San Francisco, CA
On November 22nd, a group of 21 Bosch Alumni and their guests attended a historic performance by the Berliner Philharmoniker at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco as one of our final RBFAA regional events of 2016. The Berliner Philharmoniker’s Chief Conductor, Sir Simon Rattle, conducted both of the evening’s pieces; Bouléz’ Eclat (15 instruments) and Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 (100+ instruments) entirely from memory. Symphony No. 7 is 80 minutes long without intermission, which only highlights the virtuosity of both the conductor and performers.
Sir Simon Rattle has been the Chief Conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 2002, and will be leaving Berlin next year, making this one of his last tours with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Although the Berliner Philharmoniker travels to select cities in North America every few years, they had only performed in San Francisco once in almost 30 years, so this was an incredibly rare opportunity for us to blend an RBFAA regional event with a significant German cultural experience. While on their fellowship year, many Bosch participants are able to regularly attend performances at world-renowned venues such as the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Konzerthaus Berlin, or Berliner Philharmonie, so for many of us in attendance, the evening’s performances “transported” us back. Although we had quite a downpour that evening, we gathered at a local restaurant for a networking Stammtisch following the event. Alumni from Bosch I all the way through Bosch XXXII (most recent alumni) were in attendance.
For a historical review of the Berliner Philharmoniker in the USA and Canada read more here.