DEUTSCHE RADIO PHILHARMONIE
ELISABETH TEIGE, soprano
JOSEP PONS, director
Strauss, Muerte y transfiguración
Wagner, Preludio y muerte de Tristán e Isolda
Strauss, Suite orquestal “Elektra”
SALE OF SINGLE TICKETS: From July 30, 2026.
DEUTSCHE RADIO PHILHARMONIE
The Deutsche Radio Philharmonie (DRP) is one of Germany’s leading radio symphony orchestras. Jointly funded by Saarländischer Rundfunk and Südwestrundfunk, it is based in Saarbrücken and Kaiserslautern.
Its repertoire focuses on the Classical and Romantic repertoire, as well as repertoire curiosities, early works, contemporary music, jazz, and film music.
The DRP’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Director is Josep Pons. Under the title “Visions of Europe,” Pons has developed a multi-year artistic program that explores European identity from various perspectives.
Since 2025, Michael Schønwandt has held the position of Principal Guest Conductor. This season, under his baton, the DRP explores the Nordic soundscape. Following collaborations with Jörg Widmann and Brett Dean, the orchestra is now working with George Benjamin.
One of the season’s highlights is the concert version of his opera Written on Skin, conducted by Benjamin himself.
Guest performances in both broadcasting regions, as well as in Germany and abroad, including a concert tour in Spain with Josep Pons and appearances at prestigious festivals, round out the artistic program.
With concerts aimed at new audiences, families, and schools, the DRP reaches a very broad audience.
Other highlights include the “Moments musicaux” in art galleries, as well as concerts in pubs and with chamber music ensembles. This season also sees the addition of concerts specifically designed for people with dementia.
The DRP is also distinguished by its recordings, radio broadcasts, and projects such as recording the film score for the documentary series Travellers of the Oceans.
Promoting young talent is an essential part of the orchestra’s work: the Skrowaczewski Academy, founded in 2024, is currently preparing its second graduating class for careers in top-level orchestras.
Composition and conducting workshops, as well as an annual singing competition, provide further platforms for exceptional talent and new works.
The DRP was formed in 2007 through the merger of the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra and the SWR Kaiserslautern Radio Orchestra.
Since 2025, Josep Pons has been its Principal Conductor and Artistic Director.
ELISABETH TEIGE. Soprano
Elisabeth Teige has established herself as one of the most compelling young dramatic sopranos of her generation, admired for her warm timbre, musical sensitivity and powerful stage presence.
An emblematic role in her repertoire is Senta in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, which she first sang at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo. Since then she has performed this role at major theatres such as Frankfurt Opera, Bergen National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the National Theatre in Prague and the Bayreuth Festival, where she took part in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production under Oksana Lyniv in 2022. In Bayreuth she also sang Gutrune (Götterdämmerung) and Freia (Das Rheingold), returning in later seasons as Sieglinde (Die Walküre), Elisabeth (Tannhäuser) and again as Senta.
In the 2025/26 season, Teige made her debut as Isolde in a new production of Tristan und Isolde at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and repeated the role in Leipzig. In addition, she appears as Sieglinde and Brünnhilde (Siegfried) in Berlin, performs with top-level orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic and TrondheimSolistene, and sings Chrysothemis in a concert performance of Elektra with the Dresden Philharmonic under Sir Donald Runnicles.
Recent highlights include her debuts at the Teatro di San Carlo as Chrysothemis and at the Gran Teatre del Liceu as Elsa in Lohengrin. She has also performed Elisabeth and Venus (Tannhäuser) in Berlin, Leonore (Fidelio) in Wiesbaden, Tosca in Oslo and Turandot in Dresden. In the symphonic field she has appeared with the Wiener Symphoniker, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonique du Luxembourg and at Toulon Opera.
Born in Ålesund, Norway, she studied singing in Trondheim and at the Oslo National Academy of Opera.
JOSEP PONS. Director
He has been Music Director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu since 2012, and his latest renewal keeps him in the post until 2026.
He has conducted around forty titles, the Ring Cycle, Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal and Lohengrin by Wagner, Richard Strauss’s Elektra, Berg’s Wozzeck and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, as well as Mozart’s Da Ponte trilogy and Handel’s Rodelinda.
He is Honorary Conductor of the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir, where he was principal and artistic director (2003-2012), and of the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada (1993-2003). He was founder of the Orquestra de Cambra Teatre Lliure, of which he was chief conductor from 1985 to 1997, and of the JONC (Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya), of which he is founding Director.
He was recently appointed Chief and Artistic Director of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie from the 2025-26 season.
His discography, with more than 50 CDs and DVDs, mostly released by Harmonia Mundi France and Deutsche Grammophon, includes recordings of Falla and French repertoire regarded as benchmark interpretations and which have received numerous prizes, such as the Charles Cros Academy Prize, the Cannes Classical Awards and the Grammys. His recording of Noches en los jardines de España with Javier Perianes won a Choc de la Musique; Melancolía with Patricia Petibon received a Gramophone Editor’s Choice; and his collaboration with Tomatito earned him a Latin Grammy. His recording of Berio’s Sinfonia and Mahler/Berio’s 10 Frühe Lieder with the BBC Symphony and Matthias Goerne received the BBC Music Award, Choc de la Musique, ECHO Klassik Awards and the Télérama prize.
His latest releases with Harmonia Mundi have been the recordings of Granados’s opera Goyescas with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin – Alborada del gracioso with the Orchestre de Paris and Javier Perianes.
He has been distinguished, among other honours, with the National Music Prize awarded by the Ministry of Culture for his outstanding work in 20th-century music. In 2019 he was invested as Doctor Honoris Causa by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and received the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts.
He is a Supernumerary Academician of the Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts of Saint George.
