listening together can change us all. That it is listening together that unites us as a society and as a community, welds us together, moves us forward, strengthens us." These are the words of Joana Mallwitz, the first woman to become principal conductor and artistic director of a major German orchestra - namely the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. In 2020, she debuted to great acclaim at the Salzburg Festival in Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte". Further productions followed at the Semperoper in Dresden, the National Opera in Amsterdam, the Bavarian State Opera, the Royal Opera Covent Garden in London, in Frankfurt and Copenhagen. In between, she has conducted major orchestral ensembles - the Vienna Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonia, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, Orchestre de Paris and others, on the evening of March 7th, adding a new trophy to her career - namely her debut at the rostrum of the legendary Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Such a run was unimaginable in the years when the redoubtable ensemble was led by Herbert von Karajan.

This young conductress, trained at the University of Music, Theater and Media in Hanover - already awarded the Federal Cross of Merit by the President of Germany in 2023 for the way she promotes classical music and young talents, proposes for this debut concert on the stage of the Berlin Philharmonic a 20th century program - Overture to the Symphonic Suite op. 91 "War and Peace" by Sergei Prokofiev, Concerto No. 3 op. 30 in D minor for piano and orchestra by Sergei Rahmaninov, with Anna Vinnitskaya as soloist. The two artists met on stage before, in the company of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the 2023 - 2024 season.

Anna Vinnitskaya - a reference name in today's piano world, invited alongside the most prestigious orchestral ensembles of the world and great conductors, compared by the specialized press to the image of a lioness in front of the keyboard, with a style of interpretation of great brilliance and richness in terms of color and sonority.

For the second part of the concert, which we will broadcast live on Radio România Muzical, the program includes Paul Hindemith's Symphony "Mathis der Maler" and Maurice Ravel's choreographic poem "Waltz", pages of great stylistic diversity in the 20th century, undoubtedly capturing the interest of the audience, the organizers of this concert especially bringing to our attention two extremely valuable female musical personalities, right in the proximity of March 8th.

(credit photo: Simon Pauly)