Elbphilharmonie-Breaking Waves
(c) Moka-Studio
A spectacular light installation by the Dutch artist duo Drift will illuminate the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg in April 2022, the year of its fifth anniversary. The work is called Breaking Waves and uses hundreds of illuminated drones. Choreographed to the second movement of Thomas Adès’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, which is being performed in the anniversary concert in the Grand Hall on the evening of the anniversary, the moving luminaries playfully bring the concert hall’s facade to life.
The temporary installation lasts for around seven minutes and will be premiered on 28 April Further performances will take place on 29 and 30 April, and 1 May.
Breaking Waves was originally planned to accompany the anniversary festival in January 2022. Due to the seriousness of the coronavirus situation at present, the parties involved decided to postpone until the end of April in the hope that the performance can then have the large live audience for which it was created.
Elbphilharmonie-Breaking Waves
(c) Moka-Studio
The piece by Thomas Adès is being performed live at 20:00 on 11 January. The concert is broadcast as a live stream on Arte Concert and on the Elbphilharmonie’s digital channels and will also be available free as a video on demand afterwards. The NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra is playing under the baton of its chief conductor Alan Gilbert, with Kirill Gerstein as the piano soloist.
