Duncan Ward to conduct on 7 September in place of Joana Mallwitz

Joana Mallwitz, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, will not be able to conduct the räsonanz — Donor Concert, presented in cooperation with the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, on 7 September 2026. Joana Mallwitz gave birth to her second child on 1 September, and we warmly congratulate her and her family. We are also pleased to announce that conductor Duncan Ward has agreed at short notice to step in and lead the Konzerthausorchester Berlin in the räsonanz — Donor Concert.

Duncan Ward has been associated with Lucerne Festival since attending the Lucerne Festival Academy in 2010, where he participated in a masterclass with Pierre Boulez. He made his Lucerne Festival debut in 2017 with Michel van der Aa’s The Book of Disquiet, and in 2018 he was one of four conductors who led Stockhausen’s Gruppen at the Festival. After studying at the Royal Northern College of Music, he was admitted to the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Orchestra Academy on the recommendation of Sir Simon Rattle. He has been Chief Conductor of Philzuid, the South Netherlands Philharmonic, since 2021. He works as a guest conductor with orchestras including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in New York in 2022.

The concert program remains unchanged and is as follows:

Introduction during the concert: Sebastian Nordmann

Hans Werner Henze (1926–2012)
Sinfonia N. 9 for mixed chorus and orchestra. Text by Hans-Ulrich Treichel based on Anna Seghers’s novel The Seventh Cross.

There will be no intermission at this concert. Tickets remain valid.