Concert engagements

Founded in 1662 as the court orchestra of the princely court of Baden, which at that time still resided in Durlach, the BADISCHE STAATSKAPELLE developed into an orchestra with a great national and international reputation. Famous court conductors such as Franz Danzi, Hermann Levi, Otto Dessoff and Felix Mottl conducted numerous premières and first performances, e.g. by Hector Berlioz, Johannes Brahms and Béla Bartók. Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss also conducted the court orchestra on several occasions. In the 1860s, Hermann Levi introduced the first regular subscription concerts of the then court orchestra, which continue to this day as the symphony concerts of the BADISCHEN STAATSKAPELLE.

General Music Directors such as Joseph Keilberth, Christof Prick, Günther Neuhold and Kazushi Ono led the orchestra into the modern era despite wars and financial difficulties, without neglecting the pillars of the repertoire. The BADISCHE STAATSKAPELLE still presents itself today with a complete range between repertoire cultivation and the presentation of forward-looking contemporaries, exemplified by the name of Wolfgang Rihm.

As General Music Director from 2008 to 2020, Justin Brown focused on cultivating the works of Wagner, Berlioz, Verdi and Strauss and created varied concert programmes for which he and his team received the "Best Concert Programme 2012/13" award from the German Music Publishers Association.

Georg Fritzsch took over as General Music Director for the 2020/21 season. For the Beethoven Year 2020, he and piano virtuoso Gerhard Oppitz performed all five Beethoven piano concertos as a marathon in one evening.

Find out more at www.staatstheater.karlsruhe.de/ensemble/staatskapelle

Founded in 1889, the Beethoven-Haus Bonn association is regarded as the leading Beethoven centre. It has set itself the task of keeping Beethoven's life, work and influence alive. The cultural centre includes the world's most important Beethoven collection, the museum in Beethoven's birthplace with over 100,000 visitors per year, a musicological research department, library and publishing house as well as the Hermann J. Abs Chamber Music Hall with a year-round programme.

Find out more at www.beethoven.de

The Beethovenfest Bonn is one of the oldest and most important music festivals in Germany. Founded in 1845 by Franz Liszt in the city of Beethoven's birth, it now represents an internationally recognised cultural beacon with around 70 events in Bonn and the region every year in August and September.

Under its director Steven Walter, the Beethovenfest is currently repositioning itself: as a festival that is open to all sections of the population, radically contemporary in its approach to a living tradition and future-orientated, testing and significantly shaping the future of concert life in a variety of ways.

Find out more at www.beethovenfest.de

The Brandenburg Summer Concerts are Brandenburg-Berlin's largest music festival in the entire region. Every year on weekends from June to September, around 30 "Classical Concerts in the Countryside" take place throughout Brandenburg and Berlin. Stars and ensembles of classical music and many other styles, as well as artists from the fields of literature, painting and dance, meet the sights of Brandenburg's castles, churches, monasteries, industrial and architectural monuments. Combined with an intensive experience of nature, culinary delights and interaction with the people of the region, this is a cultural excursion and an overall experience that has characterised the Brandenburg Summer Concerts for 30 years.

Find out more at https://brandenburgische-sommerkonzerte.org

Music for everyone - the Dresden Philharmonic stands for concerts at the highest artistic level, musical education for all ages and a view beyond the musical horizon. Guest performances on almost every continent and collaborations with guests from all over the world have established the orchestra's reputation in the international classical music world. Most recently, Marek Janowski was Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Dresden Philharmonic (2019-2023). Kahchun Wong has been Principal Guest Conductor of the orchestra since the 2023/24 season.
The Dresden Philharmonic has been at home in the first-class concert hall in Dresden's Kulturpalast since 2017. Here, it has ideal acoustic conditions to further shape its sound ideal and to distinguish its programmes. The orchestra has retained its own warm, rounded sound in the Romantic repertoire. In addition, it is characterised by a tonal and stylistic flexibility for both Baroque and Viennese Classical music as well as modern works.

