David Afkham and Christian Tetzlaff in Berlin

Christian Tetzlaff returns to Berlin following a successful European tour marking the 30th anniversary of the Tetzlaff Quartet. On 10 December at 8:00 pm, he will join the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) to perform Béla Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2 at the Konzerthaus.

The concert will be conducted by David Afkham, renowned for his ability to craft richly nuanced and vividly expressive orchestral textures, particularly in late Romantic repertoire. His sensitivity to tonal subtleties makes him an ideal interpreter of Franz Schmidt’s Fourth Symphony, a work composed by the former pupil of Mahler, which will also be performed.

Under the title "Music for the Beyond", the programme explores themes of parting and the afterlife. Central to the evening is Schmidt’s deeply personal Fourth Symphony, dedicated to his daughter, who tragically died in childbirth. This performance commemorates the 150th anniversary of Schmidt’s birth. Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto, composed during the final years before his emigration to the United States, complements the programme. Bartók himself had the opportunity to hear the work only once, at its Carnegie Hall performance in 1943.

The concert will be recorded for broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur on 17 December. For those interested in further exploring the works, the RSB podcast "Muss es sein?" offers engaging insights into the programme (German only).