05.07.2026

NIKOLA HILLEBRAND sings Orff's Carmina Burana with Sir Simon Rattle

Following her successful debut last season with the BRSO and Herbert Blomstedt with Mendelssohn’s  Symphony No. 2 Lobgesang, Nikola Hillebrand makes her return to the orchestra this July, this time for Orff’s Carmina Burana under Sir Simon Rattle.

This appearance forms part of a unique project to bring the 2025-26 season to a close, in which Sir Simon Rattle brings together choirs from all over Bavaria with the choir and symphony orchestra of the Bavarian Radio. Many voices – but a musical idea that thrives on participation and listening. The programme spans an arc from Aaron Copland's Old American Songs, Judith Weir's Storm for children's and women's choir to Ralph Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music, in which togetherness itself becomes a theme when voices intertwine, dissolve and find each other again. With the archaic force of Carl Orff's Carmina, the common ground finally fades out in a roaring way. "Singing is a social act," says Sir Simon. "This is about community. About breathing together. About what people can achieve together. We need that urgently now!"

The first performance takes place in the BRSO’s home city of Munich on Sunday 6 July, before the project travels to Bad Kissingen Summer Festival in a special open-air concert in celebration of the festival’s 40th anniversary.

Those unable to make what promise to be a very special couple of concerts, can catch the live performances online on BR Klassik radio on 25 July at 13:05 (extracts from the Munich concert) and through broadcast on BR TV / online via the ARD Mediathek on 27 July from 22:45 (concert from Bad Kissingen).

with
Nikola Hillebrand, soprano
Sunnyboy Dladla, tenor
John Brancy, baritone

Sir Simon Rattle, conductor
Choirs from across Bavaria
Bavarian Radio Choir
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra