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This year’s early and glorious summer is not only offering the most relaxed weekends at the lakes but also lots of amazing cultural activities you can experience under the open sky.
One of our absolute favorite classical music happenings in Berlin is Staatsoper für Alle. The opera house right at Under den Linden has recently reopened and is organizing once a year a weekend of free concerts and opera screenings.
For this year’s edition, we partnered up with Staatsoper to offer you an amazing price: We will organize a delicious exclusive picnic at the event with lots of delicious treats (and sparkling wine ;)) for 3×2 of our readers. So you can listen to the concert on Saturday 16th and enjoy a delightful brunch with us.
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by Claudio | Events, Music
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It’s a warm lazy Friday afternoon in Berlin. The temperature is high and the mood is dazzling. The weekend is ahead and everybody just wants to go home and change into their party shirts. But on this particular afternoon two weeks ago Berliners had a little surprise on their way home.
In collaboration with smart, the car brand who is well known for its minimal need of parking space, the brass band Moop Mama did a spectacular pop-up concert near Berlin Dom. We had the chance to be there while the band was playing and could dance and jump with the spontaneous crowd of Berliners. Check out the video here.
The idea behind the concert #morespacefor #music is to show how much better the parking space could be used if cars would be smaller. I like the approach and think that this kind of events are part of the dialogue we need to find out in what kind of city we all want to live in.
Below there are some photos from the concert.
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by Claudio | Music, Stories
photo: Javier Blanco Chiocchio
So many things happening in Berlin and yet you’re scrolling through your event app with nothing that quite strikes up for fancy? You can escape the same old scenarios of the usual entertainment like I did a few weeks ago. I left my house with no idea as to what would await me – I ended up blindfolded in a candlelit basement with a bunch of strangers and loved every minute of it. Crossmodalism is a relatively fresh movement redefining our ideas of concepts like classical music, theatre, cooking, or even science – with their sensory-stimulating events. Read on to find out more!
The group originated in London in 2013, bringing together a concert pianist who studied at one of the ‘best’ schools of music in the world, a cook with some of the world’s most ‘prestigious’ restaurants on their resume; an Experience Designer, a PhD candidate at the University of Oxford, and a perfumer trained in chemistry. Their name stems from a term popularised by Professor Charles Spence at the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at the University of Oxford.
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by Michalina | Events
Why is public art and culture so important? Is it for our education? Prestige? Or a way to cultivate our society? Probably all these aspects are relevant. But after visiting the “Staatsoper für Alle” event this past weekend I experienced the relevance of free public art and culture first hand. On Saturday afternoon over 3000 people came together at Bebelplatz to listen to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony performed by the Staatskapelle Berlin led by Daniel Barenboim. Sharing collective cultural experiences is something that gives me intense goosebumps for many reasons. First of all, I was so impressed by this big crowd getting nearly instantly quite from one moment to another. Also it’s rare even in Berlin to see so many people from different ages and social groups come together to enjoy arts and music. Finally, I really felt the passion of the audience. These classical music enthusiasts did not show up to wear elegant gowns to the opera. But instead, they brought their own little chairs or blankets to sit on the ground. Some of them were even standing for the whole duration of the performance. This passion is for me the ultimate proof that arts and music are vital for us humans and for our human society. While young and old, poor and rich come together to enjoy the arts our difference dissolve and the pace of our heartbeats rise while experiencing this form of joy.
We saw many cute couples or groups of friends who really enjoyed the music and the performance under the sun and the blue open sky over Bebelplatz. To imagine that this historical place who had experienced some troubled history is now a place where free music is performed to give joy to the public is something magnificent. We took some photographic impressions of the event for you to get a glimpse of what you missed. But no reason to be sad. During the next days several public screenings of the concerts of the Staatsoper will happen at Bebelplatz. All the dates and photos after the jump.
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by Claudio | Music, Photos, Theater
This past weekend I had the pure pleasure to celebrate Midsommar in Sweden on a beautiful estate in the countryside near Ahus. We’ve all heard of this holiday here because of all the Swedish people living here and the Germans generally being quite into Swedish things. For the Swedish this is really a big deal, it’s like the next big thing after Christmas. It was my first time, and considering how amazing it was, I hope it won’t be the last time.
