2018/2019 – The Dresden Philharmonic presents its new concert season On relocating to its new concert hall in the Dresdner Kulturpalast (Dresden Cultural Palace) in 2017, a success story began for the Dresden Philharmonic: 1000 more subscribers than in the old Kulturpalast, almost 90 percent seat occupancy, 40,000 visitors more than in the year before – these figures prove the enormous appeal of the excellent concert hall as well as the attractiveness of the programme and the top quality of the orchestra. And they also represent the yardstick for the concert season 2018/2019, which fully reflects the new neighbours located in the Kulturpalast, as well as the high artistic standard with which the Dresden Philharmonic wishes to further its ranking amongst Germany’s top orchestras. The slogan “Music, a Universal Language” upon which the Dresden Philharmonic has based its new programme thus creates the hook on which to hang new formats and series as well as representing a central artistic idea. Music is without doubt a universal language, but language and music can also form a unit, and neither language nor music are feasible without the world in which they are experienced. The inspirations in this sense are mainly the new neighbours also located in the Kulturpalast: the orchestra’s proximity to the City Library gave rise to the “Music and Literature” series, and the hall of the Cabaret Theatre “Die Herkuleskeule” has become the stage for the new After Concert Lounges. In the season 2018/2019, principal conductor Michael Sanderling is to bid the Dresden Philharmonic farewell. His programmes reflect on the one hand the completion of the recording of all symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven and Dmitri Shostakovich with the orchestra, which are to be published in their entirety in 2019 under the Sony Classical label. Sanderling and the Dresden Philharmonic are to open their concert season with the premiere of a commissioned work by the Composer in Residence, Fazıl Say. A programme dedicated to Mozart is just as dear to Sanderling’s heart as a concert featuring Brahms, for which he has been able to win Martin Helmchen on the piano. And then finally, he and his long-term artistic partner, Julia Fischer, will be saying goodbye to their Dresdner audience. Michael Sanderling will also be using his last season to bear the excellent reputation of the Dresden Philharmonic out into the world as a musical ambassador. At the start of the season, he will be conducting concerts by the orchestra in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile; in spring 2019 he will be giving guest performances with the Dresden Philharmonic in Cologne, Budapest and Warsaw, will visit the Festspiele (Festival) Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and, after the end of the season, he has been invited as principal conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic to give guest performances one last time in the most significant concert halls in Japan and South Korea. After his successful debut at the Dresden Philharmonic in 2016, the Turkish composer and pianist Fazıl Say took on the position of Composer in Residence. In addition to the premiere of his “Umut” (Hope) symphony, he is also to create a percussion concert commissioned by the Dresden Philharmonic. And finally, Say, who is an excellent pianist, can be experienced live in a recital performance. Christian Tetzlaff is considered one of the most sought-after violinists of our time. As Artist in Residence, he will be delighting guests with his performance of three major violin concertos by Beethoven, Mendelssohn Dr. Claudia Woldt | Tel. 0351 4866 202 | [email protected] | www.dresdnerphilharmonie.de Bartholdy and Shostakovich, will head a concert by the Philharmonischen Kammerorchesters (Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra) and will provide the concert season with his individual interpretations for existential listening experiences. After his major successes with the Dresden Philharmonic over the past season, Olivier Latry will once again take on the role of Palace Organist and will be able to convince his audience of his exceptional talent, amongst other things with improvisations on the organ as an accompaniment to the silent film “The Phantom of the Opera”. Numerous renowned and popular conductors and soloists have accepted the invitation by the Dresden Philharmonic to their new concert hall; welcome return guests are those such as Marek Janowski, Bertrand de Billy, Cristian Măcelaru, Juanjo Mena and Dima Slobodeniouk, but also promising debut conductors such as Karina Canellakis, Tung-Chieh Chuang, John Storgårds and Pablo González, who will be performing with the Dresden Philharmonic for the first time. The list of invited and renowned soloists is long, and verifies not least the excellence of the concert hall: Elena Bashkirova, Martin Helmchen and Lucas Debargue will prove their internationally-acknowledged brilliance on the piano as well as Asya Fateyeva as saxophonist, Håkan Hardenberger as star