René Barbera, Florian Sempey and Alisa Medvedeva join the Filharmonie Brno under Maestro Prof. Arkady Beryn for an international gala at the Philharmonie Berlin on 2 November 2026.
Berlin’s cultural identity has always been shaped by international exchange. Its concert halls and opera houses bring together artists from different countries, traditions and generations, making the city one of Europe’s most active meeting points for music and the performing arts. On Monday, 2 November 2026, that international character will take centre stage at the Philharmonie Berlin with the Operngala-Nacht in the Großer Saal.
The evening brings together a Czech orchestra, three international opera voices and a conductor whose career spans more than four decades. Rather than presenting a single staged opera, the gala format creates a journey through different operatic traditions, combining celebrated arias and duets with orchestral works in one of Berlin’s most distinctive concert halls.
The Filharmonie Brno, founded in 1956, is one of the Czech Republic’s leading orchestras and has built an extensive international presence through concerts, tours and festival appearances. Maestro Prof. Arkady Beryn, who conducts, has more than forty years of professional experience. Chief Conductor of the Internationale Symphoniker Deutschland from 2003 to 2011, he has since led orchestras including the Berliner Symphoniker, the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, the Camerata Salzburg, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and has appeared in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Philharmonie Berlin. He holds the Grand Prix of an international competition in Luxembourg and was made an honorary member of the World Wide Web VIP Loge International in Zurich in December 2005.
The three soloists bring equally international careers to Berlin. René Barbera, the Texan tenor who in 2011 became the first singer to win all three top prizes at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition, has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala and the Opéra de Paris. French baritone Florian Sempey, particularly celebrated for his interpretation of Figaro, has performed at the Opéra de Paris, the Royal Opera House in London and major European festivals, and is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Soprano Alisa Medvedeva, trained at the Saint Petersburg Conservatoire and based in Geneva, has performed internationally and shared the stage with artists including Andrea Bocelli and Il Divo.
The programme moves between opera and symphonic repertoire, allowing each artist and the orchestra to shape a different part of the evening. Familiar arias and duets sit alongside orchestral works, creating a concert that crosses Italian, French, Russian and Central European musical traditions. The result is conceived not as a conventional staged production, but as a gala in which voices and orchestra share equal presence.
At the Philharmonie Berlin, this international cast comes together in a hall that has itself become a symbol of European musical life. The Operngala-Nacht begins at 20:00 on 2 November 2026, bringing the Filharmonie Brno, Arkady Beryn, René Barbera, Florian Sempey and Alisa Medvedeva to the Großer Saal for one evening in Berlin.
EVENT INFORMATION
Operngala-Nacht – Opera Gala at the Philharmonie Berlin
Monday, 2 November 2026, 20:00
Philharmonie Berlin – Großer Saal
Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße 1, 10785 Berlin, Germany
Conductor: Maestro Arkady Beryn
Soloists: René Barbera, tenor; Florian Sempey, baritone; Alisa Medvedeva, soprano
Orchestra: Filharmonie Brno (Brno Philharmonic)
Programme: Arias, duets, overtures and intermezzi by Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Puccini, Bizet, Verdi, Mascagni, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, Dvořák and Zequinha de Abreu
Tickets: from €26.50 via Eventim – eventim.de/artist/philharmonie-berlin/operngala-nacht-philhamonie-berlin-4122419
Event page: Philharmonie Berlin – berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/concert/calendar/57371
Event listing: visitBerlin – visitberlin.de/en/event/brno-philharmonic-opera-gala-night