The Midsommar Weekender was initiated by Absolut, and knowing how elaborate their events are from previous ones (see here and here) we knew we were in for a real treat. The three day affair pretty much incorporated all the traditions of Midsommar, including flower crows, maypole dancing, a big lunch banquette and outdoor games. Mixing it with what Absolut does best – cocktails, concerts and great parties – it turned out to be pretty spectacular weekend. We totally want you to start celebrating Midsommar here too, so to wet your appetite we brought you some photos from this lovely weekend in Sweden.
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by Frank | Party, Photos, Travel
It is widely known for its progressive Techno nights that go on from Saturday to Monday, but this is not the only thing that Berghain is doing. They have always used their space for much more than just music. They have also released a book about their engagement with art and also the theater and performance world has had its collaborations with this cathedral of Techno.
This Thursday another big art event is happening there opening the doors to an audience that goes beyond the usual party crowd on weekends. A Partial Eclipse of the Heart is the title of the event, borrowed from the lyrics of Bonnie Tylers Total Eclipse of the Heart. Two of the main artists contributing to the night are Autist and Rainbow Arabia who are both performing live. There will be quite a few more video presentations from artists such as Carla Chan, Dorit Bialer, Jem the Misfit, Lisa Wassemann, Mariana Jukica, Natasha Mankowski and Resi Bender. But you will also be able to see performances from Peter Kirn, Gabriela Prochazka, and Simonne Jones. It’s going to be an immersive experience bringing you an eclectic mix of talents from Berlin.
The event is curated by Your Mom who also put up great shows in the past in venues such as the Konzulàt and Kaufhaus Jandorf. Having seen some of these previous events I can guarantee you that you don’t want to miss it, also because it’s one of the rare occasions you can see Berghain during the week and separate from its techno parties.
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by Andy | Art, Music, Party
Music, is a magical ordeal. An escape from ordinary into a vast sea of feeling, vibes and sensations. To professionals, music is not only a job, but also a way to express themselves through creativity and poetry. But what for the average “9 to 5” Mensch?
Recently I have stumbled along something deep that doesn’t normally meet the eye. Open Mic, Jam sessions where professionals and amateurs alike can express their feeling of passion. This is something truly amazing, that Berlin has to offer.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, locals and travelling musicians flock to bars that post Open Mic on their webpages. Lines and lists of these creative souls pour out their emotions, talent and comedic gestures as they blast out tunes from their piano or acoustic guitars.
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by Guest Author | Bars, Music
A little while ago passers-by at Hermannplatz were treated to a very special private experience. A pianist was sitting right in the middle of the square offering a little concert for those who dared to sit with him and put the headphones on. In the little video documentary you can see some of the people who took advantage of the free seat and it’s lovely to see how moved some of them were.
The video comes from the guys from RAWCreation who also brought us the lovely video about the rooftop piano concert that posted a while ago. Enjoy the new video below.
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by Frank | Music, Videos
Although the weather doesn’t really suggest it, the holiday season is indeed upon us and while some are anxiously waiting to open another window in their advent calendar, others regard all the festivities merely as an opportunity to steal a ketchup container from Christmas hot dogs stands on Alexanderplatz, which is an exceptionally Berlin-like crime I have actually witnessed.
And that serves as a sufficient example to say that the idea of a perfect Christmas will definitely differ from person to person. Many of you will travel to see family, others will celebrate with friends, and there’s more than a few that are going to be happy to finally not be bothered with any company at all. So for those of you who’re staying in Berlin this month and consider leaving the house at some point, we’ve come up with a few suggestions as varied as it gets, and some of them not even Christmas related.
UPDATED for 2018!
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by Michalina | Events, Movies, Music
It should come as no surprise that this is happening in Berlin. Imagine you are lucky enough to walk out of your place in the morning and bump into this delightful event. Musicians on the staircase of the building you live in and seems soulless during these cold winter days, singing and playing music just like that. StairsBerlin is a project created by Guilherme Valverde that takes a multi-faceted approach to this little talked about side of the city creating urban art like posters, photos as well as music performances and making, thus, something really special out of something that we otherwise would not even pay attention to.
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by Nikos | Music, Videos