trumpeter or Nils Mönkemeyer as violist, and Martin Grubinger, who repeatedly arouses great enthusiasm in his audience as a percussion player. Premieres and initial performances are also a significant component of the programme in the coming season. With his “Umut” symphony and a concerto for percussion and orchestra, Fazıl Say as Composer in Residence contributes towards these premieres, as do Laurent Petitgirard and Karsten Gundermann, each with new works which were commissioned by the Dresden Philharmonic. The Festwoche (festival week) in April 2019 in honour of the second anniversary of the opening of the new Kulturpalast is to feature Music and Literature. In addition, the programme offers numerous concerts which have been inspired by the written and recited word. Ulrich Matthes and the Scharoun Ensemble, Berlin will be giving a guest performance with the programme “Albtraum und Idylle” (Nightmare and Idyll). In a concert in memory of the wars connected by the years 1618 and 1918, Martina Gedeck will be reading texts from Gryphius to Kästner. Music and literature from Israel will provide the focus for a concert held expressly to commemorate the anniversary of the Reichspogromnacht (also known as Kristallnacht or the Night of the Broken Glass, when the Nazis burnt down most of the synagogues in the German Reich). And young visitors will also find something to interest them, for example, when Martin Baltscheit‘s successful children’s book “52 Hertz oder Der einsamste Wal der Welt” (52 Hertz or the loneliest whale in the world) is transformed into a dramatic narration set to music created especially for the purpose, with the author himself as narrator. The After Concert Lounges offer the possibility after selected concerts for guests to speak with artists such as Martin Grubinger, Elena Bashkirova and Wayne Marshall, and also to experience them musically from a more unusual side. By tradition, the Philharmonic choirs play a major role in the performance programme of the orchestra. The Philharmonic Children’s Choir will be performing an extended Christmas programme (amongst other things with “Bübchens Weihnachtstraum” (Little Boy’s Christmas Dream) by Engelbert Humperdinck) and will be creating a family concert with “Der einsamste Wal der Welt” by and with Martin Baltscheit. For the second time in a row, the Philharmonic Children’s Choir will also host the “Dresdner Schulchöre singen” (Dresden School Choirs sing), a range of offers for the school classes within Dresden which culminates in a mutual concert in the Kulturpalast. And another choir-related event is to become a tradition: at the 2. Dresdner Chortag (Second Choir Day), the prize-winners of the promotional award presented by the State Capital for amateur choirs in Dresden are to be honoured in the concert hall. Dr. Claudia Woldt | Tel. 0351 4866 202 | [email protected] | www.dresdnerphilharmonie.de In the new concert season, the Dresden Philharmonic will be extending its range of offers for families and schools. The two large family formats are to be united to form one event series; now it is possible for children and adults to discover phil a total of six times, with Malte Arkona and with Sarah Willis, each of whom will be providing their own special take on the experience. However the format remains the entertaining and informative guidance into the world of classical music with the orchestra as an experience. It began with a test visit involving almost 500 children to the Kulturpalast and a day at the location with the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra: the cooperation between the Dresden Philharmonic and the 139th primary school in Dresden-Gorbitz. This collaboration with an entire school in an urban district comprising social hotspots is of particular importance to the Dresden Philharmonic and is being developed through their own cooperation formats. In addition, there are numerous offers available for school classes from traditional school concerts right up to visits to the orchestra and musical guided tours through the Kulturpalast. The Dresden Philharmonic is also continuing to promote professional top class young performers for the second year now through the Kurt Masur Academy, its own Orchestra Academy. The demand in response to the tender for the second year was huge, and now a total of 10 young musicians will be perfecting their talents from August 2019 on the orchestra’s stands. They will also be proving their musical mastery through chamber music, amongst other things through a concert in the hall at the Hochschule für Musik (University of Music) Carl Maria von Weber. And their training is also to be supported through a concert with Management Symphony organised by an association of the same name – an orchestra composed of highly ambitious amateur musicians, who are to perform Brahms’ “German Requiem” in the concert hall – together with the Dresden Philharmonic Choir. In tried and tested manner, the Dresden Philharmonic will be continuing their series of chamber concerts at the Schloss Albrechtsberg.