The orchestra was founded over 150 years ago by the self-confident citizens of Dresden. Philharmonic concerts were held regularly from 1885 until the orchestra adopted its current name in 1923. In the first decades, composers such as Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák and Strauss conducted their own works. Paul van Kempen formed it into a first-class ensemble from 1934 onwards. After him, Kurt Masur (also honorary conductor since 1994), Marek Janowski, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Michael Sanderling, among others, shaped the orchestra.
The orchestra promotes top young musicians in the Kurt Masur Academy.

The orchestra began recording discs in 1937. Today, the Dresden Philharmonic's discography lists almost 330 works. Recent recordings include a CD cycle under the direction of Michael Sanderling with the complete symphonies of Shostakovich and Beethoven (Sony Classical). With Marek Janowski, the Dresden Philharmonic has recorded Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana", Puccini's "Il Tabarro", Beethoven's "Fidelio" and Schubert symphonies ("Unfinished" "Great" C major) (PentaTone). Verdi's "La traviata" was recently released in a concert recording conducted by Daniel Oren and bel canto arias with Lisette Oropesa (also on PentaTone).

Find out more at www.dresdnerphilharmonie.de

With more than 190 concerts and over 90,000 visitors a year, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival is one of the largest classical music festivals in Germany. International orchestras, the stars of the classical music scene and up-and-coming musicians from all over the world perform in castles, manor houses, churches, barns, factory halls or in the open air. The music, the incomparable lake and coastal landscape and the more than 90 venues turn the concerts into special experiences. Director Ursula Haselböck has headed the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival since 1 September 2020, taking over from Dr Markus Fein, who had been in charge of the festival since 2014.

The three seasons of the festival year
For ten days in March, the Rügen Festival Spring invites to musical discoveries and very personal concerts under the artistic direction of prizewinners of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival. During the three-month festival summer from mid-June to mid-September, up to 150 events take place throughout the state. Series such as "Landpartie", "Junge Elite", "Unerhörte Orte", "360° ...", "2 x Hören" and the children's and family programme "Mäck & Pomm" are constant features. In the festival winter, the classical music festival treats audiences to a Christmas atmosphere in Ulrichshusen, Stolpe or Neubrandenburg and welcomes the New Year with traditional music.

Promoting musicians in the long term
One of the pillars of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival is to promote and support young artists. Since 1995, promising young musicians from all over the world have been performing in the "Young Elite" series and competing for one of the young talent awards. Once honoured, they return again and again to the prizewinners' concerts at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival. Since 2006, a prizewinner in residence has also been appointed. The residency gives the respective artist - including world-renowned artists such as Daniel Hope, Julia Fischer, Daniel Müller-Schott, Igor Levit and Kit Armstrong - the opportunity to help shape the festival summer and lend a very personal touch to the programme, usually in over 20 concerts.

Find out more at https://festspiele-mv.de

Heidelberger Frühling gGmbH is one of the most important driving forces in the fields of classical music and festivals. It organises the Heidelberg String Quartet Festival, the Heidelberger Frühling International Music Festival, the Chamber Music Plus concert series, a festival academy for lied singing, chamber music and music journalism as well as the Heidelberg Music Conference, an annual conference for European festivals and concert halls.

Each season, the Heidelberger Frühling organises over 120 events as well as Thomas Quasthoff's biennial international singing competition "DAS LIED". Together with artists such as Thomas Hampson and Igor Levit, projects and productions are created in Heidelberg that have a lasting impact on the cultural world. More than 47,000 visitors come every year.

Find out more at www.heidelberger-fruehling.de

As a versatile, dynamic chamber orchestra, the Kammerakademie Potsdam has made a name for itself far beyond the city limits. The orchestra of the state capital and house orchestra of the Nikolaisaal is present in Potsdam and Brandenburg with numerous concert series for all age groups, performs in Germany's major concert halls and undertakes concert tours through Europe, to South America and Asia. Many award-winning CD recordings and Brandenburg's first orchestra academy, founded in 2018, testify to the ensemble's success and innovative spirit. Antonello Manacorda has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the KAP since the 2010/11 season.

