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75 years of the Berliner Festspiele | Opening concert of the Musikfest 2026
The Musikfest Berlin opens with a concert performance of György Ligeti's anti-opera ‘Le Grand Macabre’. At the same time, Berlin's famous classical music festival celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Berliner Festspiele, which was founded in 1951 as the Berliner Festwochen.
Image gallery
Nicholas Collon, Chefdirigent des Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Le Grand Macabre, a grotesquely humorous parable about war and the end of the world, will be performed by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra with principal conductor Nicholas Collon and the Helsinki Chamber Choir, shortly after its Finnish premiere at the Helsinki Festival.
Programme
György Ligeti (1923–2006)
Le Grand Macabre (1978, rev. 1996)
- Opera in two acts
- Libretto by Michael Meschke and György Ligeti based on La Balade du Grand Macabre by Michel de Ghelderode
- Concert performance
A joint production by Finnish Broadcasting Company, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Festival and Berliner Festspiele / Musikfest Berlin
Cast
- Sarah Aristidou – soprano (Venus and Gepopo)
- Heidi Melton – soprano (Mescalina)
- Andrew Watts – countertenor (Prince Go-Go)
- Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke – tenor (Piet vom Fass)
- Leigh Melrose – baritone (Nekrotzar)
- N. N. – bass (Astradamors)
- Kathrin Lorenzen – soprano (Amanda)
- N. N. – mezzo-soprano (Amando)
- Luke Terence Scott – bass (Black Minister)
- Tuomas Katajala – tenor (White Minister)
- Jussi Merikanto – baritone (Schabernack)
- Tomi Punkeri – baritone (Schobiack)
- Sakari Topi – baritone (Ruffiack)
Helsinki Chamber Choir
- Nils Schweckendieck – rehearsal
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Nicholas Collon – conductor
- Frederic Wake-Walker – stage director
Introductory event
6:10 p.m., South Foyer
#MusikfestBerlin
Dates
August 2026
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