Pop-Up Bar in the Elbphilharmonie

Hamburg, 16 January 2025: From 7 to 16 February, the »Elbphilharmonie Visions« festival takes a deep dive into new orchestral music, in collaboration with NDR. All compositions were written exclusively in the 21st century and all performances can be experienced in the iconic Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall. After each of the seven concerts, audiences have the opportunity to immerse themselves in club culture with music and drinks. A pop-up music bar featuring DJs from London, Brussels and Hamburg will be up on the 5th floor of the historic Kaispeicher, used up until recently as a restaurant. The events are hosted by RIAA, a bar beloved by audiophile music fans that recently had to vacate its premises in Hamburg’s Altona district. Inspired by »Jazz Kissa« — Japanese listening bars and cafés that are quickly gaining popularity in major cities worldwide — RIAA’s events offer a unique experience. The DJs and artists booked to follow the new sounds heard in the Grand Hall with electronica, avant-garde pop and world grooves include Time Is Away (UK), the Hamburg label Bureau B, Moritz Fasbender, the Pingipung label, soFa elsewhere (Belgium), 30M Records, and Poly-Ritmo (UK). Called »A Space Between«, the pop-up bar opens after every Visions concert at around 9.30 pm. Bar entry is included with concert tickets for that respective evening. Tickets are available at www.elbphilharmonie.de.

The Elbphilharmonie took over the former restaurant in summer 2024 and is now repurposing it. Accessible from the Tube, these premises are being transformed to host an extensive range of music education programmes. In future, the bar area next to the large panoramic window will be open to concertgoers before and after performances. During »Elbphilharmonie Visions«, the RIAA pop-up bar will give a glimpse into how the space will be used from now on.

In 2023, the »Elbphilharmonie Visions« festival made its highly acclaimed debut. Its second edition in February is set to bring together contemporary composers, leading radio orchestras from Germany and Austria, and big names from both the international and local club scenes to celebrate the sounds of the present right where they belong: at the heart of musical life. The festival opens in the Grand Hall with a brand new work by Alex Paxton, the winner of the Claussen Simon Composition Prize, whose vibrant music blends elements of jazz, chamber music and video game soundtracks. The NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, conducted by festival founder Alan Gilbert, performs »World Builder, Creature« for the first time. Another world premiere, Bernd Richard Deutsch’s »Urworte«, features two choirs (7 February). Johannes Maria Staud’s percussion concerto (8 February), performed by soloist Christoph Sietzen and the SWR Symphony Orchestra, showcases a vibrant array of instruments including wooden blocks, canisters, xylophones, cowbells, and flower pots. The violin concerto by Georges Lentz, performed by the violinist Arabella Steinbacher, is as lyrically beautiful as it is dazzlingly virtuosic. »Masaot / Clocks Without Hands« by Olga Neuwirth is a whirlwind of soundscapes and fragments of songs from Croatia and Hungary (9 February). The Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra shows just how different contemporary music can sound: Francesca Verunelli’s »From Scratch« slowly builds up from a rustling sound. Bernhard Gander’s »Blood Beat«, inspired by heavy metal, strikes some harder tones, with orchestral riffs and thunderous drums set to make the entire auditorium vibrate (13 February). In her work »Moult«, Clara Iannotta envisions the orchestra as an insect shedding its skin, exploring the very extremes of sound. In Arnulf Herrmann’s »Tour de Trance«, the soprano Anja Petersen and the NDR Radio Philharmonic indulge in a powerful, hypnotic and dark maelstrom (14 February). In Christian Mason’s »Sympathetic Resonance«, a trumpeter and a trombonist play directly into an open grand piano, creating shimmering overtones reminiscent of an Indian lute. Helmut Lachenmann has also always loved inventing new sounds and forms of playing – as demonstrated in »My Melodies« for eight horns and orchestra (15 February). The NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra closes the festival with three visually captivating works: Dalit Warshaw’s tribute to Johannes Brahms, Dai Fujikura’s »Tocar y Luchar« (»Playing & Fighting«), and a solo concerto by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg, which he wrote especially for the viola star of the new music scene Lawrence Power (16 February).

