Festspielhaus Baden-Baden: Easter Concert 2025

upcoming production: live signal available 14 April 2025

For the last time, the Berliner Philharmoniker will perform at the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden. This festive concert, conducted by Jakub Hrůša features the young pianist Seong-Jin Cho, who enjoys pop star status in his home country South Korea. It will be the crowning finale of the orchestra’s 13-year residency at the Festspielhaus.

“Béla Bartók’s mother tongue was Beethoven.” This quote from composer György Kurtág leads us straight to the heart of the concert. The programme centres around Bartók’s monumental Concerto for Orchestra, written during his exile in America. Similarly, Ludwig van Beethoven was surrounded by the noise of war when he composed his final piano concerto. Known as the Emperor Concerto, it remains unclear whether this title refers to the fleeing Archduke Rudolph or the invading Emperor Napoleon—whom Beethoven had, by then, distanced himself from.

The concert opens with a rare gem: Leoš Janáček’s folk-inspired suite from his opera Osud (Fate), a striking showcase of his daring compositional style.