Bochum Symphony Orchestra

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Logo of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra

The Bochum Symphony Orchestra , also known as BOSY for short, is the municipal orchestra of the Ruhr area city of Bochum .

history

The Bochum Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1918 under the name "Städtisches Orchester" almost simultaneously with the Schauspielhaus Bochum . The main task should be to accompany the plays. On May 20, 1919 there was his first public concert. Under the leadership of General Music Director (GMD) Rudolf Schulz-Dornburg it achieved initial successes.

Under the GMD Klaus Nettsträter the main task was still the support of the theater, especially with operas; Nevertheless, Germany-wide attention could be achieved. From September 1944, due to the Second World War, the operation of cultural institutions in Bochum was also discontinued.

Even before the first main concert in October 1945, operations were resumed on a small scale on July 12th. Soon the orchestra gained its former popularity. Paul Hindemith appeared as a guest conductor at the opening of the new theater building in 1955 .

In the era of Franz-Paul Decker as GMD there was a guest performance with the orchestra at the opening of the world exhibition in Brussels in 1958 .

After the line-up had been expanded by 17 musicians to 80 under Yvon Baarspul (1964 to 1970) and further changes had been introduced, the Bochum City Council decided to rename the orchestra the “Bochumer Symphoniker”.

Under GMD Othmar Mága (1971 to 1982) the previous achievements were expanded and also achieved those with the greatest public success. Almost 54,000 concert fans attended the 75 concerts in the 1978/79 season. In 1982 Gabriel Chmura became general music director, followed in 1988 by Eberhard Kloke .

Kloke tried to give the orchestra work new, more modern impulses. New venues were also opened up. In 1991, together with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the first concerts were held in Bochum's Jahrhunderthalle . While the artistic reorientation was well received by critics, it was rejected by the general public. Falling visitor numbers were the result.

Steven Sloane has been General Music Director of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra since 1994 . He managed to increase the number of visitors considerably. For the programs and projects shaped by Sloane before, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra has already received the “Best Concert Program of the Season” award from the German Music Publishers Association twice (1996/1997 and 2004/2005 seasons).

The Bochum Symphony Orchestra has also made a name for itself internationally with concert tours to Israel, and the USA with guest performances in Los Angeles, Chicago and Estonia.

At the Ruhrtriennale 2006, Steven Sloane directed the Bochum Symphony Orchestra in a new production of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die soldiers , which was resumed in October 2007 and made a guest appearance at the 2008 Lincoln Center Festival in New York .

The Symphoniker took part in a number of crossover projects, for example at concerts with Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson , with the a cappella formation Take 6 or at a joint concert with Herbert Grönemeyer in the Ruhrstadion, which was sold out with 29,000 listeners . In 2011 the Bochumer Symphoniker played seven concerts with Sting as part of his Symphonicities Tour .

In the 2012/13 season, the forecast number of concert visitors was 44,000, plus 20,000 visitors to guest performances and 11,000 participants in music education projects (such as rehearsals, primary school concerts, workshops, etc.). The number of subscribers was 2100.

Performance locations

Until 2016, the orchestra mainly rehearsed and played in the Audimax of the Ruhr University Bochum and in the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum . On October 27, 2016 there was his first public concert in the newly built Anneliese Brost Musikforum Ruhr in the city center. Occasionally it is also on tour tours.

Joint appearances

The Bochum Philharmonic Choir gives around four to five concerts a year and usually performs together with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra.

Recordings

For the British label ASV, the orchestra has recorded the complete works of the German late romantic Joseph Marx ; the first CD Nature Trilogy was awarded CD of the month by the British Music Society shortly after its publication, the second CD, the orchestral songs , was nominated for a Grammy .

Head (General Music Directors)

Awards

  • Award of the German Music Publishers Association for "The best concert program" (1996/1997)
  • Award of the German Music Publishers Association for "The best concert program" (2004/2005)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Conqueror of the Centennial Hall . Interview with Eberhard Kloke in the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, local edition Bochum, from April 15, 2013.
  2. ↑ a b Bochumer Symphoniker on klassik.de, accessed on August 20, 2015
  3. ↑ Best concert program of the season , list of the winners on the website of the German Music Publishers Association, accessed on August 20, 2015
  4. ^ Bochum Symphony Orchestra. Ruhrtriennale, archived from the original on August 20, 2015 ; accessed on May 3, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).
  5. ↑ Bochumer Symphoniker toured Europe with Sting . ( Memento from July 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung from June 19, 2011
  6. ↑ Statistical key figures of the Bochumer Symphoniker Communication from the administration of the city of Bochum, template no. 20122478, created on November 13, 2012. Accessed on August 20, 2015
  7. ↑ Michael Weeke: Music forum opened to much applause with citizens' concert. In: WAZ Bochum . October 27, 2016. Retrieved October 28, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Orchestra portrait on bochumer-symphoniker.de