A place for everyone

The Elbphilharmonie can look back on five colourful years with an immensely varied programme in the concert halls, a huge range of music-education courses and workshops, with local neighbourhood projects and ensembles where the public can join in. It opened its doors on 11 January 2017 as »a place for everyone«, and the plan has worked out.

But what kind of programme offers something for everyone? What kind of programme is just as relevant for Hamburg as it is for the international music world, and offers a stage to newcomers and legends alike? In a contribution from ByteFM the Elbphilharmonie's director of artistic operations, Barbara Lebitsch, gives some insights into the creative planning behind the scenes.

Spotlights, festivals and concert series this season

The very first notes at the Elbphilharmonie's inaugural concert were played by Estonian oboist Kalev Kuljus in Benjamin Britten's »Six Metamorphoses after Ovid«. The magnificent gala concert given by the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra bore the title »Time turns into space here«. The next big space-&-time project followed two days later in the shape of the first performance of Jörg Widmann's oratorio »Arche«, with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra under its music director Kent Nagano.

Hamburg celebrated the opening of its new landmark for more than two weeks with a bouquet of top international artists: Rostrum legend Riccardo Muti and world-class singer Thomas Hampson were among the first artists on the Elbphilharmonie stage, and bands like Einstürzende Neubauten, top orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic, and leading soloists like Yo-Yo Ma filled the new concert platform in its first days. It was a colourful opening festival, and the beginning of five even more colourful years at the Elbphilharmonie.

Classical music has been and remains the concert hall's main focus, of course – but from the outset, the programme has gone way beyond that. How is the choice of programme decided?

Barbara Lebitsch:
From the outset, we wanted to compile a very open programme with lots of variety. And that works pretty well, partly because a wide range of personal expertise and interests is represented in our artistic planning team. It's a real stroke of luck that all of our programme planners are passionate music lovers themselves, across all genres. That means that our own interests often represent the starting point when we are looking for new programme ideas. Obviously this is a subjective decision at first, but as a result we can include some things beyond the confines of the »normal« repertoire. In this way we can perform music that you wouldn't just come across by chance, music that we believe is worth presenting because we like it ourselves and want to share that enthusiasm with our audience.

One example of this kind of music outside the »normal« concert repertoire is Austrian singer Anja Plaschg alias Soap&Skin, who put on a marvellous concert in the Grand Hall together with the band Stargaze in August 2019. Another example is the legendary Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso, who appeared at the 2021 Elbphilharmonie Summer Festival, as did the brother-and-sister duo Rufus and Martha Wainwright.

What special focuses or spotlights are there at the Elbphilharmonie beyond the »classic« subscriptions and other series?

Barabara Lebitsch:
We have several jazz series in both the Recital Hall and Grand Hall where we regularly focus on particular instruments – at the moment we are running a spotlight called »Jazz Trumpet«. We are also running two World Music series: »Around the World« in the Grand Hall and »Klassik der Welt« in the Recital Hall. These two series are based on very different underlying concepts: in »Klassik der Welt« we present the classical music of non-European cultures, while »Around the World« features more popular bands that are mostly used to touring from one concert venue to another.

In addition to subscription concerts and similar series, we also present individual spotlights during the season. These can be recurring festivals such as the Hamburg International Music Festival, or our »Reflektor« format, which has existed from the outset. At the »Reflektor« we hand over the keys to the Elbphilharmonie, so to speak, to one artist, who then designs the Elbphilharmonie programme himself for a couple of days – appearing on his own as well as with artists he is friends with or who have influenced him…

John Zorn's music ranges from swinging jazz through brutal noise to the most delicate sounds, from meticulously worked-out compositions to completely free improvisation. At his »Reflektor« festival, he presents the main facets of his work over the space of four days.

»Reflektor« festivals have been put on at the Elbphilharmonie by such major artists as performance artist Laurie Anderson, producer and pianist Nils Frahm or the founder of the legendary ECM label, Manfred Eicher. And sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar contributed  a highlight to the 2021/22 season with her »Reflektor« focusing on Indian music, where singer Alev Lenz was among the artists she appeared with. Then Bryce Dessner, guitarist of the American indie-rock band The National, supplied an extra portion of originality in the first Elbphilharmonie season: »Bloodbuzz Ohio« was one of the special highlights of the last few years.

The Elbphilharmonie wants to be »a place for everyone«. What exactly does that mean?

Barbara Lebitsch:
First and foremost, that means that we are totally open. Firstly, as far as our audience is concerned: we want to offer a programme that appeals to everyone who is interested in music in any way. And secondly, it's our aim to be equally open as regards both the musicians and the music itself. Thus we have a programme of huge diversity that aims to cover every genre and many different cultures. Our sole criterion is quality: we simply want to present good music. It obviously needs to suit our two concert halls and their specific acoustics – but otherwise we want to give musicians and the audience alike the chance to broaden their own horizon and to try something completely new.

Obviously the Elbphilharmonie's World Music programme in particular offers people the chance to try something new and unfamiliar. For example, the last few years surprised the public with a festival of music from the Caucasus or a concert given by the priestess of the Buddhist lute Kyokuyo Okada from Japan. And in February 2019 the mystic and Koran scholar Noureddine Khourchid appeared in the Grand Hall together with the ensemble »The Dancing Dervishes from Damacus«.

At a »place for everyone«, the admission prices presumably play a role, don't they?

Barbara Lebitsch:
Certainly: it goes without saying that ticket prices play a decisive role.  It's possible to get into every concert for no more than the price of a cinema ticket, that forms a central part of our concept of being a »place for everyone«. All our events, even high-priced concerts, include a quota of tickets in the top rows at very reasonable prices. And as the auditorium is designed so that the performers can be clearly seen and heard without distortion from every seat, even people sitting in »the gods« can enjoy the concert to the full. Plus, there are often reduced tickets for young people, and of course our education section offers special family concerts where admission only costs five euros.

From the outset, the Elbphilharmonie wanted to be not only a place that would attract the whole world, but especially the people of Hamburg as well. The programme reflects this with all kinds of super education concepts, with neighbourhood projects in various city districts and open-air events. Is there also a special place for Hamburg artists?

Barbara Lebitsch:
Well, the »Made in Hamburg« series aims to give Hamburg's young non-classical music scene the chance to appear at the Elbphilharmonie. In this series, local newcomers as well as more prominent Hamburg bands have the opportunity to test their mettle outside the club scene -  namely, in the Recital Hall. This has always worked very well in the last few years – both for the artists themselves and for their fans. And there is a knock-on effect, too, with pop or electronica fans gaining an interest in our classical concerts, for instance.

The guest artists in the »Made in Hamburg« series have included the duo Shari Vari, Angel Olsen and Ivy Flindt (in live streams). The current season features gangster princess Haiyti and singer-songwriter Leroy Jönsson among others.