Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Eisenach

Performance of the Requiem by Johannes Brahms with the Oratorio Choir Würzburg under the direction of Matthias Göttemann in the Johanniskirche Würzburg , November 2012

The Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Eisenach is a symphony orchestra in the city of Gotha . The sponsor is the “Society of Friends and Supporters of the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Eisenach eV” The orchestra was created in 2017 through the merger of the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha with the Landeskapelle Eisenach .

history

Landeskapelle Gotha

Since Duke Ernst the Pious of Saxe-Gotha founded a court orchestra in 1651 , there has been a local orchestra in Gotha. The Gotha Regional Orchestra emerged from this.

State Symphony Orchestra Gotha

After the dissolution of the states in the GDR in 1952, the name "Landeskapelle" was no longer desired. The Gotha Landeskapelle was renamed the Gotha State Symphony Orchestra . One of his conductors was Gerhart Wiesenhütter .

State Symphony Orchestra Thuringia Gotha

After the fall of the Berlin Wall , the Gotha State Symphony Orchestra was renamed the Thuringia Gotha State Symphony Orchestra .

Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl

In 1998 the State Symphony Orchestra Thuringia Gotha was merged with the Thuringia Philharmonic Orchestra Suhl, founded in 1953 (until 1979: State Symphony Orchestra Suhl ). The conductors of the Suhl orchestra were Siegfried Geißler , Claus Peter Flor and Olaf Koch . The new name was Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl .

Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha

In 2009 there was a radical change at the Thuringia Philharmonic. Due to austerity measures, the state of Thuringia cut its grants for theaters and orchestras in Thuringia. In addition, on December 31, 2008 , the city of Suhl discontinued its co-sponsorship and co-financing of the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl due to empty city coffers. The Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl was missing 1 million euros, which ultimately led to a reduction in the line-up of the orchestra by 17 musicians to 51 members. The continued existence of the renowned orchestra was finally secured by further increasing the financial subsidies from the city of Gotha and the district of Gotha. The name of the orchestra was changed to Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha as a result of the departure of the city of Suhl on January 1, 2009 .

Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Eisenach

At the beginning of the 2017/2018 season, the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha merged with the Landeskapelle Eisenach to form the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Eisenach . 20 musicians from the Landeskapelle Eisenach switched to the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Eisenach. On September 7, 2017, the merged orchestra gave its first rights concert in the Gotha city hall under the motto "Music in Fusion".

profile

The Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Eisenach mainly gives symphonic and occasionally chamber music concerts at both locations in Gotha and Eisenach. It takes on the musical part of opera and ballet performances and the accompaniment of choral concerts.

In addition to several series of concerts in Gotha , the Thuringia Philharmonic organized the “Whitsun Festival” every year at Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha in the Ekhof Theater , the oldest fully preserved castle theater in the world. The baroque festival was introduced in 2001 on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the Gothaer Hofkapelle - whose tradition was continued by the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl - which has since been held annually by the Schloss Friedenstein Gotha Foundation. In addition, the orchestra has made a name for itself nationwide through its regular performance of great church music works in cooperation with various church choirs .

In December 2014 Michaela Barchevitch became the orchestra's managing director. Russell Harris was interim chief conductor in the 2017/2018 season. Markus Huber has been chief conductor since September 2019 . The first concertmasters are Alexej Barchevitch and Seth Taylor.

CD publications (selection)

The Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha has recorded a large number of CDs. The CD series "MUSIK AM GOTHAER HOF" has received multiple awards: It presents composers such as Georg Anton Benda, Andreas Romberg, Johann Ludwig Böhner, Louis Spohr and other personalities of Gotha music life of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Music at the Gothaer Hof - Anton Schweitzer (arias and orchestral works) by Stejskal, Breuer, Thuringia Philharmonic and Anton Schweitzer (audio CD - 2011)
Music at the Gothaer Hof - Andreas Romberg by Hermann Breuer, Andreas J. Romberg and Thuringia Philharmonie Gotha-Suhl (Audio-CD - 2011)
Music at the Gothaer Hof - Georg Anton Benda (orchestral works and solo concerts) by Masurenko, Plagge, Breuer and Thuringia Philharmonic (audio CD - 2011)
Music at Gothaer Hof Vol. 1 by Barschewitsch, Breuer, Thuringia Philharmonic and Johann Ludwig Böhner (Audio-CD - 2011)
Music at Gothaer Hof Vol. 2 by Thunemann, Breuer, Thüringen Philharmonie and Johann Ludwig Böhner (Audio-CD - 2011)
Music at Gothaer Hof - Louis Spohr double concerts by Hermann Breuer, Antje Weithaas and Michael Sanderling (audio CD - 2011)
Clarinet Concerto 1 and 2 and Op. 2 by Gerhard & Thüringen Philharmonie Suhl Amann (Audio-CD - 2011)
Piano concerto 1 and 2 by Julian Evans & Thüringen Philharm.Suhl (audio CD - 2011)
Mozart and Salieri by Roberto Sacca, Thomas Mohr and Nikolai Rimsky-Korssakoff (audio CD - 2003)
Teatro Musicale-Vol. 3 by Taha, Keuper, Mulder and Näck (audio CD - 2003) - double CD
First Symphony / Toccata by Peter Jona Korn (audio CD - 2002) - import
Weimar Time Travel in Music by Various (Audio CD - 1999) - Double CD
Music for saxophone by Detlef Bensmann and Dietrich Erdmann (audio CD - 1996)
Symphony 1 / Cockaigne Ouvert by Stephen Somary and Edward Elgar (Audio CD - 1996)

literature

Ronald Schäfer (Red.): Festschrift of the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl. 350 years of the Gotha Orchestra - 50 years of the Gotha Symphony Orchestra . Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl, Gotha 2001.

Web links

Commons : Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Website of the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha

Footnotes

^ The Orchestra , accessed February 17, 2018.

↑ Ronald Schäfer (Red.): Festschrift of the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl. 350 years of the Gotha Orchestra - 50 years of the Gotha Symphony Orchestra . Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl, Gotha 2001.

^ Meiningen State Archive , Thuringia Philharmonic inventory, Suhl .

↑ Wolfgang Herbrand: Olaf Koch . In: Monika Zimmermann: What is actually ...? 100 GDR celebrities today . Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2000, pp. 134-136, here p. 135.

↑ Renate Müller-Leich: Festschrift of the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl: 50 Years Suhl Symphony Orchestra . Rhön-Rennsteig-Verlag, Suhl 2003.

↑ Premiere for the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Eisenach , Thüringer Allgemeine, September 7, 2017, accessed on February 17, 2018.

↑ Opening concert of the season “Music in Fusion” , accessed on February 17, 2018.

^ Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Eisenach: New chief conductor. In: The world . June 21, 2019 .

[1] The Orchestra , accessed February 17, 2018.

[2] Ronald Schäfer (Red.): Festschrift of the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl. 350 years of the Gotha Orchestra - 50 years of the Gotha Symphony Orchestra . Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl, Gotha 2001.