Argovia Philharmonic

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Argovia philharmonic , formerly the Aargauer Symphonie Orchester (ASO), is a symphony orchestra in the Swiss canton of Aargau .

history

The argovia philharmonic was founded in 1962 at the suggestion of the Aargau singer and music teacher Fritz Guggisberg as a teacher orchestra in the vicinity of the old canton school in Aarau . The idea for this arose from a further training course given by Aargau instrumental teachers. Under the direction of Urs Voegelin (the then conductor of the orchestral association), the orchestra of Aargau music teachers played its first symphony concert with the pianist Monique Haas in autumn 1963 . Thanks to the initiative of Alfred Weber and thanks to financial support from the Koch-Berner Foundation, further concert cycles were realized and the musicians were paid for the first time.

On January 15, 1968, the «Aargauer Symphonieorchester Association» was founded with Urs Voegelin as chief conductor. In 1986 Voegelin resigned as chief conductor after violent arguments between the musicians during rehearsals. 1987–1989 two transitional seasons followed with guest conductors such as Erich Schmid , Francis Travis , Räto Tschupp and Marcello Viotti .

In 1989 Raymond Schaerer took over the presidency of the OSA. After two seasons without a chief conductor, Räto Tschupp was signed up for the office. He not only shaped the orchestra musically, but also established its cultural and political anchor in the canton. In 1993/94 Stefan Läderach became concert master.

In November 2001 the Briton Douglas Bostock took over the leadership of the Aargau Symphony Orchestra. With the conversion and the opening of the transformer hall in 2003, a second regular concert venue was gained in Baden. This was accompanied by an expansion of the subscriptions: A subscription was also offered in Baden. In 2008 the Aargau Symphony Orchestra played with its new concertmaster Ulrich Poschner for the first time in the Tonhalle Zürich .

In 2010 the OSA was named a “lighthouse” (a non-cantonal cultural institution of supraregional importance with operating contributions) for the canton of Aargau. With the anniversary season 2012/13 (“50 years of ASO”) Christian Weidman became the new managing director.

Since the 2013/14 season the orchestra has been performing under the name argovia philharmonic . Managing director Christian Weidmann gave the impetus for the renaming. The new name should have an outward effect in the context of the 50th anniversary, manifest the self-confidence of the orchestra and mark a departure.

General

The orchestra today consists of around 60 musicians . Guest conductors and soloists have played with the orchestra over the years.

The OSA at a performance in the Aarauer Saalbau

A special feature of the orchestra is the promotion of little-known works. For example, works by the composer Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich were performed and recorded on CD, as was the opera Orfeo by the Italian composer Ferdinando Bertoni ; In 2006, the open-air performance of a specially created German version of the opera La jolie fille de Perth under the name Die Schöne von Perth took place in the Hallwyl Castle and in 2006 - with the composer as a soloist - the Concerto for three pianos and orchestra by Carl Rütti took place premiered in the Saalbau in Aarau . Another world premiere (2002) and was commissioned by the philharmonic Argovia increase outlook of Ulrich Stranz . Since the orchestra has also dedicated itself to the music of its canton where it is located, the works performed by Aargau composers often include works by Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich and Peter Mieg .

As OSA, the orchestra, under the direction of Urs Voegelin, had to struggle with a precarious concert hall situation. The acoustics in the parish halls and churches were not suitable for large symphonies. Voegelin was not deterred by this and regularly performed large Bruckner symphonies.

The argovia philharmonic's concert venues today are mainly Aarau (in the hall) and Baden (in the "Trafo-Halle", a former factory hall of ABB ). In addition, concerts take place irregularly in other places in the canton such as Muri , Brugg , Buchs , Zofingen , Wettingen or Laufenburg or outside the canton such as Olten and Zurich .

Chief conductor

Intendant

  • Christian Weidmann, 2015–2020
  • Xoán Castiñeira, 2020–

Concertmaster

Discography (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sybille Ehrismann, Verena Naegele: 50 years of ASO in pictures / The anniversary magazine. Aargauer Symphonie Orchester, 2012, accessed on May 31, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Sybille Ehrismann, Verena Naegele: 50 years of ASO in pictures / anniversary magazine. Aargauer Symphonie Orchester, 2012, accessed June 7, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Cantonal cultural concept. Retrieved June 6, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Stefan Künzli: For the 50th anniversary: ​​The ASO is now called argovia philharmonic. Aargauer Zeitung, May 18, 2013, accessed on May 30, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Elisabeth Feller: The new director of the Argovia Philharmonic wants to further improve the quality of the orchestra. In: St. Galler Tagblatt , July 5, 2020.