When it first opened in 1963, the Berlin Philharmonie was located on the very edge of West Berlin, only a stone’s throw from the Berlin Wall. The building, with its tent-like shape and distinctive yellow exterior, ignited much controversy at the time. Over the years, and now part of the urban center of the reunified city, the Berlin Philharmonie has served as a model for concert halls all over the world. It consists of two venues, the Grand Hall (Grosser Saal) and the Chamber Music Hall (Kammermusiksaal). The Grand Hall has 2,440 seats with the orchestral platform in its center and terraced seating surrounding it. The smaller Chamber Music Hall has 1,180 seats.

Berlin Philharmonie, Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Designer enlists services of acoustics expert

The German architect, Professor Hans Scharoun, designed the Berlin Symphonie and enlisted the services of Professor Lothar Cremer. An expert in acoustics, Cremer was the head of the Institute for Technical Acoustics at Berlin’s Technical University at the time. Together, the two men ventured into hitherto uncharted territory. Before the Berlin Philharmonie first opened with a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in 1963, experts had fired a series of pistol shots into the auditorium to fine-tune the acoustics. Aside from the new concept of placing the orchestral platform in the center and surrounding it with with vineyard-style seating, the musicians still had to be able to hear each other, and the audience had to be able to hear the musicians. To prevent the sound from being dispersed in only one direction, Cramer decided to suspend reflective surfaces “clouds” above the orchestral platform. The tent-like ceiling of the auditorium also helps to diffuse the sound.

History of the Berlin Philharmonie

The predecessor of the Philharmonie was founded in 1882 by 54 musicians. The group called itself the Fruehere Bilsesche Kapelle (Former Bilse’s Band). It performed in a former ice rink until British bombers destroyed it in 1944. Thereafter, until near the end of the war, the orchestra played in the State Opera and when it, too, was destroyed in 1945, the Berlin Philharmonie moved into the Titania-Palast, an old movie theater. Despite several changes in leadership, the orchestra performed throughout World War II.

In 1952, a permanent location for the Berlin Philharmonie became the subject of much discussion.  A tug of war ensued about whether to expand, rebuild or construct a new building. After Professor Scharoun’s design was awarded first price in an architectural competition in 1956, the current site was chosen. Herbert von Karajan, led the orchestra from 1955 until April 1989, only months before his death.

How the Berlin Symphonie chooses its principal conductor

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the orchestra’s 128 musicians jointly elect their principal conductor in a secret and democratic vote. Sir Simon Rattle is the present conductor. The new conductor designate to take over in August 2019 is Kirill Petrenko.

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.