Find out more at www.kammerakademie-potsdam.de

For decades, the Schlosstheater Celle has offered an incomparable setting for soloists and ensembles from all over the world with its "Chamber Music Ring" (Kammermusikring) section.
The intimate atmosphere of the historic baroque theatre, which will celebrate its 350th anniversary in 2025, is made for dense musical encounters between audience and musicians and is appreciated far beyond Celle: It is a home for chamber music in the truest sense of the word.

Learn more at https://schlosstheater-celle.de/programm/kammermusikring

Since its opening concert on 14 September 1986 with Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8, the Kölner Philharmonie has become an integral part of musical life. Located directly at the foot of Cologne Cathedral and on the Rhine, "between the cathedral and the river", the concert hall is just a five-minute walk from the main railway station. A concert takes place here almost every day of the year; on Sundays and public holidays there are often even two or three.

One reason for its popularity and importance is the diversity of the programme, with major works from the symphonic repertoire, jazz sessions, folk and pop events and concerts dedicated to world premieres, first performances, the lesser known as well as the new and unfamiliar

Another reason is the unmistakable atmosphere of the fantastically beautiful hall, which was modelled on an amphitheatre according to the plans of the Cologne architects Busmann + Haberer, who won the international architectural competition to build a philharmonic hall for Cologne in 1975. The organ of the Cologne Philharmonie with three manuals, two consoles and 70 stops with almost 6,000 pipes was built by the Johannes Klais organ workshop in Bonn.

Find out more at www.koelner-philharmonie.de

Music moves and brings people together - the Konzerthaus Berlin's program stands for symphony concerts performed at the highest level by the Konzerthausorchester Berlin with the new chief conductor Joana Mallwitz and guests such as Iván Fischer and Christoph Eschenbach, as well as innovative educational formats.

Learn more at https://www.konzerthaus.de/en/

The Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover is an opera and concert orchestra with almost four hundred years of success: in addition to daily changing opera and ballet performances, Lower Saxony's largest orchestra produces eight symphony concerts per season, its own chamber concert series, numerous children's and special concerts as well as educational programmes. In multidisciplinary projects and international collaborations, musicians are given the opportunity to try out the development of orchestral work of the future.

Founded in 1636 as a court orchestra, Heinrich Schütz, Agostino Steffani and Georg Friedrich Händel were among the first conductors. The orchestra was enlarged when the present opera house was built in 1852. Joseph Joachim was the outstanding concertmaster of this period - from 1852 to 1866 he was Royal Concertmaster, and from 1859 Concert Director at the opera house. This makes the Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover the orchestra in which Joseph Joachim was permanently engaged for the longest period of his life and with which he remained associated as a guest until a few years before his death.

The orchestra has been part of the Niedersächsische Staatstheater Hannover GmbH since 1970 and is part of the Hanover State Opera, currently under the artistic director Laura Berman. It currently has 112 members. Stephan Zilias has been General Music Director since summer 2020.

Find out more at https://staatstheater-hannover.de

Over the forty years of its activity, the orchestra has achieved a significant position on the Polish music scene, it has also learned various methods of leading an ensemble and developed its own approach to music, combining emotional sound with clarity of texture. Critics highlight these features of the orchestra’s playing, appreciating the performances also for their extraordinary expressiveness. From the beginning, the orchestra was led by outstanding violinists/directors:  Karol Teutsch, Jan Stanienda and his longtime concertmaster, Zbigniew Szufłat.

Initially, it focused on the Classical and even Baroque repertoire, later expanding it to music of the 20th century. Under the direction of another superb artist, Ernst Kovacic, the orchestra began exploring the niches of 20th-century music.

