The Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, based in

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

, Germany, is the state's largest symphony orchestra and also the orchestra of the

Volkstheater Rostock The Volkstheater Rostock () is the municipal theatre of the Hanseatic city of Rostock. It has three venues: the ''Großes Haus'', the ''Theater im Stadthafen'' and the ''Kleine Komödie'' and puts on plays, musical theatre/opera, ballet ...

. Founded in 1897, the orchestra grew to 90 musicians by 1991. They were rewarded a prize for ambitious programs in 1993.

History

The Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock dates back to 1897, when the Leipzig

Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

Heinrich Schulz was commissioned as

music director A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

to found an orchestra of at least 34 well-trained musicians. On 22 September 1897, the founding concert of this orchestra, named Rostocker Stadt- und Theaterorchester (Rostock municipal and theatre orchestra), took place under his direction in Rostock's then Apollo Hall with ''

Les Préludes LES or Les may refer to: People * Les (given name) * Les (surname) * L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer Space flight * Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews * Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies * Lincoln Experimental ...

'' by Franz Liszt and Beethoven's Symphony No. 8. In 1914, the orchestra was renamed Städtisches Orchester, now managed by the city of Rostock. Gerd Puls in particular shaped the development of the orchestra in the post-war period. During his 34 years as

Generalmusikdirektor A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

, he led his orchestra to the status of an A orchestra in 1973. In 1990, the orchestra was named Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock. His successor Michael Zilm took over in 1991, with an orchestra of 90 musicians. He was able to perform

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...

's orchestral works including the Second Symphony, and led the orchestra on a tour of Sweden with Mahler's Seventh Symphony in 1995. Other programs of the 1990s focuses on 20th-century music by composers such as

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...

and

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( ; ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

. In 2000, the Norddeutsche Philharmonie became a member of the , an orchestra association which also includes the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, the

Staatskapelle Weimar The (DNT), or German National Theater and Weimar State Orchestra, is the most significant arts organization in Weimar. The institution unites the (German National Theater) with the (Weimar State Orchestra). It plays on a total of six stages ...

and the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt (Oder), aimed at promoting the performance and recording of orchestral film music. Within this framework, the orchestra recorded the music by Hans Peter Ströer for

Heinrich Breloer Heinrich Breloer (, born 17 February 1942 in Gelsenkirchen) is a German author and film director. He has mainly worked on docudramas related to modern German history and has received many awards. Breloer's 2005 docudrama ''Speer und Er'' was descr ...

's film ''

Buddenbrooks ''Buddenbrooks'' () is a 1901 novel by Thomas Mann, chronicling the decline of a wealthy north German merchant family over the course of four generations, incidentally portraying the manner of life and mores of the Hanseatic bourgeoisie in th ...

''. In 2002, the orchestra made the first recording of

Karl Weigl Karl Ignaz Weigl (6 February 1881 – 11 August 1949) was a History of the Jews in Austria, Jewish Austrian composer and pianist, who later became a Naturalization, naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Weigl was born in Vienna, ...

's Piano Concerto for the left hand, with

Florian Krumpöck Florian Krumpöck (born 1978) is an Austrian pianist and conductor. Life Krumpöck is the son of a cellist and an art historian. Krumpöck as pianist Among his pianistic teachers were Rudolf Buchbinder, Gerhard Oppitz, Elisabeth Leonskaja ...

as the soloist and conducted by Manfred Hermann. Zilm, who became honorary conductor, was succeeded by Mikhail Jurowski in 1997, Wolf-Dieter Hauschild in 2002, Peter Leonard in 2004,

Niklas Willén Niklas Willén (born 30 March 1961) is a Swedish Conducting, conductor. He was born in Stockholm and studied conducting and composition there at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Royal College of Music. His conducting teachers were Professo ...

in 2007, and from 2011 the conductor and pianist Krumpöck. The orchestra continued to be threatened by austerity measures by the city of Rostock and the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Several years followed without a general music director. In 2017, the orchestra received financial support from a national program "Exzellente Orchesterlandschaft Deutschland", for the promotion of contemporary music and educational projects.

Marcus Bosch Marcus Bosch (born 28 October 1969) is a German conductor. He was Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) in Aachen, held the position at the Staatstheater Nürnberg from 2011, and with the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock from 2020. He is the artistic dire ...

took over as conductor in residence in 2018, and became chief conductor in 2020. The orchestra was the first symphony orchestra in Germany to resume playing with all members after the restrictions due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, playing in September 2020 Bruch's

Violin Concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

and Mahler's Fourth Symphony.

Musical directors

The following individuals have held the position of the orchestra's musical director: * 1897–1924: Heinrich Schulz * 1928–1931:

Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (5 May 190028 May 1973) was a German conductor and composer. After studying at several music academies, he worked in German opera houses between 1923 and 1945, first as a répétiteur and then in increasingly senior condu ...

Jewanski, Jörg
Schmidt-Isserstedt, Hans, eigentl. Paul Hans Ernst Schmidt
(in German) MGG 2016 * 1931–1938: Adolf WachPietschmann, Michael Stefan
"Aus deinem Reiche muss ich fliehn – O Königin, Göttin! Lass mich ziehn!": Wagners Werke am Stadttheater in Rostock
(in German) Tectum Verlag 2002, p. 2, ISBN 978-3-82-888428-1 * 1938–1945: Heinz Schubert * 1948–1949: Gerhard Pflüger * 1949–1951: Fritz Müller * 1951–1954: Heinz Röttger * 1954–1955: Hans Gahlenbeck * 1955–1957: Gerhart Wiesenhütter * 1957–1991: Gerd Puls * 1991–1997: Michael Zilm * 1997–1999:

Michail Jurowski Michail Vladimirovich Jurowski (; 25 December 1945 – 19 March 2022) was a Russian conductor who worked internationally, based in Germany for most of his career. He was particularly interested in the works of Dmitri Shostakovich, in concerts an ...

* 2002–2004: Wolf-Dieter Hauschild (honorary conductor since 2004) * 2004–2007: Peter Leonard * 2009–2011:

* 2011–2014:

* 2020–present:

(principal conductor, from 2018 conductor in residence)

Awards

In 1993, the orchestra was awarded the prize of the German Music Publishers Association for its ambitious programming with GMD Michael Zilm. In 1998, on the occasion of its 100th anniversary, the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock received the Kulturpreis der Hansestadt Rostock.

References

External links

*
Volkstheater Rostock

Philharmonische Gesellschaft Rostock
(in German) Supporting association of the orchestra *
Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock
(articles, in German) Neue Musikzeitung {{portal bar, Classical Music, Germany Orchestras in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Music in Rostock German symphony orchestras