Bremen Philharmonic

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The Bremen Philharmonic 2011
The Bremen Philharmonic

The Bremer Philharmoniker are the official orchestra of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen . In addition to staging the music theater in the Bremen Theater , they organize 28 philharmonic concerts, various special, benefit and chamber concerts as well as many projects in the field of music education each season . Christian Kötter-Lixfeld is the artistic director of the Bremen Philharmonic, and Marko Letonja has been the general music director since the 2018/2019 season.

history

In 1820 the cathedral organist Wilhelm Friedrich Riem founded the Bremen Concert Orchestra . He was the conductor of this orchestra until his death (1857). He was followed by Carl Martin Reinthaler as conductor . The orchestra was looked after by the Bremischer Musikfreunde association founded in 1863 .

In 1825 the Society for Private Concerts - Philharmonic Society since 1895 - was founded. She organized a philharmonic choir and a concert orchestra , as one of the first civic orchestras. The city of Bremen granted grants to the orchestra, which was later called the Philharmonic Orchestra .

Johannes Brahms made his debut as a pianist in 1855. It was his first public appearance with an orchestra. Thirteen years later, the German Requiem was premiered under his direction in Bremen. The Bremen Philharmonic still feels a special bond with Johannes Brahms today: his compositions are among the most frequently performed in the repertoire.

The inflation that set in as a result of the First World War made it impossible in the early 1920s to keep the Philharmonic Orchestra, which had been hired on a private basis, in this form. It was therefore taken over by Bremen as the city orchestra. The Philharmonic Society borrowed the musicians for their concerts. In 1933 it was renamed the State Orchestra . After the Second World War , the orchestra was renamed the Bremen Philharmonic State Orchestra .

In 2002 the conversion into the legal form of a GmbH took place; the Bremer Philharmoniker GmbH was created . The shareholders are the orchestral musicians, organized in the Bremer Philharmoniker eV (26%), the city of Bremen (52%) and the Bremen Theater (22%).

The general music director and the artistic director are in charge of the society . The number of musicians is around 82 (as of 2017). A state subsidy of around 4 million euros (as of 2009) is still granted. A supervisory body chaired by the Senator for Culture balances the various interests.

Conductors

Carl Martin Reinthaler
Markus Poschner (2010)

Chief Conductors and General Music Directors

More conductors

Operas and concerts

The Bremen Philharmonic perform around 175 opera performances each season in the Theater Bremen in the Theater am Goetheplatz , 28 Philharmonic concerts in the Bremen concert hall “Die Glocke” and around 30 special, family and chamber concerts. The special concerts include, for example, benefit concerts for the Christmas Aid fundraising campaign, the Bremen Cancer Aid Fund and the Bremer Bürgerpark, as well as concerts as part of the Bremen Music Festival, the Bremen Piano Competition and the International Conductor Forum of the German Music Council . In their concert series “phil pur”, the Bremen Philharmonic dedicates itself to the work of a single composer as part of a philharmonic concert on several evenings. Since 2009, the Bremen Philharmonic has also organized its own festival under the title "Phil Intensely". After the four symphonies of Johannes Brahms were the focus of the first edition for four days, Markus Poschner and the orchestra devoted themselves to the interplay of composition and improvisation and the encounter between classical and jazz, symphony orchestra in the second edition together with the SWR Big Band and big band. Richard Wagner's opera “Tristan und Isolde” was a concert performance in 2011 on the festival program. There are also numerous projects to promote children and young people as well as projects in the “Bremen Music Workshop” founded in 2006. Overall, the Bremen Philharmonic can be seen at over 370 events in one season.

The core repertoire of the concerts ranges from the Viennese Classic to Romanticism and Late Romanticism to Classical Modernism and contemporary music . World-class soloists and conductors such as Frank Peter Zimmermann , Gidon Kremer , Midori , Julia Fischer , Julian Rachlin , Rudolf Buchbinder , Boris Beresowski , Sabine Meyer , Christopher Hogwood and Mario Venzago are continuously engaged .

Music mediation

The Bremen Music Workshop is recognized as a “Landmark in the Land of Ideas”

Every year, the Bremen Philharmonic accompanies over 10,000 children and young people with a wide variety of events in and outside of school. A particularly ambitious project within music education is the "Musikwerkstatt Bremen", which opened in autumn 2006. The "Musikwerkstatt Bremen" was created in cooperation with the State Institute for Schools and aims to get children and adults in contact with music actively and through their own experience bring to. In the music workshop you can get an insight into the world of a symphony orchestra, but above all try out all the instruments of an orchestra under pedagogical guidance.

Several activities have been awarded prizes:

  • For the project, Carnival of the Animals was established in October 2005 by the German Music Council and the Yamaha Children and Youth Foundation of the inventio 2005 awarded.
  • In December 2006, the Bremen Music Workshop received an award and was named a “Landmark in the Land of Ideas” by the Germany - Land of Ideas initiative and Deutsche Bank.
  • Prize winner of the competition "Children to Olympus - Schools Cooperate with Culture" 2007.
  • The school project Feen und Trolle , in cooperation with the state institute for schools, the elementary school and the Grolland support center was awarded .
  • Winner of the competition Ideas make schools with the project Whether in space someone lives in cooperation with the State Institute for School and the Mayor Smidt School.

Bremen Philharmonic Society

In 1825 the Society for Private Concerts was founded. He hoped to win good musicians for Bremen and aimed to form a good orchestra and choir. Initially the successes were still moderate, but then a permanent concert orchestra with professional musicians and musicians from hobby emerged.

The Philharmonic Choir was also created. After the death of the cathedral choirmaster and conductor of the Bremen Singing Academy Wilhelm Friedrich Riem (1779–1857), Carl Martin Reinthaler had been a conductor of both choirs since 1858 . After Riem left the company, both choirs were united under the direction of Max Erdmannsdörfer in 1892 to form the common Philharmonic Choir .

In 1895 the Society for Private Concerts became the Philharmonic Society . She volunteered in Bremen's musical life and made a significant contribution to its development and diversity. Music lovers, sponsors and companies support society. However, she was not able to maintain an orchestra of professional musicians in the long term and so she had to borrow musicians from the city orchestra or the state orchestra for her concerts.

Barbara Grobien has been chairwoman of the company since 2001 .

In 2002, on the initiative of the company, the Bremer Philharmoniker GmbH was founded, in which the company holds a 26% stake (see also above). She left the Philharmonic Concerts in the Glocke to the GmbH, but continues to organize chamber concerts.

The Philharmonic Society works with the Bremen Music Festival to ensure high quality. In cooperation with the University of Bremen , a joint seminar will be carried out to introduce you to the world of European art music.

literature

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