CD recordings, among which albums with works by Ernst Křenek (Capriccio and Toccata Classics), Leoš Janáček (DUX) and string transcriptions of Alban Berg’s works (Berg by Arrangement, Toccata Classics; recognized by The Sunday Times as one of the best albums of the year) and with Bach’s Kunst der Fuge (CD Accord). Enthusiastic reviews were also given to the two latest albums with Christian Danowicz as the leader – Made in Poland (DUX) and Supernova (CD Accord), recorded together with the Atom String Quartet and honoured with the Fryderyk 2018 and 2019 awards. The first album recorded under the direction of Joseph Swensen was released in 2020 - featuring works by Debussy and Tchaikovsky. The album was nominated for a Fryderyk 2021.

In the years 2014–2017, Hartmut Rohde, a violist and lecturer at the Universität der Künste Berlin, was artistic director of the orchestra; he concentrated on the interpretation of Romantic works. Joseph Swensen, who took over as artistic director on 1 September 2017, has expanded the ensemble’s repertoire with both classical and recent works. Since September 2023 the position of artistic director of the orchestra has been held by British violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky.

The NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra has performed in the most important venues of Europe, such as the Barbican Centre in London, Philharmonie, Konzerthaus and Schauspielhaus in Berlin, Konzerthaus in Vienna, Tivolis Concertsal in Copenhagen, Teatro Victoria Eugenia in San Sebastián, as well as during the most important European festivals, among others: Muziekfestival West-Brabant in the Netherlands, Bodenseefestival and Weilburger Schlosskonzerte in Germany, Echternach in Luxembourg, Pablo Casals Festival, Festival du Périgord Noir in France, Estoril in Portugal, Flanders Festival and Europalia in Belgium, International Festival Wratislavia Cantans and Musica Polonica Nova in Wrocław, Poland, as well as the International Festival of Contemporary Music “Warsaw Autumn”.

The NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra has collaborated with recognized artists, such as: Krzysztof Penderecki, Piotr Anderszewski, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Reinhard Goebel, Daniel Hope, Richard Tognetti, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Kolja Blacher, Radek Baborák, Sergei Nakariakov, Daniel Müller-Schott, Tedi Papavrami, Tasmin Little, Heinz Holliger, András Schiff, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Bartłomiej Nizioł, and Krzysztof and Jakub Jakowicz.

Find out more at www.nfm.wroclaw.pl

Artistic quality and stylistic flexibility – these features represent the trademark of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra. Since its foundation in 1946 the orchestra has been active in all kinds of musical fields: opera, operetta, oratorio, film, jazz, pop and cross-over and in particular the symphonic concert. No matter which genre – it makes music an adventure.

Multifaceted repertoire
100 concerts in front of some 200,000 people are performed each year. While the Symphonic Concerts in Nuremberg's Meistersingerhalle focus on the classicalromantic repertoire, the in-house Musiksaal in the Kongresshalle is dedicated to exciting genre-spanning projects from pop, jazz, film and literature. In December, the atmospheric Advent concerts with festive baroque music are a must for many visitors to Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt. Another special feature: the veritable open-air summer season with concerts in the Serenadenhof or at Europe's largest classical open air in a public parc.

Social Commitment
Attracting young people to classical music with age-appropriate and interactive projects is particularly important to the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, as well. The beacon of this strategy is the new U-TURN | the orchestival, an innovative format combining classical and modern orchestral music, digital video art, light installations and hands-on elements in a live experience that breaks all boundaries. Classroom visit is a project in which musicians go to school or kindergarten presenting their instruments and Concerts for people with dementia or a chamber music series in cooperation with the Nuremberg museums and cross-genre productions with jazz and pop music round off the commitment. Versatile Chief Conductor with extensive experience As of September 2022, the internationally acclaimed, charismatic Briton Jonathan Darlington was named chief conductor. With his vast experience, Darlington represents a rare blend of artistic excellence, infectious vitality and charming communication skills – all of them strengths promising an extraordinarily fruitful collaboration.

