First Performance of Hans Abrahamsen by the Berliner Philharmoniker

The composer Hans Abrahamsen had on 20th December 2013 his song cycle "Let Me Tell You" performed for the first time by the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan conducted by Andris Nelson.

The work had been ordered by the Berliner Philharmoniker and was repeated on 21st and 22nd December for a packed hall. The First Performance was received enthusiastically by both audience and the corps of critics. The leading Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote: "It was a triumph. With such a whole-hearted enthusiasm a new piece of music is seldom praised by the philharmonic audience. But here both music and lyrics went straight to the listeners' hearts" (source: www.snyk.dk).

The Danish Weekendavisen also brought a great review on 3rd January, where Jakob Levinsen proclaimed the work "an initial peak in one of new Danish music's most singular composer careers". He adds "That Hans Abrahamsen, who turned 61 the day after the first performance, is in a class of his own, a superior and original orchestra composer, countless of his works are already examples of this. What in connection with Let Me Tell You leaves us gawking in surprise is that he can write just as under-stated and facetted for voice - for he has namely almost never done this before in his more than 40 year composer career".

Hans Abrahamsen (b. 1952) is associate professor in composition and instrumentation at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and has taught here since 1995. Read more about Hans Abrahamsen under RDAM's Employees.

Please visit the Berliner Philharmoniker's website (Digital Concert Hall) to watch highlights from the concert.