The Young Philharmonic Berlin was founded in January 2013 by Marcus Merkel, who put the orchestra together for the premiere of a large oratorio in the Gethsemanekirche in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg. Since then, the orchestra has consisted of young, motivated and highly talented professionalswho shine in the concerts with virtuosity and an inspiring orchestral sound. In the following years, the Junge Philharmonie performed in various formations – from string orchestra to large romantic symphony orchestra – and in a wide variety of halls in and around Berlin, including the main hall of the Berlin Konzerthaus. 

In addition to enriching the Berlin music scene, the intensive promotion of young talentis extremely important to the young musicians – from 2015 to 2018, the orchestra cooperated closely with the “Jugend dirigiert” project, which gave young people the opportunity to grow and gain leadership experience by working with a symphony orchestra in rehearsals and concerts. 

The orchestra’s repertoire ranges from Viennese classical music to works from the 20th and 21st centuries. The Junge Philharmonie Berlin performed Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor for the first time in March 2019 in Berlin Cathedral. This was followed in August 2019 by a major opera gala as part of the Dresdner Classic Open Air with soloists Barbara Krieger, Peter Seiffert and René Pape. Under the direction of Staatskapellmeister Julien Salemkour, the orchestra performed again in Berlin Cathedral in November 2019, this time with Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem, followed by Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in February 2020. 

In the middle of the coronavirus crisis, the ensemble had another premiere: musicians from the Young Philharmonic Berlin, conducted by Marcus Merkel, recorded Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Carnival of the Animals” for an ARTE documentary in August 2020. 

The artistic director of the JPB since its foundation has been the young Berlin conductor Marcus Merkel. 

The Young Philharmonic Berlin performs on 24 and 25 August 2024