Learn more at www.nuernbergersymphoniker.de

More than forty years after it was founded, the Orchestre de chambre de Paris is considered one of Europe’s foremost chamber orchestras. Through a period of major renewal in recent years, it is incorporating a new generation of French musicians that have made it one of the youngest permanent orchestras in France and the first French orchestra to achieve true gender parity.

The orchestra performs throughout Greater Paris with concerts at the Philharmonie, where it is a resident ensemble, at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre du Châtelet, as well as other venues in proximity to the metropolitan population, in addition to developing numerous international tours including. As a musical actor engaged in its city, the orchestra has developed a civic approach that aims to reach all segments of the population, including persons in situations of precarity or social exclusion.

The orchestra collaborates with the greatest conductors and soloists like Thomas Dausgaard, Pekka Kuusisto, Antonio Méndez, Maxime Pascal, Hervé Niquet, Tanja et Christian Tetzlaff, Raphaël Sévère, Emmanuel Pahud, Thibaut Garcia, Speranza Scappucci, Carolin Widmann, Gautier Capuçon, Ian Bostridge, Christophe et Julian Prégardien, Karine Deshayes, Marina Rebeka…

In July 2020, the Orchestre de chambre de Paris appointed internationally acclaimed conductor and pianist Lars Vogt as its Music Director. Their collaboration, which quickly proved exceptional, both musically and humanly, was interrupted prematurely by the death of Lars Vogt in September 2022.

Find out more at www.orchestredechambredeparis.com

The Cottbus State Theatre Philharmonic Orchestra can look back on over 100 years of history. Performances by the orchestra have been documented since October 1912. In addition to operatic works, the Philharmonic Concerts are at the centre of the orchestra's work. The classical-romantic repertoire is traditionally cultivated in this context, as is the music of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The start of the 09/10 season saw the launch of the "Eight world premieres in eight concerts" project, which is unique in Germany, if not the world. Each season, a new work was commissioned from various established or previously unknown contemporary composers for all eight subscription concerts. In recognition of this work, the orchestra received the "Best Concert Programme" award from the Deutscher Musikverleger-Verband e. V. (DMV) for the 10/11 season in March 2011. In addition to the orchestra's commitment to contemporary music, which is unique in the German orchestral landscape, the DMV emphasised in particular the focus on versatile music education. Regular dialogue and cooperation with various schools as well as large-scale special projects are just as much a part of the orchestra's work as school and family concerts or chamber concerts for very young children and their parents. With various events such as flash mobs or open-air concerts, the Philharmonic Orchestra regularly brings music to the city and the whole of Brandenburg in low-threshold, sometimes interactive music formats: in squares, shopping centres and shops, at the university or in Branitz Park.

In the 18/19 season, Alexander Merzyn took over the direction of the Philharmonic Orchestra and provided cross-border perspectives: concerts on Germany's neighbouring countries were a major focus of the past seasons alongside the large-scale works of the international classical-romantic repertoire.

Violinist Antje Weithaas worked closely with the orchestra as artist-in-residence during the 19/20 season. The fact that the international career paths of various up-and-coming soloists are linked to the Cottbus orchestra is further evidence of the orchestra management's special focus on working with young, promising talent.

Under the slogan "Tradition and new beginnings", the orchestra launched a concert series in the 20/21 season on the great philosophical questions that composers of all times have addressed in their music. Back in spring 2020, the musicians set out on a journey to the people with their "Concerts for Cottbus" during the lockdown. They surprised people with musical encouragement in small formations, sometimes in unusual locations, in line with the pandemic. The expansion of digital formats has also been a natural part of the orchestra's work since then. Several digital offerings are currently available free of charge on the State Theatre's website.

