"Join us for one more tour of Bonn!" Kaftan urged the audience and thanked them for the record attendance in the season that is coming to an end.
In addition to evergreens such as the Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F minor by Carl Maria von Weber with clarinettist Sharon Kam (25.10.), an all-Beethoven program in the traditional Beethoven Night (16.12.), the Mozart Requiem (18.4.), the Symphony No. 4 in A major Italian by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (23.05.) and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4 in G major (27.6.) as well as evenings featuring less frequently performed works: a concert with works from the 1920s and Symphony No. 1 by Dmitri Shostakovich (20.9.), the world premiere of the percussion concerto A Savage Beat by the Finn Sauli Zinovjev with the gifted percussionist Vivi Vassileva (commissioned by the Beethoven Orchestra, 15.11.) and Der Ring - ein orchestrales Abenteuer (7.2.). Richard Wagner's 15-hour music-theatrical mega-event summarized by Henk de Vlieger in 70 minutes - a must for every Wagner fan!
As a special coup, Dirk Kaftan was able to win Bettina Böttinger as presenter of all the concerts for the Im Spiegel discussion concert series: She is not only active on stage, but also as a curator for the Beethoven Orchestra and discusses connections between the music performed and our time with the respective soloists and conductors on four occasions (17.11., 9.2., 25.5. and 29.6.).
In the Grenzenlos concert series, Kaftan has always built bridges across times and cultures: for the Bruckner Year, there will be his 9th Symphony and his Te Deum in Bonn Minster (30.8. and 31.8.), in February there will be (silent) film and music, namely the great Chaplin classic Modern Times (silent film with orchestral accompaniment) with film music specialist Frank Strobel (15.2.) and finally the Jewish singer Yasmin Levy and her Palestinian colleague Mira Awad will build bridges of a completely different kind (10.5.).
The Beethoven Orchestra continues to take a special look at the music of Beethoven's time in the Hofkapelle concert series: In six concerts, three each in the Bad Godesberg Redoute (8/9, 20/3 & 3/7) and three in the Kurhaus Bonn (8/9, 23/3 & 6/7), there will be exciting music from Beethoven's teenage years in the Bonn court orchestra and works by the stars of those days - this year's program once again includes works that have probably not been heard for 230 years.
The Pur series has become a real Bonn hit with audiences and will continue with four concerts, once again at the premises of cooperation partner Deutsche Telekom: the first concert will feature Bonn-born Luisa Imorde taking apart Beethoven's 1st Piano Concerto in C major (12.10.), while the second concert will see internationally renowned trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich presenting works for his instrument, including Haydn's famous Trumpet Concerto no. 1 in E flat major (9.11.), Dirk Kaftan conducts Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 1 in B flat major Spring Symphony (22.2.) to entice spring, and in the final concert, the newly appointed first conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Leipzig Opera, Yura Yang, presents Beethoven's lively Symphony No. 4 in B flat major (29.3.).
The orchestral musicians demonstrate their musical diversity not only in the symphony concerts, but also in chamber music: six of the seven chamber concerts in the Beethoven-Haus and the Alter Bundesrat will be performed by musicians from the orchestra's own ranks. For the seventh concert, the brilliant saxophonist Asya Fateyeva comes to the Alter Bundesrat (May 14), who three days later takes on the solo part in the saxophone concerto Saivo by Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen in the BaseCamp - New Music concert (May 17).
The BOB's children's and youth program, b.jung, has had a new director since last December in the person of music educator Luzie Teufel-Aras. "I want to enchant children and young people with our concerts and encourage them to discover the world of music for themselves. With accompanying, interactive workshop offers, the 'concert' experience is expanded and made more accessible so that everyone can be carried away by us," says Luzie Teufel Aras.
It goes without saying that b.jung will retain its popular series of seat-cushion, children's and family concerts. As a deepening of the cooperation with Theater Bonn, the children's concerts one, two and four (8.12., 26.1. and 6.7.) will take place in the Schauspielhaus Bad Godesberg next season. Children's concert three will take place together with family concert two (2.3.) in the opera house. The seat cushion concerts (1 & 2.12., 16.2. & 17.2. and 27.4. & 28.4.) and the other family concerts (29.9., 13.4. and 22.6. & 23.6.) will continue to take place in the opera house.
But in addition to the concert program, b.jung offers much more: workshops on new music and music from the 1920s, rehearsal visits for schoolchildren, a LauschMobil (musicians visit kindergartens and make music with and for the children) and rehearsal on tour.
The youth concert b+ (13.5.) deals with Beethoven's overtures in 2025.
Another new feature of b.jung is the "Studi Last Minute Ticket": students up to the age of 27 have the opportunity to purchase tickets for each price category at the box office 60 minutes before the start of selected concerts at a standard price of € 5.00 per student.
Special concerts such as the Klassik! picnic (13.7.25), the Christmas concert (23.12.), the carnival concert (28.2. & 1.3.), this year with Fatih Çevikkollu as emcee, and other much-loved "Bonn traditions" will also be musically organized by the BOB in the coming season and round off the BOB programme.
The location of the press conference was a pointer to a special concert at the beginning of the season: as part of the Days of Exile, a chamber music ensemble from the orchestra will perform a work by Bonn's son Gerhard Samuel (son of Arthur Samuel, head of the synagogue community in Bonn), who fled into exile, and Ludwig van Beethoven (5.9.) at the August Macke Haus Museum. A concert as part of the Days of Exile organized by the City of Bonn and the Körber Foundation: a stimulus for dialogue and understanding!
Organizational matters & tickets:
In addition to the Friday Concerts, Im Spiegel, Monday Concerts and Family and Children's Concerts subscription series, the popular Pur, Hofkapelle and Bundesrat concert series are now also available as subscriptions from the Theater and Concert Box Office.
The Querbeet subscription has been replaced by the Wahl Abo. With the Wahl Abo, four concerts can be selected from all concerts for which the BOB is the sole organizer, regardless of whether they are chamber or symphony concerts (with the exception of Friday Concert 1 and b.jung).
Advance tickets for all BOB concerts and subscriptions are on sale at the Theater- und Konzertkasse. One-way tickets are available at all other known advance booking offices and online at www.bonnticket.de (opens in a new tab) or www.beethoven-orchester.de (opens in a new tab).
"We are heading for a record number of visitors this season. I would like to thank the audience, the musicians and my colleagues from the orchestra office for this!" said Anke Staus at the end of the event, along with the advice to get your concert tickets in good time: "With the current sharp increase in concert capacity, taking out a subscription is doubly worthwhile: you save up to 25% compared to the price of individual tickets and are guaranteed your concert tickets. The announced pre-booking right also applies to new subscribers."
Further information on tickets and subscriptions can be found in the service section of the season brochure from p. 142 onwards or at the theater and concert box office, phone 0228 778008 or 0228 778022 or theaterkassebonnde
Concert tickets are valid on the day of the concert as a ticket for travel throughout the VRS area (from four hours before the concert until closing time).