Adults

Are you looking for someone to go to the concert with you?

Some of our most faithful concertgoers, who have been coming to us at the Philharmonie for many years, can no longer join us. There are many reasons for that – including that getting to the venue is too difficult for them, or because they no longer feel safe out alone at night. Perhaps you are in a similar situation? In that case, we would like to reach out to you through our volunteer Concert Pals. A Concert Pal will accompany you to the Philharmonie and hear the concert with you on pre-reserved seats. In this manner, you can not only hear the music together, but getting to the concert is made easier for you: you will be picked up and accompanied to the concert on foot, by public transport or by car, and your Concert Pal will also see you home again.

If you are interested in the concert pal program, please contact us by phone or e-mail. Upon request, a suitable accompanist will be found for you and an initial meeting will be organized.

Persons for whom a concert accompanist is arranged acquire a subscription to three concerts of the Gürzenich Orchestra in the Kölner Philharmonie. They can choose freely from the twelve subscription concerts on Mondays or Tuesdays. Concert sponsors receive free admission.

The Gürzenich Orchestra plays for everyone, including those who can no longer come to its regular concerts. With its chamber ensembles, the orchestra is out and about, playing concerts at senior citizen residences. The programmes are as varied as the different instrumental formations. The musicians play classical pieces chosen among their repertoire favourites and also sing with the residents. All performances also feature a moderator, Christina von Richthofen.

The Gürzenich Orchestra maintains a long and fruitful cooperation with the Karl Rahner Academy in Cologne. In the talk series »Das Gürzenich-Orchester stellt sich vor« (The Gürzenich Orchestra introduces itself), musicians from the orchestra are regular guests. And every season the Academy offers lectures on the main lines or on individual compositions from our programme, almost always in combination with a visit to a rehearsal. To participate in the events, registration is required via the Academy's homepage.

Following the red line of Bruckners’s Symphonies, the Academy has invited the musicologist and organist Prof. Dr. Eva-Maria Houben. In the week before the »Prisma« symphony concert with Anton Bruckner's 5th Symphony, she will speak in particular on the subject of »listening«: Bruckner's music wants to be heard, again and again, always new, always different. Silence plays a special role in it: can silence be notated? Anton Bruckner tried. Especially the pauses and their musical equivalents are brought to the fore here.
Since the works were written, critical statements describing »fragmentation« or »illogic»« have been repeated. But the disjointed, in Houben's experience, exercises listening and heightens perception.