Back to Press Release List > 06/05/2007 - Berlin in Lights: Newly Added Events and Updated Event Information

June 4, 2007, New York, New York—Carnegie Hall’s first major international festival—Berlin in Lights—a 17-day celebration of Berlin today, running from November 2–18, 2007, features nearly 45 events presented throughout all five boroughs of New York City, at Carnegie Hall and at partner venues. The festival explores the vibrant cultural landscape of Berlin through music, film, art, architecture, cabaret, literature, and politics.

Newly announced additions to the festival include participants in four panel discussions curated by the American Academy in Berlin on the diverse topics of film, literature, visual arts, and politics, on November 3,4, and 11 in Weill Recital Hall. The panels feature well known participants such as Henry A. Kissinger, Tacita Dean, Jeffrey Eugenides, and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, among others. P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, a Museum of Modern Art affiliate in Long Island City, Queens hosts an exhibition exploring the legendary Rainer Werner Fassbinder film Berlin Alexanderplatz, which runs nearly 16 hours long and was shown in 14 segments on German television in 1980. An additional discussion featuring architect Daniel Libeskind looks at the parallels between urban memorial designs in New York and Berlin and will be held at the German Consulate General New York on November 5 as part of the Center for Architecture’s Berlin/New York Dialogues exhibit. Two contemporary photography exhibits have also been added to Berlin in Lights and will run throughout the festival—the German Consulate General New York will hold an exhibition of the works of contemporary photographer Roland Horn, documenting the building of Berlin’s central station, and the Zankel Hall lobby at Carnegie Hall will be home to an exhibit of photographer Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk’s haunting black and white images of contemporary Berlin.

Berlin in Lights offers a snapshot of Germany’s vibrant capital city through classical, cabaret, world, and techno music concerts as well as film screenings, architecture and photography exhibits, and panel discussions. The festival centers around an eight-day residency by Berlin’s greatest cultural ambassador, the Berliner Philharmoniker and its music director Sir Simon Rattle, with residency activities to include orchestra and chamber music concerts, and special arts education projects in New York City public schools. Additional artists performing as part of Berlin In Lights include Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela; Max Raabe & Palast Orchester performing dance and film music; Nomad SoundSystem with a unique blend of world and electronic music; and the Nevzat Akpinar Ensemble, comprised of members of Berlin’s large Turkish and Kurdish community.

Central to Berlin in Lights’ programming is an increased number of Carnegie Hall collaborations with several of Berlin and New York City’s finest cultural organizations, including the American Academy in Berlin, Center for Architecture, German Consulate General, Goethe-Institut, Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Neue Galerie, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Thirteen/WNET New York, WNYC, and World Music Institute. Berlin In Lights culminates on November 17 and 18 when approximately 120 New York City public school students take to the stage at The United Palace Theater in Upper Manhattan with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker for two exciting dance performances of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring along with original student compositions.

BERLIN IN LIGHTS PANEL DISCUSSIONS—EXPANDED INFORMATION

Screening Berlin: Filmmakers’ Views of the City
November 3 at 2:00 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall
Panelists to include: Volker Schlöndorff, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Michael Barker, and
David Denby, Moderator

In recent years, Berlin has again become a center of attraction for great filmmakers of contemporary cinema. Stars of today’s film industry, including Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for The Lives of Others; Berlin-based Academy Award winning filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff; and Sony Pictures Classics Co-President Michael Barker present their perspectives on the city that has fascinated directors from Fritz Lang to Billy Wilder and beyond. New Yorker film critic David Denby moderates the discussion.

Berlin Stories: Literary Journeys through the City
November 4 at 2:00 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall
Panelists: Jeffrey Eugenides, Daniel Kehlmann, Nicole Krauss, Peter Schneider, and Michael
Naumann, Moderator

For centuries, writers and poets have attempted to capture Berlin’s hypnotic spirit in words. In this panel, four acclaimed novelists—including Pulitzer Prize-winner and author of The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides, best-selling German novelist Daniel Kehlmann, Brooklyn-based American writer Nicole Krauss, and Peter Schneider—reflect on the city’s many faces and its continuing appeal to new generations of authors. Former German Culture Minister Michael Naumann moderates the discussion.

