For Mr. Hellers Reflektor Festival, the legendary art expediter will bring together musicians from all genres and curate an extensive and imaginative accompanying program. Projections on the façade and in the foyer area allow Hamburg’s famous concert hall to shine in a new light:

For nine evenings, a large light installation by Heller on the outside of the Elbphilharmonie invites concert-goers and other curious people to pause and marvel, and he was able to win over the exceptional painter Xenia Hausner for the projections in the foyer area. The musical program is a celebration of diversity and encounters.

The internationally acclaimed Finnish opera singer Camilla Nylund performs on the same evening as five-time Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo from Benin. A Dadaist Finnish choir of screaming men is juxtaposed with traditional Bulgarian a cappella virtuosos. Ecstatic Gnawa music from Morocco is combined with hypnotic Sufi singing from Pakistan. The Jewish Music Night, which presents a fascinating kaleidoscope of Jewish singing traditions from all over the world in a highly topical way, is a special affair of the heart for Heller.

There will also be a theater evening to mark the 100th birthday of Maria Callas, the first German concert by the unrivaled songwriting legend Jimmy Webb and an evening with the most important current interpreters of Viennese song from Heller’s home town. In conversation, philosopher Peter Sloterdijk and singer Florian Boesch approach the “foreign” in Franz Schubert. On the weekends, a selection of films created by Heller in recent decades will be shown at the Kaistudios as part of the large festival.

Elbphilharmonie – Reflektor André Heller