“Die vier Ohnmachten des Chaim Birkner” by Omer Meir Wellber (September 2019)

On 14 October 2019 the conductor Omer Meir Wellber will publish his literary debut “Die vier Ohnmachten des Chaim Birkner”, which will be published in German by BerlinVerlag.  Learn more about the book here!

“Chaim Birkner is 108 years old, the oldest man in Israel. But he’s not celebrating, he decides to move back to Hungary, the country he fled, into his parents‘ apartment in Budapest he could never sell. That’s where his father and he “rescued” two Torah roles from the synagogue, that’s where he grew up with the
neighbour girl Leon, the yellow tree, the sordid dealings of his father …
Ever since he came to Israel in 1944 he has been lying his way through life, avoiding everything and everyone. Of all people it is, now, his neglected daughter Sharon who forces him to face life at least once… This is the novel of a tired and desperate man, confronting us with a history of Israel nobody ever dares to tell.”

Video livestream: Omer Meir Wellber and the BBC Philharmonic (September 2019)

Please join us today at 4:30 pm (UK time) for Omer Meir Wellber‘s concert as newly appointed Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, the home of the orchestra, and experience a unique adaptation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (2. Summer) with mandolinist Jacob Reuven and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 directed from the piano by Wellber with an interesting twist: improvising the cadenzas with musicians from the orchestra as well as for Schumann and Schönberg.

Watch the worldwide livestream today at 4.30 p.m. (UK time) here or www.bbc.co.uk/philharmonic as well as on MediaCityUK big outdoor screen; catch-up stream also viewable any time after that.

Klassik-Pop-et cetera with Omer Meir Wellber (August 2019)

On the microphone – Conductor Omer Meir Wellber

“I was always afraid of Don Giovanni because I didn’t understand the conclusions exactly,” says Omer Meir Wellber. The chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic describes how he overcame his fear of Mozart’s opera in Klassik-Pop-et cetera.

You can listen to the programme here until Friday 23 August.

Omer Meir Wellber on tour with Hilary Hahn and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (August 2019)

Omer Meir Wellber will conduct works by i.a. Bach and Schubert together with violinist Hilary Hahn and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen at various renowned festivals in Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

Concert dates and further information:

22 August Kloster Eberbach, Basilika Rheingau Musik Festival
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Bach: selected chorales
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 A minor
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 2 E major
Schubert: Symphony No. 3 D Major D 200
Hilary Hahn – Violin

23 August Lübeck, Musik- und Kongresshalle Schleswig-Holstein-Musikfestival
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Otto: Contrapunctus I (Orchestration of Contrapunctus I from Bach’s “Die Kunst der Fuge” BWV 1080)
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 A minor
Sadikova: Mirroring Contrapunctus for orchestra (orchestration of the Contrapunctus XII from Bach’s “The Art of the Fugue” BWV 1080)
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 2 E major
Schubert: Symphony No. 3 D Major D 200
Hilary Hahn – Violin

24 August Flensburg, Deutsches Haus Schleswig-Holstein-Musikfestival
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Otto: Contrapunctus I (Orchestration of Contrapunctus I from Bach’s “Die Kunst der Fuge” BWV 1080)
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 A minor
Sadikova: Mirroring Contrapunctus for orchestra (orchestration of the Contrapunctus XII from Bach’s “The Art of the Fugue” BWV 1080)
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 2 E major
Schubert: Symphony No. 3 D Major D 200
Hilary Hahn – Violin

27 August San Sebastián, Kursaal Auditorium San Sebastián Festival
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Otto: Contrapunctus I (Orchestration of Contrapunctus I from Bach’s “Die Kunst der Fuge” BWV 1080)
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 A minor
Sadikova: Mirroring Contrapunctus for orchestra (orchestration of the Contrapunctus XII from Bach’s “The Art of the Fugue” BWV 1080)
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 2 E major
Schubert: Symphony No. 4
Hilary Hahn – Violin

29 August Gstaad, Kirche Saanen Gstaad Festival
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Bach: selected chorales
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 A minor
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 2 E major
Schubert: Symphony No. 3 D Major D 200
Hilary Hahn – Violin

31 August Redefin, Landgestüt Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Otto: Contrapunctus I (Orchestration of Contrapunctus I from Bach’s “Die Kunst der Fuge” BWV 1080)
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 A minor
Sadikova: Mirroring Contrapunctus for orchestra (orchestration of the Contrapunctus XII from Bach’s “The Art of the Fugue” BWV 1080)
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 2 E major
Schubert: Symphony No. 3 D Major D 200
Hilary Hahn – Violin

Omer Meir Wellber – BBC Proms Concerts – Press and Stream on Demand (August 2019)

Omer Meir Wellber’s concerts at the BBC Proms as the new Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic were praised highly by the British Press.

Thanks to BBC Radio 3, the broadcast of those concerts can still be listened to online for another two and three weeks.

Prom 7:
23 July – London, Royal Albert Hall – BBC Proms
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 15 KV 450
Ben-Haim: Symphony No. 1
Schönberg: Fünf Orchesterstücke op. 16
Schumann: Symphony No. 4
Yeol Eum Son – Piano
stream on demand until 21 August

Prom 14:
29 July – London, Royal Albert Hall – BBC Proms
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Haydn: The Creation
Sarah-Jane Brandon – Sopran, Benjamin Hulett – Tenor, Christoph Pohl – Bariton
BBC Proms Youth Choir
stream on demand until 27 August

Omer Meir Wellber’s live stream on BBC Radio 3 (July 2019)

😃Looking forward to our first @bbcproms concert this year @RoyalAlbertHall with our conductor #OmerMeirWellber & soloist @yeoleumson

🎶Listen live tonight @BBCRadio3 7.30pm 🎶#BBCProms pic.twitter.com/DbUKJMTgRD

— BBC Philharmonic (@BBCPhilharmonic) July 23, 2019

Omer Meir Wellber’s Debut at the BBC Proms (July 2019)

On 23 and 29 July 2019, Omer Meir Wellber will give his debut as the new Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and simultaneously at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

23 July, London, Royal Albert Hall BBC Proms

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 15 KV 450
Ben-Haim: Symphony No. 1
Schönberg: Five orchestral pieces op. 16
Schumann: Symphony No. 4

29 July, London, Royal Albert Hal BBC Proms

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Haydn: Creation

Find further information on those concerts here.

Omer Meir Wellber at the Bach Festival in Leipzig (June 2019)

On 18 June 2019, Omer Meir Wellber will conduct a special project on The Art of the Fugue by J. S. Bach at the Bach Festival in Leipzig’s Thomaskirche with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.

The composers of the project are:

Maximilian Otto – Fugue 1
Peter Tornyai – Fugue 5
Carlo Boccadoro – Fugue 7
Sven-David Sandström – Joint 8
Ferran Cruixent – Fugue 9
Bernd Franke – Fugue 11
Aziza Sadikova – Fugue 12
Ella Milch-Sheriff – Fugue 14

Omer Meir Wellber himself says about the project: “The Art of the Fugue« has been a fountain of inspiration and continues to be. Composers from all over the globe chose and orchestrated Fuges, dialoging with Bach through new orchestral perspectives. This project is about cultural immigration: we bring the world into the core of the European musical tradition, a dialog through sound and color.”

No 75 Incomplete perfection
– J. S. Bach: The Art of the Fugue, in new arrangements
– F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Christus (Fragment)
– F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Wie der Hirsch schreit nach frischem Wasser