Canvas Berlin: Europe’s New Capital of the Visual Arts
November 4 at 4:30 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall
Panelists: Klaus Biesenbach, Tacita Dean, Thomas Demand, Julie Mehretu, and Michael
Kimmelman, Moderator

With its vibrancy and eccentricity, Berlin has become the center of Europe’s cutting-edge visual-arts scene. Some of today’s most ingenious artists will discuss the German capital as a creative breeding ground as part of Canvas Berlin: Europe’s New Capital of the Visual Arts. Panelists include recent Hugo Boss Prize recipient Tacita Dean whose paintings are currently the subject of an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, German sculptor and photographer Thomas Demand, Ethiopian-born painter and American Academy in Berlin Fellow Julie Mehretu, and Chief Curator of New Media at MoMA Klaus Biesenbach. The panel discussion is moderated by New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman.

Political Berlin: Germany and the United States
November 11 at 7:00 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall
Panelists: Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg, Josef Joffe, Henry A. Kissinger, John C.
Kornblum, and Richard C. Holbrooke, Moderator

Following the 1999 return of the parliament to its traditional seat along the Spree River, Berlin has again become the international face of Germany. Moderated by former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard C. Holbrooke, eminent public figures and experts of transatlantic diplomacy, including former United States Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, German politician Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg, editor and publisher of Die Zeit Josef Joffe, and former U.S. Ambassador to Germany John C. Kornblum will explore Germany’s most important strategic partnership—its relationship with the United States.

The panel discussions listed above are presented by Carnegie Hall in partnership with the American Academy in Berlin.

FASSBINDER: BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ -- AN EXHIBITION
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center (opening October 21, 2007)

From 1979 to 1980, Rainer Werner Fassbinder created the monumental film Berlin Alexanderplatz for television, based on Alfred Döblin’s 1929 novel of the same name. Consisting of 13 episodes and an epilogue, the film runs a total of 15 hours and 39 minutes. For this exhibition, the episodes and epilogue of Berlin Alexanderplatz will be screened in permanent loop in 14 separate rooms, with the complete work shown in chronological order and in full on a central large screen. Visitors can thus view Berlin Alexanderplatz as they please, with the entrance ticket entitling holders to repeat visits. The parallel screening of all the episodes in a single setting will highlight Fassbinder’s impressive visual idiom and his artistically challenging, free, and innovative use of images.

BERLIN/NEW YORK DIALOGUES: URBAN DESIGN & MEMORIALS PANEL DISCUSSION
November 5 at 6:00 p.m. German Consulate General New York
Panelists to include: Lance Jay Brown, FAIA; Daniel Libeskind, AIA; Ron Shiffman; and Susan Szenasy

This panel discussion will examine how Berlin and New York address the politics of preservation, the connection between collective memory and commemoration, and the challenges of integrating memorials into the urban fabric. Panelists include architect Daniel Libeskind, City University of New York Professor Lance J. Brown, urban planner Ron Shiffman, and Susan Szenasy, Chief Editor of Metropolis Magazine.

This event is organized by the American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter and the German Consulate General in New York.

BERLIN HAUPTBAHNHOF 1999–2006/BERLIN CENTRAL STATION 1999–2006
German Consulate General New York (opening November 7, 2007)

Berlin photographer Roland Horn spent seven years documenting, in images, the construction of the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Central Station). His photographs depict the complex logistical and technical process that went into building Europe’s biggest railway hub. A selection of some 20 images—most of them in large format—offers a remarkable view into the construction of this extraordinary structure.

BERLIN TODAY: AN EXHIBITION OF PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERIK-JAN OUWERKERK
Zankel Hall Lobby (throughout Berlin in Lights festival)

In November 2007 a selection of evocative black and white photographs on contemporary Berlin will be exhibited in the front-of-house spaces in Zankel Hall. These photographs, by Dutch-born photographer Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk, create a visual essay of the city in a state of change and include images of architectural icons as well as lesser known sides of Berlin. The exhibition is curated by Andres Lepik, Chief Architectural Historian at the State Museum of Berlin.


Berlin in Lights 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.

Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.

For more information about Berlin in Lights, the general public is invited to visit www.carnegiehall.org/berlininlights .

For high resolution images of Berlin in Lights artists, please contact the Carnegie Hall Public Affairs Office at 212-903-9750 or publicaffairs@carnegiehall.org