The opening concert is followed by a performance in the Kaispeicher from London-based duo Jack Rollo and Elaine Tierney, aka Time Is Away. Over the past ten years, they have found listeners all over the world on NTS Radio with their often delicately textured and incessantly grooving dance mixes. The Hamburg music label Bureau B releases both old and future classics from the electronica, avant-garde, post-rock, electro-pop and krautrock genres (7 February). Charlotte Oelschlegel is a presenter and cultural journalist. Together with Paul Frick, she uncovers stories within and between the music in a DJ set. Frick studied composition at the Berlin University of the Arts and is a pianist, producer, DJ and remixer. Moritz Fasbender is all about tinkering with sound in the most subtle of ways. Behind the pseudonym is the pianist Friederike Bernhardt (8 February). The Hamburg label Pingipung is on a mission to bring about »childlike playfulness and new seriousness«. soFa elsewhere from Brussels weaves IDM, disco, new beat, dub and krautrock into hypnotic soundscapes (9 February). Also from Hamburg, 30M Records distributes experimental music from Iran with elaborate artwork and on high-quality vinyl. Label founder Matthias Koch plays some of his most precious gems, while Iranian kamancheh and electronic musician Saba Alizadeh performs a short live set (13 February). BEEK, a »space for time-based media and sound« in Hamburg’s Barmbek neighbourhood, hosts concerts, exhibitions, performances, club nights, and workshops. At the invitation of RIAA, the BEEK team are guest hosts at the pop-up bar in the Kaispeicher (14 February). London-based DJ, festival organizer, and musician Poly-Ritmo is renowned for her highly infectious DJ sets, which are filled with music from all over the world. She performs alongside Martin Moritz, one of Hamburg’s most versatile DJs (15 February). After the final concert of the Visions festival, it’s the turn of the RIAA team themselves to step into the DJ booth to wrap up a week of exploration into unfamiliar and innovative sound realms (16 February).

Fri, 7 February 2025, 20:00, ELBPHILHARMONIE GRAND HALL

VISIONS 1 – OPENING CONCERT

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra

NDR Vokalensemble

MDR-Rundfunkchor

Conductor, Alan Gilbert

Alex Paxton - World Builder, Creature (2025) (world premiere)

Bernd Richard Deutsch - Urworte (2024) (world premiere)

 

Followed by: Kaispeicher, 5th Floor, 21:30 – 02:00

Time Is Away (NTS Radio / London) & Daniel Jahn (Bureau B)

Avantgarde Pop, Electronica, Ambient

 

Sat, 8 February 2025, 20:00, ELBPHILHARMONIE GRAND HALL

VISIONS 2

SWR Symphony Orchestra

Florian Hölscher, Piano

Christoph Sietzen, Percussion

Conductor, Emilio Pomàrico

Alberto Posadas - Königsberger Klavierkonzert (2024)

Johannes Maria Staud - Whereas the Reality Trembles (2023)

 

Followed by: Kaispeicher, 5th Floor, 21:30 – 02:00

Charlotte Oelschlegel & Paul Frick / Moritz Fasbender (live)

Worldwide Modern Classical, Folk, Jazz

 

Sun, 9 February 2025, 20:00, ELBPHILHARMONIE GRAND HALL

VISIONS 3

WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne

Arabella Steinbacher, Violin

Conductor, Ryan Bancroft

Olga Neuwirth - Masaot / Clocks Without Hands (2014)

Georges Lentz - ... To Beam in Distant Heavens ... (2018)

 

Beforehand: Kaispeicher, 5th Floor, 15:00 – 20:00

soFa elsewhere (Brussels) & Pingipung Crew

Electronica, Dub, Jazz

 

Thu, 13 February 2025, 20:00, ELBPHILHARMONIE GRAND HALL

VISIONS 4

Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra

Vanessa Porter, Percussion

Conductor, Bas Wiegers

Francesca Verunelli - From Scratch (2024)

Mark Andre - Vier Echographien (2022)

Bernhard Gander - Blood Beat (2016)

 

Followed by: Kaispeicher, 5th Floor, 21:30 – 02:00

Music & Talk Special w/ 30M Records / Matthias Koch & Saba Alizadeh (live)

Modern Iranian Classical, Electronica

 

Fri, 14 February 2025, 20:00, ELBPHILHARMONIE GRAND HALL

VISIONS 5

NDR Radio Philharmonic

Anja Petersen, Soprano

Conductor, Pierre Bleuse

Clara Iannotta - Moult (2019)

Arnulf Herrmann - Tour de Trance (2020)

 

Followed by: Kaispeicher, 5th Floor, 21:30 – 02:00

BEEK Crew

Advanced Electronic & Beyond

 

Sat, 15 February 2025, 20:00, ELBPHILHARMONIE GRAND HALL

VISIONS 6

Frankfurt Radio Symphony

Conductor, Matthias Hermann

Christian Mason - Sympathetic Resonance (2015)

Helmut Lachenmann - My Melodies (2018/2023)

 

Followed by: Kaispeicher, 5th Floor, 21:30 – 02:00

Poly-Ritmo / Martin Moritz

World Grooves

 

Sun, 16 February 2025, 20:00, ELBPHILHARMONIE GRAND HALL

VISIONS 7 – FINALE

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra

Lawrence Power, Viola

Conductor, Alan Gilbert

Dalit Warshaw - Responses (2016)

Magnus Lindberg - Viola Concerto (2024)

Dai Fujikura - Tocar y Luchar (2011)

 

Followed by: Kaispeicher, 5th Floor, 21:30 – 00:00

RIAA Crew & Guest

Jazz & Beyond