Rafael Payare, the newly appointed music director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, first visited Berlin in 2013. It was love at first sight: “My wife and I arrived during a freakishly early spring, and it felt magical. We knew we needed to call Berlin our home.” In the past seven years, Payare served as music director for the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast and most recently for the San Diego Symphony, but kept an apartment in Berlin’s Mitte district. For Payare, who is originally from Venezuela and a graduate of the country’s renowned El Sistema classical music education program, Berlin’s seven major orchestras and many museums add to the city’s appeal. “Berlin has this magnetic energy, like New York, but not as loud. It’s full of beautiful parks, but also has a gritty side – you can be incognito or at the centre of everything.”
Related: The Film Lover’s Guide to Berlin
