When the 2007–2008 Carnegie Hall season was announced earlier this year, it included not only the incomparable musical offerings one might expect—the world’s greatest orchestras, chamber ensembles, soloists, and vocalists across the fields of classical, jazz, folk, pop, and world music. It also featured something never before seen in a Carnegie Hall season: a large-scale international festival of music, art, politics, and literature, with events held both at the Hall and in partner venues throughout New York City. This is Berlin in Lights.

Over 17 days, November 2–18, Berlin in Lights will create a snapshot of contemporary Berlin, exploring the city that, once at the crossroads of Western culture, has reemerged as one of the world’s centers of artistic expression and forward thinking. To capture as broad a view of life in Berlin as this rapidly changing magnet of creativity demands, Carnegie Hall has joined with some of the premier cultural institutions of New York and Berlin—The American Academy in Berlin, the Center for Architecture, the German Consulate General in New York, Goethe-Institut, the Guggenheim Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, Neue Galerie, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Thirteen/WNET, WNYC, and the World Music Institute—to present more than 40 events across the city, including architecture and photography exhibits, a film series, a video installation, a techno dance party, cabaret, and panel discussions. At the heart of the festival remains music at its finest, with performers ranging from the venerable Berliner Philharmoniker led by Sir Simon Rattle to the elegance and zany wit of Max Raabe and his Palast Orchester, from HK Gruber singing Weill and Eisler to Nomad SoundSystem’s eclectic blend of Western dance grooves and North African melodies.

A high point of the 17 days of Berlin in Lights will be the coming together of the best of music and music education in The Rite of Spring Project. For this explosion of sights and sounds, held at the magnificent United Palace Theater in Washington Heights, 120 public school students from Upper Manhattan will dance to Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, performed by Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker; the same magical concert will include the unveiling of Songs: Ritual Rhythms, an original piece of music created by area high school students with musicians of the Philharmoniker and members of its education department, using elements from The Rite of Spring.

With so much to choose from, Berlin in Lights aptly reflects the bountiful 2007–2008 season at Carnegie Hall.

The Berlin in Lights festival is made possible by a leadership gift from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation.

Major funding has also been provided by Mercedes and Sid Bass, with additional support from Martha and Bob Lipp and the National Endowment for the Arts.