SCHAROUN ENSEMBLE

In 1983, members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra united to form a new ensemble, which they named after the architect of their home concert hall, Hans Scharoun. That same year, the Scharoun Ensemble made its public debut with Franz Schubert’s Octet D 803 – a cornerstone of its repertoire, which it will also perform at the Ludwigsburg Festival in 2026. The eight musicians not only enchant audiences with their founding work but also utilise their diverse timbres in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Horn Quintet. The complexity increases with Hans Werner Henze, whom the Scharoun Ensemble congratulates on his birthday with four octet movements: In 1958, Henze composed a chamber piece for tenor, guitar, and eight solo instruments based on Hölderlin’s hymn »In lieblicher Bläue« (In Lovely Blue); he dedicated it to Benjamin Britten and stylistically moved away from the prevailing avant-garde. In 1963, he added a final adagio to the original 12-movement work, bringing the total number of purely instrumental octet works in »Kammermusik 1958« to four. On 1 July 2026, the composer, who died in 2012, would have celebrated his 100th birthday.

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