On Saturday 7 May, the Berlin Philharmonic will mark the 50th Anniversary of the Karajan Academy with a Gala Concert, featuring the world première of Nachtergebung (Night Surrender), Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, by Donghoon Shin. The commission was the prize for winning The Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker Claudio Abbado Composition Prize.

To reflect the Academy’s past, present and future, the anniversary concert features an orchestra formed of current scholars and former Academy students who are now members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, and led by Chief Conductor, Kirill Petrenko. Shin’s concerto is written for Bruno Delepelaire, the Orchestra’s principal cellist since 2013 and former graduate of the Karajan Academy. The concert programme opens with Mozart’s Linz Symphony under conducting scholar Nodoka Okisawa and concludes with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony under Petrenko.