G.P.

The acoustically fantastic concert hall of the Kölner Philharmonie.

Köln (Cologne) sure is a cultural city. Their concert hall is simply marvelous. I had seen it before on a DVD of Brahms symphonies by WDR Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov. They can be so lucky to perform in this hall. Even to the last audience seats the sound is clear, round and beautiful. The seats behind the orchestra are great too!

Assistant conductor Adrian Prabava conducting the ONF while maestro Masur contemplates the seating alternatives...

Because of this hall orchestras all around the Europe are flocking to perform here. This week only they had concerts by the Kölner Kammerorchester, the WDR Philharmonic, the Wiener Philharmoniker with Valery Gergiev and the ONF with Kurt Masur. There was a queue for the tickets already two hours before the concert!

The famous Cologne Cathedral is not the most beautiful, but it sure is massive!

The city centre is dominated by the famous cathedral, which is quite gloomy to tell the truth. In the evening the punk youth with wild haircuts gather around it - and I had thought that punk was dead already!

Dress rehearsal for the nights concert. Maestro Masur conducting, Till Fellner at the piano.

Maestro Masur is much loved in Germany. The hall was sold out for the two performances of the ONF there! Of course the program was lovely as well, Beethoven 1st piano concerto coupled with Bruckner 9th symphony and the 3rd concerto with the 4th symphony... After that the orchestra continued their tour to Vienna, while I had to return to Finland for my own concerts.