The Dresdner Philharmonie (Dresden Philharmonic) is a German symphony orchestra based in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

. Its principal concert venue is the '' Kulturpalast''. The orchestra also performs at the Kreuzkirche, the Hochschule für Musik Dresden, and the Schloss Albrechtsberg. It receives financial support from the city of Dresden. The choral ensembles affiliated with the orchestra are the Dresden Philharmonic Choir and Dresden Philharmonic Chamber Choir.

History

The orchestra was founded in 1870 and gave its first concert in the ''Gewerbehaussaal'' on 29 November 1870, under the name ''Gewerbehausorchester''. The orchestra acquired its current name in 1915. During the existence of the

DDR DDR or ddr may refer to: *ddr, ISO 639-3 code for the Dhudhuroa language *DDr., title for a double doctorate in Germany *DDR, station code for Dadar railway station, Mumbai, India *' (German Democratic Republic), official name of the former East ...

, the orchestra took up its primary residence in the ''Kulturpalast''. After German reunification, plans had been proposed for a new concert hall. These had not come to fruition by the time of the principal conductorship of

Marek Janowski Marek Janowski (born 18 February 1939 in Warsaw) is a Polish-born German conductor. He is currently chief conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic. Childhood Janowski grew up in Wuppertal, near Cologne, after his mother traveled there at the st ...

, who cited this lack of development of a new hall for the orchestra as the reason for his resignation from the post in 2003. The orchestra's current principal conductor is

Michael Sanderling Michael Sanderling (born 21 February 1967) is a German conductor and violoncellist. Biography Born in East Berlin, Michael Sanderling is the son of the contrabassist Barbara Wagner and the conductor Kurt Sanderling. He received his first c ...

, since 2011. His initial contract was for three years. In October 2013, the orchestra announced the extension of Sanderling's contract as principal conductor through the 2018–2019 season. In November 2016, Sanderling announced, via a letter to the mayor of Dresden, his intention to stand down as chief conductor of the orchestra after the end of his current contract in 2019, in protest at learning of proposed culture budget reductions via media reports instead of being informed directly from the civic authorities. In September 2018, the orchestra announced the re-appointment of Janowski as its chief conductor, effective with the 2019–2020 season, with an initial contract of three seasons. In November 2020, the orchestra announced the extension of Janowski's contract as chief conductor by one season, through the summer of 2023. The current ''Intendantin'' of the orchestra is Frauke Roth, in the post since 2015, and currently under contract to the orchestra through 2026.

Principal conductors

* Hermann Mannsfeldt (1870–1885) * Michael Zimmermann (1885–1886) * Ernst Stahl (1886–1890) * August Trenkler (1890–1903) * Willy Olsen (1903–1915) * Edwin Lindner (1915–1923) * Joseph Gustav Mraczek (1923–1924) * Eduard Mörike (1924–1929) * Paul Scheinpflug (1929–1932) *

Werner Ladwig Werner Ladwig (18 August 1899 – 23 March 1934) was a German conductor. Life Born in Halle, Ladwig visited the Francke Foundations in Halle and studied philosophy, art history and musicology at the universities of Halle and Leipzig. Paul Gra ...

(1932–1934) * Paul van Kempen (1934–1942) *

Carl Schuricht Carl Adolph Schuricht (; 3 July 18807 January 1967) was a German conductor. Life and career Schuricht was born in Danzig (Gdańsk), German Empire; his father's family had been respected organ-builders. His mother, Amanda Wusinowska, a widow soo ...

(1942–1944) * Gerhart Wiesenhütter (1945–1946) *

Heinz Bongartz Heinz Bongartz (31 July 1894, Krefeld – 5 May 1978, Dresden) was a German conductor and composer. He was the first artistic manager of the Dresdner Philharmonie (Dresden Philharmonic Concert Halls) under the East German East Germany ...

(1947–1964) * Horst Förster (1964–1967) *

Kurt Masur Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus O ...

(1967–1972) *

Günther Herbig Günther Herbig (born 30 November 1931) is a German conductor. Born in Ústí nad Labem, Czechoslovakia, Herbig studied conducting at the Franz Liszt Academy in Weimar in 1951 (then in East Germany) with Hermann Abendroth. He later was a student ...

(1972–1976) *

Herbert Kegel Herbert Kegel (29 July 1920 – 20 November 1990) was a German conductor. Kegel was born in Dresden. He studied conducting with Karl Böhm and composition with Boris Blacher at the Dresden Conservatory from 1935 to 1940. In 1946 he began c ...

(1977–1985) *

Jörg-Peter Weigle Jörg-Peter Weigle (born 1953, in Greifswald), is a German conductor and music professor. He is the uncle of the conductor Sebastian Weigle and the violist Friedemann Weigle. Weigle received his first musical training from 1963 to 1971 as a memb ...

(1986–1994) *

Michel Plasson Michel Plasson (born 2 October 1933, Paris, France) is a French conductor. Plasson was a student of Lazare Lévy at the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1962, he was a prize-winner at the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors. ...

(1994–2001) *

(2001–2003) *

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (born Rafael Frühbeck; 15 September 1933 – 11 June 2014) was a Spanish conductor and composer. Frühbeck was born in Burgos, Spain to a family of German ancestry. He first took up conducting while on military serv ...

(2004–2011) *

(2011–2019) * Marek Janowski (2019–present)

References

External links

Dresdner Philharmonie and Philharmoniker official website

CDs of Dresdner Philharmonie released by label GENUIN

{{Authority control German symphony orchestras Music in Dresden Musical groups established in 1870 1870 establishments in Saxony