NDR Radiophilharmonie

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The NDR Radiophilharmonie is a symphonic orchestra of the North German Radio based in Hanover . The orchestra currently employs 86 professional musicians. Chief conductors included Willy Steiner, Bernhard Klee , Eiji Ōue and Eivind Gullberg Jensen . Andrew Manze has been chief conductor since the 2014/15 season . His contract has already been extended to the 2020/23 season.

The orchestra gives more than 100 concerts every year, including a series of concerts at the Lower Saxony State Broadcasting House , appearances at major German music festivals and concert tours at home and abroad. The orchestra has been participating in the annual NDR Klassik Open Air since 2014, which around 15,000 spectators follow in the Maschpark Hanover.

history

The NDR Radiophilharmonie was founded in May 1950 as the orchestra of the Hannover broadcaster. It has its roots in the Lower Saxon Symphony Orchestra, which has been responsible for the broadcasting work of the Hanover station since the late 1920s on behalf of the Nordic Broadcasting Corporation (NORAG). After the end of the war and the founding of the Northwest German Broadcasting Corporation ( NWDR) with headquarters in Hamburg, the station again broadcast concerts with the Lower Saxony Symphony Orchestra from Hanover from 1946. In order to be able to cope with the increasing number of music contributions for the overall program of the NWDR, those responsible decided to set up a radio orchestra in Hanover. The planning for the initial installation of VHF programs and the new radio building on Maschsee, which was about to be completed, also spoke in favor of this decision.

The orchestra initially consisted of 45 musicians, all of whom were taken over from the Lower Saxony Symphony Orchestra. From May 1, 1950, the new NWDR musicians completed live concerts, music productions and music contributions for the broadcaster's numerous radio play recordings. From 1952 the music studio, today's small broadcasting hall, in the newly built Funkhaus am Maschsee was available for the orchestra's daily radio work.

List of chief conductors

• Willy Steiner (1950–1975)
• Bernhard Klee (1976–1979 and 1991–1995)
• Zdenĕk Mácal (1980–1983)
• Aldo Ceccato (1985-1989)
• Eiji Ōue (1998–2009; honorary conductor since 2009)
• Eivind Gullberg Jensen (2009-2014)
• Andrew Manze (since 2014)

present

Due to the requirements of broadcasting operations, the NDR Radiophilharmonie has developed a multi-layered musical profile since it was founded. The repertoire listed covers all epochs of music history. World premieres are also regularly on the program. In the field of symphony concerts, thematically different subscription series are organized in the large broadcasting hall of the Funkhaus in Hanover. The focus is on large symphonic works (Ring A, Ring C, Klassik Extra) and works of baroque music (Ring B).

Cross-genre concerts with film music , jazz , pop and rock have a permanent place in the program and, since 2005, have also had their own subscription series - today it is called "Freistil". Between 1998 and 2014, the orchestra appeared as the NDR Pops Orchestra for corresponding formats, and the name NDR Radiophilharmonie has also been used for these projects since the 2014/15 season.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, the NDR Radiophilharmonie has been organizing concert formats specially tailored to children and young people. Age-specific concerts, rehearsal visits for school classes and school visits by orchestral musicians are offered under the name “Discover Music!”. The NDR Radiophilharmonie was the first institution in Germany to set up its own concert series for preschoolers with the “dwarf subscription”.

The concerts of the NDR Radiophilharmonie are regularly preceded by introductions, for example in the form of artist interviews or moderated by orchestral musicians. An integral part of the concert are the explanations of works in the “Classic Extra” series.

In addition to its own concert series in Hanover, the NDR Radiophilharmonie is a regular guest at the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Festival , the Lower Saxony Music Days and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival . In addition to concerts all over Europe and Brazil, the orchestra played three tours in Japan in 2004, 2006 and 2009 and traveled to China for the first time at the turn of the year 2013/14. Repeated guest appearances at the Pisa Festival, the clubhouse concerts in Switzerland and the Norwegian Bergen International Festival deserve special mention. In 2012 the orchestra made its first guest appearance at the Abu Dhabi Festival.

CD recordings

The NDR Radiophilharmonie recorded numerous CDs on various labels.

circle of friends

The “Association of Friends and Supporters of the NDR Radiophilharmonie eV” exists to support the orchestra.

Web links

• Website on ndr.de
• Freestyle
• NDR Radio Philharmonic in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ NDR: Andrew Manze will remain chief conductor until 2023. In: www.ndr.de/radiophilharmonie. NDR Radiophilharmonie, February 22, 2019, accessed on January 24, 2020 . 
2. ^ Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany: Open Air Concert 2015 - The Puccini Coup. In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved March 16, 2016 . 
3. ^ NDR (Ed.): 50 Years of the Radiophilharmonie Hannover of the NDR . 2000.
4. ↑ NDR Radiophilharmonie goes to schools - 2014/15 season presented | MUSIC TODAY. In: MUSIC TODAY. Retrieved March 16, 2016 . 
5. ↑ Record of the NDR Radiophilharmonie in the catalog of the German National Library
6. ^ Website of the Freundeskreis , accessed on October 30, 2018