Musikfest 1: Soundtrack to the Apocalypse

There can be few more reliable indicators that summer is over and the new season is about to begin than the opening-night concert of Musikfest Berlin. But while the festival – featuring three weeks of concerts from local and international orchestras and ensembles – may be an established tradition, this year’s inaugural concert differed somewhat from the norm: in honour of the 75th anniversary of the Berliner Festspiele – the arts organisation responsible for Musikfest and its predecessor, the now-legendary Berliner Festwochen – the evening’s scheduled programme was preceded by a guest lecture from Prof. Meron Mendel.

While the address was, to some extent, a celebration of the Berliner Festspiele and its role within Berlin’s cultural landscape over the past three-quarters of a century, it also managed to situate the halcyon days of the…