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Berlin: Symphony of a City

Zankel Hall



Helmut Imig, Conductor
Eric Huebner, Piano
Stephen Gosling, Piano
Eric Poland, Percussion
Haruka Fujii, Percussion
In beautiful black-and-white images, the 1927 silent film Berlin: Symphony of a City, directed by Walther Ruttmann, depicts a day in the life of Weimar Berlin; these screenings feature a live per-formance of the original score by Edmund Meisel, arranged for two pianos and percussion.


Presented by Carnegie Hall in partnership with The Museum of Modern Art.
The Berlin in Lights festival is made possible by a leadership gift from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation.

Major funding has also been provided by Mercedes and Sid Bass, and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from Martha and Bob Lipp, Fundación Mercantil (Venezuela), and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Additional funding provided by Axel Springer AG, GWFF USA Inc., and the Jerome Robbins Foundation.

about the artist
Artist Image

Helmut Imig has performed in China, Mexico, Brazil, New Zealand, Russia, Israel, and Italy, specializing in avant-garde music, children’s programs, and silent films, for which he resurrected many original scores by Saint-Saëns, Mascagni, Hindemith, Shostakovich, Milhaud, and other composers.

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About the Music

The premiere of Walther Ruttmann’s masterpiece with live music by Edmund Meisel took place in Berlin’s Tauentzin Palast cinema on September 23, 1927. The composer conducted a 75-piece orchestra whose composition and positioning in the room indicated the filmmakers’ unusual intentions.

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