Noye’s Fludde, children’s opera by Britten, Ħad 21 Apr 2013, Minn (2013/2013), Immexxi minn Jasmina Hadziahmetovic, Surmast Direttur Simon Rattle

Music with young people that is as much fun for the performers as the audience was the hallmark of the legendary dance projects of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s education programme. Just what electricity there can be between the Berliner Philharmoniker, young amateur singers and audience in a vocal performance was demonstrated in this 10th anniversary concert, which included Benjamin Britten’s children’s opera Noye’s Fludde. There were many reasons for the cheers that greeted this performance: First, there is Britten’s wonderful, sprightly score, full of catchy tunes but never simplistic. Then there was the imaginative staging by Jasmina Hadziahmetovic which included an ark of shopping bags, and of course the fabulous musicians: from chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle and choir master Simon Halsey, to the members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the many young amateur musicians in the orchestra and in the choir. But above all, it was the shared joy of making music that for a decade now has characterised the education programme of the Berliner Philharmoniker.