Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends
of the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen,

The great Leonard Bernstein once said: ‘There is no such thing as light or serious music; there is only good and bad music.’ For 30 years now, the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen has stood for good music in passionately performed concerts, be it at our Christmas or New Year’s concerts, at the ‘MiR goes …’ concerts featuring pop, techno or film music, or at our diverse symphonic concerts.

I believe Lenny would have delighted in symphonic concert programmes such as ‘Hollywood’, in which the boundaries between symphonic and film music are completely dissolved, or ‘Journey to the Stars’, in which an electric cello meets a classical orchestra.

Of course, great masterpieces of the repertoire such as Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto, Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony and Smetana’s ‘My Fatherland’ are a must, and the acclaimed clarinettist Sharon Kam will perform Weber’s Concerto in (Surprising) E for you.

It’s almost becoming a tradition now that our founding and honorary conductor, Johannes Wildner, is conducting a ‘request concert’ for the third time, at which you, our dear audience, will once again be able to choose the programme. And at the end of the season, Mahler’s Second Symphony, ‘Resurrection’, awaits you as the grand finale at the MiR!

The Sunday concerts at the Church of the Holy Cross take a partly humorous look back at the Roaring Twenties and showcase the exciting fusion of Turkish folklore and Western European classical music. I’m looking forward to welcoming guests such as the singer and bağlama virtuoso Erdal Akkaya and one of the greatest violinists of our time, Thomas Zehetmair, who will whisk us away to the devilish realms of music history. Experience the emotional power of music in all its facets – no streaming, no AI, just NPW live. Join us – we look forward to seeing you!

With warm musical regards

Yours, Rasmus Baumann, Chief Music Director