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The Berlin Philharmonic has long been celebrated as the world’s premier orchestra. Apart from concentrating on symphonic music, the orchestra is also devoted to chamber music. Its official website lists 34 ensembles founded by its orchestra members. Among them, Berliner Barock Solisten—11 string players, a harpsichordist and a number of wind principals—is most noted for its focus on early music. Employing authentic baroque instruments and bows, these excellent players have made a name among early music circles. The group wowed audiences in Beijing and Shanghai before, but this concert shines a light on another artist: Mei Diyang, the young Chinese violist who became the Berlin Philharmonic’s viola principal in 2022, the first Chinese musician to officially join its ranks. When the news broke about this appointment, many felt a sense of pride, and the oft-overlooked viola became quite a sensation. The first half of this concert features works of three Baroque giants: Telemann’s Viola Concerto in G major, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach’s Symphony in D minor and J.S. Bach’s ever-popular Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major—all bearing testament to innovation and growth matching expansion in ensemble size. The second half highlights classicism and romanticism, the viola akin to a human voice endowed with dazzling technique, proving that it isn’t just a “larger-sized violin” or “smaller-sized cello” but fully justifying its own birthright.

Thack:
Georg Philipp Telemann: Viola Concerto in G major, TWV 51:G9
Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach: Symphony in D minor, BR-JCFB C 4
Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV1048
—Intermission—
Alessandro Rolla : Concerto for Viola and Strings in E-flat major, BI328
Domenico Gallo: Sonate e quattro No. 12 in G minor “La Follia”
Niccolò Paganini (arr. Dianyi Wang): Sonata per la Grand’Viola e Orchestra
—for Viola and string, MS 70.

Artist/Group:
Diyang Mei, viola
Berliner Barock Solisten