© dpa
Weekend Tips: What to Do This Weekend in Berlin
June 5 to 7, 2026: Events, festivals, exhibitions and more things to do for your perfect weekend in Berlin. more
Chineke! Orchestra / Cape Town Opera
Date details
- Date Tuesday, 15/September/2026 20:00
- Venue Philharmonie Berlin
- Address Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße 1, 10785 Berlin-Tiergarten
Public transportation
-
Train (S-Bahn)
-
S+U Potsdamer Platz Bhf
- S1
- S2
- S25
- S26
-
S+U Potsdamer Platz Bhf
-
Underground
-
Bus
-
Philharmonie
- 200
-
Philharmonie Süd
- M41
- 300
-
Kulturforum
- M48
- M85
- N2
-
Varian-Fry-Str./Potsdamer Platz
- 200
- M41
- M48
- M85
- N2
- 300
-
Tiergartenstr.
- 200
-
Potsdamer Brücke
- M29
- M48
- M85
- N1
- N2
-
S Potsdamer Platz Bhf/Voßstr.
- M41
- M48
- M85
- S1A
-
S+U Potsdamer Platz Bhf
- M41
- 200
- M48
- M85
- N2
- 300
-
Gedenkstätte Dt. Widerstand
- M29
-
Lützowstr./Potsdamer Str.
- M48
- M85
- N1
- N2
-
Philharmonie
-
Train
-
S+U Potsdamer Platz Bhf
- RE3
- RE5
- RE4
- FEX
- RE85
- RB10
- RE8
- RE20
-
S+U Potsdamer Platz Bhf
Chineke! Orchestra / Cape Town Opera
Enrique Mazzola, conductor; The Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess”
Musikfest Berlin – Schriftzug Musikfest Berlin
© Berliner Festspiele
More diversity in classical music! This is the objective which prompted the double bass player Chi-chi Nwanoku to found the Chineke! Orchestra as a catalysator for change in order to achieve current diversity targets within the classical music world. As part of this approach, the world-class British ensemble focuses on diverse programmes featuring works from different cultural contexts. Chineke! will now be making an appearance at the Musikfest Berlin with the Cape Town Opera Vocal Ensemble in a performance of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. They will be conducted by Enrique Mazzola.
When George Gershwin was working on Porgy and Bess, race discrimination was still very much prevalent in public life across large parts of the USA. The quasi-verismo opera is today one of the most frequently performed stage works of the 20th century. As early as 1952, Porgy and Bess was included on the Berliner Festwochen programme at the Titania-Palast in what was then West Berlin, followed by further performances in 1976 and 2012. The opera is focused on the fate of socially deprived Afro-Americans in the southern USA and is set in Cattfish Row, a sleazy alley close to Charleston harbour in South Carolina. Gershwin was at this time one of the most successful Broadway composers. He oriented himself in Porgy and Bess to a wide diversity of musical styles (including influences of jazz and spirituals which are frequently embedded in highly complex musical structures) and ensured that the work was not only performed to elite opera audiences. What is more, he wished Porgy and Bess to be exclusively sung by Black singers: an ideal project for the top-class Cape Town Opera Vocal Ensemble from South Africa and the Chineke! Orchestra which has now become an integral part of British musical life since its highly acclaimed debut at the prestigious BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall in 2017. The performance will be conducted by Enrique Mazzola, currently music director at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
The Gershwins®’
Porgy and Bess® (1935)
opera in three acts
by George Gershwin, Erwin DuBose Heyward, Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin
semi-staged performance
