Past Performances > The Golden Age of Music Performance by The Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonics
4 June 2005

The Golden Age of Music Performance by The Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonics

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

The Golden Age of Music

On 4 June 2005, the German Embassy and Soka Gakkai Malaysia (SGM) jointly organised a musical event themed, “The Golden Age Of Music”. This gave the Malaysian public an opportunity to listen and enjoy the spectacular performance by The Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonics.

Herbert von Karajan, a famous Austrian conductor and keyboard performer, who held the title– “Wizard of Sound” of the Berlin Philharmonics, founded the Orchestra Academy in 1972. The founding purpose of the Academy is to look for the brightest musical talents from all over the world. In May 2017, the Berlin Orchestra Academy was renamed as the Karajan Academy.

There were a total of 14 members that came to Malaysia to perform, led by Cord Garben, the conductor. He had worked together with numerous outstanding musical orchestras as a conductor. These included the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra from North Germany, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. A renowned pianist, conductor and musical producer, Garben received countless awards like the German Record Grand Prize, the Cultural Division of France’s Best Cultural Performance Award and won seven Grammy awards in the US.

On the night of the performance, the Berlin Philharmonics performed numerous 19th century European music featuring works of masters like Beethoven, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Wagner, Strauss and Mahler. Orchestras flourished during this era and music of this period became more accessible to the public. Music was no longer confined to a certain group of people. Instead, music begun to be appreciated and discussed among ordinary folks. Hence, the audiences at music concerts grew immensely.

The performance by the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonics brought delight to all and transported the spectators to the golden era of music.