Berg: Wozzeck / Alan Gilbert

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Matthias Goerne, Christine Goerke, Martin Mitterrutzner, Peter Hoare and tohers – Hamburg International Music Festival

Tickets from €76 17 | 37 | 76 | 102 | 124
Alan Gilbert
Alan Gilbert © Marco Borggreve
Matthias Goerne
Matthias Goerne
  • Doors open 18:30

  • Pre-concert talk 19:00

  • Start 20:00

  • End ca. 21:45

A musical monument

As part of the Hamburg International Music Festival, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra devotes itself to an epoch-making opera under the direction of its principal conductor Alan Gilbert: Alban Berg’s »Wozzeck«. With its sensitive and completely honest portrait of a society undermined by militarism and the abysses into which it thrusts people, the opera became one of the greatest achievements of the Weimar Republic – an achievement which continues unabated to this day. In the band of opera stars, who embody the characters in this harrowing drama, one stands out in particular: Matthias Goerne in the title role of a young soldier on the verge of insanity.

Started immediately before the outbreak of the First World War, Alban Berg only found the necessary peace to complete his first opera after his military service in the Austrian army. Against the backdrop of the war years, Berg felt all the closer to his protagonist and the opera ultimately became a sounding memorial against militarism and its social impacts. A whole series of productions in opera houses in the German-speaking region soon followed the potentially scandalous Berlin premiere in 1925 – until the piece was banned by the Nazi regime as »degenerate art«. However, this could not stop the global success of this opera.

Performers

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester

NDR Vokalensemble

Hamburger Alsterspatzen

Matthias Goerne Wozzeck

Michael Weinius Dram Major

Martin Mitterrutzner tenor

Peter Hoare Captain

Falk Struckmann Doctor

Christine Goerke Marie

Stefanie Irányi mezzo-soprano

Isaak Lee tenor

Fabian Kuhnen bass

Andreas Heinemeyer baritone

Dávid Csizmár baritone

conductor Alan Gilbert

Romain Gilbert scenic installation

Programme

Alban Berg
Wozzeck / Opera in Three Acts, Op. 7

Concert performance in German with surtitles

CANCELLED: Pre-Concert Talk

(in German)

19:00 / Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal

Supporting programme

Fri, 23 May 2025 17:30
Quartett der Kritiker, Elbphilharmonie, Kleiner Saal

Series

Opera and Oratorio

Festival

Hamburg International Music Festival

Promoter: HamburgMusik / NDR

From the Mediatheque : Videos, Podcasts, Articles

Alban Bergs »Wozzeck«: Schlüsselwerk der Moderne

Mit seiner 1925 uraufgeführten Oper betrat Alban Berg Neuland – sowohl inhaltlich als auch musikalisch.

Interview with Matthias Goerne

Der Bariton Matthias Goerne über die anhaltende Aktualität von Alban Bergs »Wozzeck« und die Zukunft der Klassik.

Opera in Concert Versions

The Elbphilharmonie is not an opera house, it’s true – but first-class music theatre can also be heard here, either in a concert version or as an interesting hybrid model.

»Lieder that Thrill Me«

Baritone Matthias Goerne sings a selection of Brahms lieder at the Elbphilharmonie.

Stories with the hashtag #Singing

Videos, streams, interviews and backgrounds – around the topic of singing at the Elbphilharmonie.

Stories with the hashtag #MusicFestival2025

Videos, interviews and backstories – all the articles around the International Music Festival Hamburg 2025 in the Elbphilharmonie Mediatheque.

During your visit

Elbphilharmonie Plaza

A public viewing platform on the 8th floor of the Elbphilharmonie

More about the Plaza

Food and Drink

Before the concert and in the interval

Find out more

Coughing, clapping, chatting

Tips for your concert visit

Read now