The Philharmonic Orchestra performs regularly at various theatres in Brandenburg, at the Brandenburg Summer Concerts and at the Chorin Music Summer. Other guest appearances have taken it to Winterthur, Berlin and Paris, as well as to the MusicáMallorca festival for the first time in 2014. Several CD releases document the orchestra's interpretative versatility and artistic quality, including historical recordings, a CD with film music by John Williams and a recording of the first 24 works of the "Eight World Premieres".

Find out more at www.staatstheater-cottbus.de/mitarbeiter/philharmonisches-orchester

Schloss Bückeburg is known to be a magnet for visitors interested in culture. From the 2023/24 season, a new concert series with renowned soloists from the classical music scene will open in the magnificent ballroom. The "Schaumburg Castle Concerts" with their artistic director Prof. Boris Kuznetsov will thus set a cultural exclamation mark for the region and beyond. In addition to artistic excellence, proximity to the audience with active participation in the concert programme plays an important role in the concert series. Moderated artist talks not only break down the barrier between audience and artist, they also facilitate and deepen access to the works performed. Thanks to generous funding from the Loewe Foundation, the Stiftung Niedersachsen and the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung in association with Sparkasse Schaumburg, concertgoers can look forward to fair ticket prices and a lucrative subscription.

Find out more at www.schaumburger-schlosskonzerte.de

For more than 100 years, Schloss Elmau has cultivated a cultural tradition that is unique in the world. The five-star superior hotel is located 100 kilometres south of Munich in a spectacular secluded location at the foot of the Wettersteinwand - surrounded by crystal-clear lakes, fragrant forests and primeval hummock meadows - and was the residence of the heads of state and government during the G7 summits in 2015 and 2022.

Since its opening year in 1916, Schloss Elmau has been a centre of the international classical music, jazz and literature world. The legendary, acoustically outstanding concert hall hosts up to 230 concerts and readings with great musicians and artists every year - always in tune with the times and with great variety. In addition to the concerts spread throughout the year, numerous festivals invite you to immerse yourself in the programme over several days each year - such as the Chamber Music Week, the European Jazz Festival, the Verbier Festival @ Schloss Elmau, the Book Fair Days or Literature Days with a changing focus. In addition, Schloss Elmau itself presents curated festival weeks by outstanding artists such as the world-renowned baritone Christian Gerhaher and star violinist Daniel Hope. The programme is complemented by events to promote young musicians and collaborations with educational institutions such as the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, the Kronberg Academy and partnerships with outstanding competitions.

Schloss Elmau serves as a refuge, rehearsal space and experimental area for artists from all over the world. Artistic pairings are forged here, songs are written, new programmes are rehearsed and CDs are recorded. With 8 grand pianos and round-the-clock rehearsal facilities, Schloss Elmau offers its artists the perfect infrastructure for their artistic work while they and their audiences can relax with friends and families.

Among the artists who have performed or are performing at Schloss Elmau are the great artists of the past decades, including the Amadeus Quartet, Martha Argerich, Avi Avital, Julian Barnes, Lisa Batiashvili, T.C. Boyle, Alfred Brendel, Benjamin Britten, Till Brönner, Yefim Bronfman, Khatia Buniatishvili, John Burnside, Joseph Calleja, Gautier Capuçon, Renaud Capuçon, Christopher Clark, Chick Corea, Dan Diner, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Saul Friedländer, Sol Gabetta, Jan Garbarek, Timothy Garton Ash, Christian Gerhaher, Friedrich Gulda, Jürgen Habermas, Thomas Hampson, André Heller, Daniel Hope, Janine Jansen, Hans Jonas, Leonidas Kavakos, Navid Kermani, Alexander Kluge, Gidon Kremer, Nils Landgren, Walter Laqueur, Igor Levit, Loriot, Ian McEwan, Mischa Maisky, Brad Mehldau, Yehudi Menuhin, Sabine Meyer, Herfried Münkler, Bill Murray, Gregory Porter, Thomas Quasthoff, Quatuor Ebène, Fazil Say, Grigory Sokolov, Esbjörn Svenson, Daniil Trifonov, Arcadi Volodos, Yuja Wang, Michael Wollny, Frank Peter Zimmermann and many others.
Find out more at www.schloss-elmau.de

The Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker are Germany's oldest chamber music festival and also one of the most innovative. Under the artistic direction of violinist, chamber musician and university professor Oliver Wille since 2016, today more than ever it sees itself as a festival week of shared discoveries - of exciting concert formats, evocative programmes, unusual venues, international artistic personalities and up-and-coming young talents.