When George Gershwin was working on Porgy and Bess, race discrimination was still very much prevalent in public life across large parts of the USA. The quasi-verismo opera is today one of the most frequently performed stage works of the 20th century. As early as 1952, Porgy and Bess was included on the Berliner Festwochen programme at the Titania-Palast in what was then West Berlin, followed by further performances in 1976 and 2012. The opera is focused on the fate of socially deprived Afro-Americans in the southern USA and is set in Cattfish Row, a sleazy alley close to Charleston harbour in South Carolina. Gershwin was at this time one of the most successful Broadway composers. He oriented himself in Porgy and Bess to a wide diversity of musical styles (including influences of jazz and spirituals which are frequently embedded in highly complex musical structures) and ensured that the work was not only performed to elite opera audiences. What is more, he wished Porgy and Bess to be exclusively sung by Black singers: an ideal project for the top-class Cape Town Opera Vocal Ensemble from South Africa and the Chineke! Orchestra which has now become an integral part of British musical life since its highly acclaimed debut at the prestigious BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall in 2017. The performance will be conducted by Enrique Mazzola, currently music director at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
The Gershwins®’
Porgy and Bess® (1935)
opera in three acts
by George Gershwin, Erwin DuBose Heyward, Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin
semi-staged performance
Artists/Collaborators: Siyabulela Ntlale, Nonhlanhla Yende, Lukhanyo Moyake, Conroy Scott, Brittany Smith, Siphamandla Moyake, Lungelwa Mdekazi, Cape Town Opera Vocal Ensemble, Antoinette Huyssen, Enrique Mazzola
A Berliner Festspiele / Musikfest Berlin event
Work introduction
19:10, South Foyer
Work introduction
19:10, South Foyer
Alternative events
©olly - stock.adobe.com
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
- Date:
- Wednesday, 16/September/2026 20:00 (13 more dates)
- Venue:
- Philharmonie Berlin
- Address:
- Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße 1, 10785 Berlin-Tiergarten
- Price:
- from €30.23
© Simon Pauly
Konzerthaus Kammerorchester
Edvard Grieg - „Aus Holbergs Zeit“ - Suite für Streichorchester G-Dur op. 40Pjotr Tschaikowsky - Drei Stücke für Violine und Klavier op. 42 („Souvenir d'un lieu cher“), für Violine und Streichorchester bearbeitet von Alexandru LascaePausePjotr Tschaikowsky... moreabout: Konzerthaus Kammerorchester
- Date:
- Thursday, 17/September/2026 20:00
- Venue:
- Konzerthaus Berlin - Kleiner Saal
- Address:
- Gendarmenmarkt, 10117 Berlin-Mitte
- Price:
- from €22.05
© Quelle: Reservix-System
Eröffnungskonzert
Musikschülerinnen und -schüler musizieren gemeinsam mit den etablierten Künstlern des Ensembles TITANS RISING. Das Programm wird intensiv gemeinsam vorbereitet und von Sarah Fuhs und Amanda Markwick geleitet. Zu hören ist die Polyphonie der Renaissance,... moreabout: Eröffnungskonzert
- Date:
- Friday, 18/September/2026 18:00
- Venue:
- St. Marien-Kirche Bernau
- Address:
- Kirchgasse 8, 16321 Bernau bei Berlin
- Price:
- from €23.10
© Eventim
The Music of Ludovico Einaudi: Tribute-Klavierkonzert - Ludovico Einaudi Tribute bei Kerzenschein
- Next date:
- The Music of Ludovico Einaudi - Tribute-Klavierkonzert
- Date:
- Friday, 18/September/2026 19:00 (3 more dates)
- Venue:
- Stadthalle am Steintor Bernau
- Address:
- Hussitenstraße 1, 16321 Bernau bei Berlin
- Price:
- from €39.90
© Quelle: Reservix-System
Kleine Abendmusik
Kleine Abendmusik Eine Reise in alte und neue Fabelreiche Es spielt das Lumis Ensemble. (Inês Paiva - Flöte, Astrid Nyborg Berg - Gitarre) Moderation: Natalie Schäfer - Komponistin Manche Musik hört man. Andere erlebt man. Die „Kleine Abendmusik“ gehört... moreabout: Kleine Abendmusik
- Next date:
- Eine Reise in alte und neue Fabelreiche
- Date:
- Friday, 18/September/2026 19:00
- Venue:
- Kultur- und Festspielhaus Wittenberge (Kleiner Saal)
- Address:
- Paul-Lincke-Platz 1, 19322 Wittenberge
- Price:
- from €23.00
The help page for the event calendar answers common questions.. Information about coperations and imprint can be found on our page about partners and terms and conditions.