Sir Simon Rattle, chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Berliner Philharmoniker)

The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Berliner Philharmoniker) has returned from their last Asian tour with Sir Simon Rattle as chief conductor.

The orchestra played works by Igor Stravinsky, Unsuk Chin, Sergei Rachmaninov, Richard Strauss, Maurice Ravel, Béla Bartók, and Johannes Brahms at 11 concerts in seven cities in China, South Korea, and Japan.

Yuja Wang, Chinese classical pianist, and South Korean pianist Cho Seong-Jin appeared as soloists, respectively.

All the concerts, particularly those in Tokyo and Shanghai, were sold out shortly after ticket sales began.

The Berliner Philharmoniker opened the tour with performances at the Cultural Centre in Hong Kong (10 and 11 November).

The tour continued to China, where the orchestra appeared for the first time at the Guangzhou Opera House (12 November) and at the Qintai Concert Hall in Wuhan (13 November).

After two concerts at Shanghai’s Oriental Art Center (16 and 17 November) the orchestra made two appearances at the Seoul Arts Center (19 and 20 November).

The tour concluded with three concerts in Japan, at the Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall (23 November) and at Suntory Hall in Tokyo (24 and 25 November).

International audiences had various opportunities to experience the tour via the media. The Hong Kong concerts were broadcast live on television, in the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall and on screens at three locations in Hong Kong.

The orchestra’s concert in Wuhan was broadcast live in twelve theatres of the Poly Group in remote provinces of China.

Music lovers have the possibility to accompany the Berliner Philharmoniker at all times via their social media channels and their redesigned tour blog, which was regularly supplied with new photos and video clips during the Asian tour.