Navid Kermani at the Bergson: Freedom

Navid Kermani is one of the leading intellectuals in the German-speaking world. As a writer, he has been honored with numerous awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Kleist Prize, and the Thomas Mann Prize. At the Bergson Kunstkraftwerk, he will read from a selection of his own texts—chosen by him—in a four-part series, reflecting on the themes of birth, love, freedom, and death.

Which composer has celebrated freedom so passionately and existentially, erecting such glorious musical monuments to it, as Ludwig van Beethoven? Many of his symphonies take it as their theme—most powerfully, of course, the Ninth with Schiller’s “Ode to Joy,” but also the Piano Concerto No. 5.

Composed in 1809 during the siege of Vienna by Napoleon’s troops, it forms the musical centerpiece of this concert on the theme of freedom. At first, Beethoven was an enthusiastic supporter of Napoleon and, in particular, of the motto of the French Revolution: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. Later, when Napoleon crowned himself emperor, this enthusiasm turned to disappointment and rejection. What remained was the conviction that all people were entitled to freedom and that no one was privileged by birth.

Beethoven was imbued with the certainty that all people have equal value—today we would say: equal dignity—from birth and must therefore live in physical, legal, and intellectual freedom. This is also evident in the Piano Concerto No. 5. While war raged around him, he composed one of his most radiant works, with a triumphant finale.

Not as a glorification of war or the victory of a military faction, but once again as a tribute to humanity and freedom.

The soloist is the young Chinese pianist Yihao Mao. Having already thrilled the audience at the Elektra Tonquartier in 2025 with Chopin’s Piano Concerto in E minor, he now returns to the Bergson Phil’ to perform Beethoven’s revolutionary Piano Concerto No. 5 under the baton of Jesús Ortega Martínez.

Navid Kermani will explore very concrete and timely facets of the theme of freedom through his texts. For the quote from Schiller’s *Don Carlos*, which Beethoven often cited, remains timeless: “Do good wherever you can, love freedom above all else, and never deny the truth—not even on the throne.”

Additional dates:

July 11, 2027: Death (with the Bergson Artists and Schubert’s string quartet “Death and the Maiden”)

Music:

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 (arranged by Alexander Krampe)

Navid Kermani, Essays

Yihao Mao, piano

Bergson Phil’

Jesús Ortega Martínez, conductor

Doors open: 3:30 p.m.

Start: 4:00 p.m.

End: 5:15 p.m.

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