The "Sommerliche" are characterised by the courage to venture encounters with unknown composers, artists and works, as well as their exploration of the supposedly familiar.

Programmes individually developed for Hitzacker, personal contact between artists and audiences, many opportunities to meet music and people make the festival an inspiring festival venue beyond commerce and event culture.

In addition to the main concerts, there are programmes of workshops, lectures, artist talks, excursions and courses for amateur musicians throughout the day.

The promotion of young musicians has traditionally played an important role in the festival, for example by organising its own festival academies or inviting excellent prizewinners.

Hitzacker is an open, lively place on the Elbe, away from the big metropolises. Every summer, for nine days around 1 August, the festival transforms the picturesque half-timbered town into a focal point of cultural interaction with an international reach. The festival attracts around 10,000 visitors every year.

Find out more at www.musiktage-hitzacker.de

SPANUNGEN: MUSIK IM RWE-KRAFTWERK HEIMBACH is conceived as an annual, week-long chamber music festival in the second half of June. The concerts are organised in the Heimbach hydroelectric power station, Germany's most beautiful art nouveau power station (1905), which is nestled in the idyllic landscape of the Rureifel.

SPANNUNGEN: took place for the first time in June 1998. With pianist Lars Vogt as artistic director, internationally renowned artists delighted a discerning audience, who sometimes followed the sold-out concerts between old turbines, gleaming brass instruments and art deco lamps almost devoutly. Since then, the response from the audience has been overwhelming, with ticket sales barely keeping up with the demand. The press reported enthusiastically.

Freely accessible rehearsals in "Burg Hengebach" create a workshop atmosphere that captivates many music lovers. The artists and the audience have now merged into one unit, they know each other! The concert recordings are broadcast by media partner Deutschlandfunk and reach several hundred thousand listeners nationwide per concert; the recordings are also occasionally released on CD.

The Tonhalle Düsseldorf was originally built in 1926 as a planetarium. It was converted into a concert hall in the 1970s and underwent another extensive renovation in 2005. Since then, the Tonhalle has not only been one of the most beautiful concert halls in Germany, but according to renowned music critics, it also has some of the best acoustics. The blue dome of the impressive concert hall has been fitted with LEDs and a sophisticated lighting concept. This spectacular "indoor starry sky" also makes the concerts in the Tonhalle a visual experience. In this respect, the building is once again what it always was: a "planetarium of music".  

More than 450 concerts with over 300,000 guests a year make the Tonhalle a great forum for culture and a meeting place. Classical music takes centre stage. Other musical styles such as jazz, chanson and soul as well as cabaret events complete the programme.

The Tonhalle is the musical home of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra consists of 130 musicians from 17 nations. The Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra not only performs in the Tonhalle, but also in the opera house and demonstrates its commitment to Düsseldorf in a variety of educational projects and open-air events. With numerous guest performances, the orchestra has made a name for itself far beyond the borders of Germany.

Michael Becker has been artistic director of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra and the Tonhalle Düsseldorf since September 2007. With the "Tonhalle 0-100" system he created, he achieved a unique programme structure. The Tonhalle is the first concert hall in Germany to offer music for every conceivable age group: from unborn babies in the "Ultraschall" series to the younger generation in the "Ignition" series and the "Ehring geht ins Konzert" series for those returning to classical music. In addition to constantly raising the artistic profile of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, Michael Becker also established three separate orchestras for young and very young musicians at the Tonhalle - the children's orchestra, the U-16 orchestra and the youth symphony orchestra.

