The German Film Orchestra Babelsberg (also known as ''Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg'' or DFOB in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

) is a

symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

and music studio based in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

History

It was founded in 1918 as Ufa-Sinfonieorchester. Following World War II, the orchestra survived virtually unscathed. It was able to continue its work at the old location in

Babelsberg Babelsberg () is the largest quarter of Potsdam, the capital city of the German state of Brandenburg. The neighbourhood is named after a small hill on the Havel river. It is the location of Babelsberg Palace and Park, part of the Palaces and Park ...

in 1946 with the founding of

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

Deutsche Film Aktiengesellschaft (

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PR ...

) as the DEFA music department's own studio orchestra. Almost all of DEFA's productions were recorded with the orchestra, including film classics such as

Wolfgang Staudte Wolfgang Staudte (9 October 1906 – 19 January 1984), born Georg Friedrich Staudte, was a German film director, script writer and actor. He was born in Saarbrücken. After 1945, Staudte also looked at German guilt in the cinema. Alongside ...

's '' The Murderers Are Among Us'' (1946), Heiner Carow's '' The Legend of Paul and Paula'' (1973), Peter Schamoni's ''

Spring Symphony ''Spring Symphony'' is a choral symphony by Benjamin Britten, his Opus 44. The work is scored for soprano, alto and tenor soloists, mixed choir, boys' choir and orchestra. Britten used texts of several poems related to spring, mostly from th ...

'' (1983) and all episodes of the

Deutscher Fernsehfunk Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF; German for "German Television Broadcasting") was the state television broadcaster in the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) from 1952 to 1991. DFF produced free-to-air terrestrial television programmin ...

TV series ''

Polizeiruf 110 ''Polizeiruf 110'' ("Police call 110") is a long-running German-language detective television series. The name refers to the emergency telephone number of the ''Volkspolizei''. The first episode was broadcast 27 June 1971 in the German Democratic ...

''. The orchestra was re-established in 1993 by Klaus Peter Beyer under its current name. The orchestra derives its name from the legendary

Babelsberg Studios Babelsberg Film Studio () (also known as Studio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world, producing films since 1912. With a total area of about and a studio area of a ...

Potsdam-Babelsberg Babelsberg () is the largest quarter (urban subdivision), quarter of Potsdam, the capital city of the Germany, German state of Brandenburg. The neighbourhood is named after a small hill on the Havel river. It is the location of Babelsberg Palace an ...

, a city part of

today, where notable films such as ''

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...

'', '' Dr. Mabuse'', ''

The Blue Angel ''The Blue Angel'' () is a 1930 German musical comedy-drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings and Kurt Gerron. Written by Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmöller and Robert Liebmann, with uncredite ...

, Inglorious Basterds'' and '' Bridge of Spies'' were produced. The Film Orchestra frequently presents live performances of silent films and other concerts and is very active in recording music for the television, gaming, music and film industries. Additionally, the orchestra has collaborated over 800 times collaborates with prominent artists in popular and jazz music on crossover projects. It has worked with artists like

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( ; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time and the best-sel ...

( Up!),

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

(

A New Day Has Come ''A New Day Has Come'' is the eighteenth studio album and seventh English-language album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released by Sony Music on 25 March 2002. It was her first new studio album since her 1998 Christmas album '' These Are Spec ...

) and

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born November 5, 1959) is a British and Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and photographer. He is estimated to have sold between 75 million and more than 100 million album, records and Single (music), si ...

( Colour Me Kubrick). It appeared on several albums the German Metal Band

Rammstein Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, drummer Christoph ...

, like " Mutter" (2001), "

Reise, Reise ''Reise, Reise'' (; a German '' military wake-up call'', literally "(a)rise, (a)rise") is the fourth studio album by Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein. It was released on 27 September 2004 through Universal Music in Germany and followed shor ...

"(2004) and "

Liebe ist für alle da (, "Love is there for everyone"), often abbreviated to LIFAD, is the sixth studio album by German band Rammstein. It was released through Universal Music in Europe on 16 October 2009, the United Kingdom on 19 October 2009, and the United State ...

" (2009), and several

Max Richter Max Richter (; ; born 22 March 1966) is a German-born British composer and pianist. He works within postminimalist and contemporary classical styles. Richter is classically trained, having graduated in composition from the University of Edinbu ...

Albums. It has also worked with the German Progressive Rock Band

Karat The fineness of a precious metal object (coin, bar, jewelry, etc.) represents the weight of ''fine metal'' therein, in proportion to the total weight which includes alloying base metals and any impurities. Alloy metals are added to increase hardn ...

on its 1997 album "Balance" and its live album "25 Jahre Karat" (25 Years of Karat, 2001). In 2012 the Orchestra took part in creation of sixth

Avantasia Avantasia is a German Supergroup (music), supergroup rock opera, metal opera project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist of the band Edguy. It has been characterized as a rock opera, as it features the contributions of various vocalists and music ...

's studio album "

The Mystery of Time ''The Mystery of Time'' is the sixth full-length album by Tobias Sammet's german metal opera project Avantasia. The album was released on 26 April 2013. This is the first Avantasia release to feature the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg (the s ...

". In 2015 it backed

Ronan Harris Ronan Harris (born 14 June 1967) is the founding member of the electronic music project VNV Nation. He is credited with the songwriting, production, lyrical and vocal aspects of the band's music. In the years preceding VNV Nation's debut album, ...

VNV Nation VNV Nation, also known as Victory Not Vengeance, are a British-Irish electronic music group formed in London and led by Ronan Harris in the roles of singer, songwriter and producer, with live members being keyboardists Mike Wimer and David Ger ...

's Resonance: Music For Orchestra Vol. 1, which was a No. 7 hit in Germany, on the mainstream

GfK Entertainment Charts The GfK Entertainment charts are the official charts for music, home video, and video games in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on be ...

. The German Film Orchestra Babelsberg appears on more than 1.000 film productions, such as "

Arlo the Alligator Boy ''Arlo the Alligator Boy'' is a 2021 American animated musical film directed by Ryan Crego in his directorial debut. The film is led by Michael J. Woodard and Mary Lambert in their debut acting roles as Arlo and Bertie respectively. The film ...

", "

Ad Astra is a Latin phrase meaning "to the stars". The phrase has origins with Virgil, who wrote in his ''Aeneid'': "''sic itur ad astra''" ('thus one journeys to the stars') and "''opta ardua pennis astra sequi''" ('desire to pursue the highhard to r ...

" , "

Tides Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

", "

Love, Death & Robots ''Love, Death & Robots'' (stylized as LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS; represented in emoji form as ❤️❌🤖) is an adult animation, adult animated Anthology series, anthology television series created by Tim Miller (director), Tim Miller and streamin ...

", " Sleepless", " Timeless", " Alone in Berlin", Hitman: Agent 47", Escobar: Paradise Lost", " Hector and the Search for Happiness", " The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared", " The Congress", "

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

", " Little Big Panda",

Ninja Assassin ''Ninja Assassin'' is a 2009 martial arts film directed by James McTeigue from a story and script by Matthew Sand and J. Michael Straczynski. The film stars Rain as a disillusioned assassin looking for retribution against his former mentor, pla ...

", Laura´s Star" and "

Snow White "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

". The orchestra also produces music for computer games, like "

Balan Wonderworld is a 2021 platformer, platform game developed by Arzest and Balan Company and published by Square Enix. Assuming the role of two children guided by a magical being called Balan, the player explores twelve worlds themed after the hearts of trou ...

" and "

Final Fantasy is a Japanese fantasy Anthology series, anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi which is owned, developed, and published by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fanta ...

: Brave Exvius". From 1993 the studios of the orchestra were located in the former radio quarters of the GDR, at Nalepastraße in Oberschöneweide, Berlin. In December, 2007 the orchestra was able to move "back to the roots" in Babelsberg, into a building in the area of Film Studio Babelsberg. The German Film Orchestra's current Chief Conductor is Scott Lawton, who assumed his post in 1999. The former conductor was

Frank Strobel Frank Strobel (born in 1966 in Munich) is a German conductor known for premieres and performances of works by composers Sergei Prokofiev, Franz Schreker and Siegfried Wagner. He is authorized arranger and editor of works by the composer Alfred Sc ...

References

External links

* German symphony orchestras Musical groups established in 1993 1993 establishments in Germany Film music Organisations based in Potsdam Orchestras in Brandenburg {{orchestra-stub