For the 2015/16 season, Michael Becker pulled off the coup of appointing the internationally sought-after Adam Fischer as chief conductor of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra. Adam Fischer is not only one of the best-known conductors of our time, but also one of the most popular - both for the people who make music with him and for his audiences. In his first years as Principal Conductor, Adam Fischer performed all of Gustav Mahler's symphonic works with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker in the Tonhalle. Fischer's "Mahler Cycle", completed in 2020, whose CD recordings have won several awards, has made a decisive contribution to the Tonhalle's international reputation in the classical music world.

Find out more at www.tonhalle.de

Driven by the passion, quality and inspiration of its members, the name Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn (WKO) stands for a style of music-making that is as energetic as it is subtle. Together with the expertise of sensitive accompaniment, which is highly valued by many soloists, this forms the foundation for the orchestra's international success story.

The WKO is a welcome guest on important international stages - most recently at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Rheingau Music Festival. In autumn 2022, the WKO completed a highly successful tour of South Korea under chief conductor Case Scaglione and with soloist Michael Barenboim (violin).

In addition to its extensive touring activities, the WKO organises its own subscription series in Heilbronn and Ulm. The WKO shapes musical events in its home region through regular music theatre productions with the Heilbronn Theatre and the annual Klassik Open Air in Heilbronn city centre, which was initiated by the orchestra. In addition to innovative concert formats
    most recently an evening with Poetry Siam and orchestral music
    the WKO presents its imaginative educational programme "lnEar" for children and young people of all ages, as well as a chamber music series conceived by the orchestra members themselves.
As a chamber orchestra, the WKO has both the ability to develop orchestral splendour and the classical virtues of a chamber music ensemble. The latter also enables the orchestra to perform under the direction of either the soloist or the concertmaster.

The list of soloists with whom the WKO has appeared on stage reads like a Who's Who of music history, including Martha Argerich, Maurice Andre, Alfred Brendel, Rudolf Buchbinder, Giora Feidman, James Galway, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Meisky, Katia & Marielle Labeque, lvo Pogorelich and Thomas Ouasthoff. The WKO has a special relationship with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, who has performed around 150 concerts with the WKO under the direction of orchestra founder Jörg Faerber. More recent performances include those with Julia Fischer, Gautier Capucon, Sabine Meyer, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Herbert Schuch, Johannes Moser, Sharon Kam, Daniel Müller-Schott, Asya Fateyeva, Carolin Widmann, Matthias Kirschnereit, Lena Neudauer, Arabella Steinbacher and Daniel Ottensamer.

The WKO's range of activities is rounded off by its numerous recordings: More than 500 productions can be recorded. The CD recording of works by Nikolai Kapustin with pianist Frank Dupree was honoured with the prestigious ICMA 2022 award. The young double bass virtuoso Dominik Wagner received an Opus Klassik 2022 for his CD "Revolution of Bass".
The WKO is the life's work of conductor Jörg Faerber. He founded the orchestra and led it to international renown. Faerber and his visionary work were followed in 2002 by the Armenian-born conductor Ruben Gazarian. Gazarian significantly expanded the repertoire - a line that his successor, Texan Case Scaglione, who has been Chief Conductor since the 2018/19 season, has consistently pursued.

The solo concertos for violin (with Michael Barenboim), cello (with Alisa Weilerstein) and piano (with Yeol Eum Son) were performed and recorded to mark the 100th anniversary of György Ligeti's birth in 2022.

The conductor and violinist Emmanuel Tjeknavorian is closely associated with the WKO as an "Artistic Partner". In early summer 2023, the WKO also appointed pianist, conductor and percussionist Frank Dupree as its Artistic Partner. With its two "WKO Young Artists" - cellist Friedrich Thiele and double bassist Dominik Wagner - the orchestra is continuing its decades-long tradition of supporting outstanding young artists.

Find out more at www.wko-heilbronn.de