The Staatskapelle Dresden

Christian Thielemann Designated Principal Conductor (from 2012)

Sir Colin Davis Conductor Laureate

On 22nd September 2008 the Staatskapelle Dresden celebrated its 460th jubilee. Founded by Prince Elector Moritz von Sachsen in 1548, it is one of the oldest orchestras in the world and thus steeped in tradition. A leading ensemble throughout various musical eras, it is believed that the Kapelle is the only orchestra to have been in continuous existence for over four and a half centuries.

Distinguished conductors have helped shape the development of this one-time court orchestra, including Heinrich Schütz, Johann Adolf Hasse, Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner, for whom the ensemble was his «miraculous harp». The list of prominent conductors of the last 100 years includes Ernst von Schuch, Fritz Reiner, Fritz Busch, Karl Böhm, Joseph Keilberth, Rudolf Kempe, Otmar Suitner, Kurt Sanderling, Herbert Blomstedt, Giuseppe Sinopoli and Bernard Haitink.

Fabio Luisi was music director of both Saxon State Opera and the Staatskapelle Dresden from 2007 to February 2010. From 2012 Christian Thielemann will assume the position of principal conductor to the Staatskapelle Dresden. Sir Colin Davis has held the post of conductor laureate since 1990.
 
Richard Strauss and the Staatskapelle were closely linked for almost 70 years. Nine of the composer’s operas were premiered in Dresden (including «Salome», «Elektra» and «Der Rosenkavalier») while Strauss’s «Alpine Symphony» was dedicated to the Staatskapelle. In fact, the ensemble has retained its reputation as the «Strauss orchestra» until today.

Many other famous composers have written works either dedicated to the Staatskapelle or first performed in Dresden, including Vivaldi, Bach, Schumann, Wagner, Liszt, Hindemith, Weill, or more recently, Matthus, U. Zimmermann and Rihm. Since 2007 the Staatskapelle has reaffirmed this tradition by introducing an annually-appointed «Capell-Compositeur». Following on from Isabel Mundry and Bernhard Lang, the composer-in-residence for 2009/2010 is the British composer Rebecca Saunders.

Today the Staatskapelle performs around 260 operas and ballets each season in the Semper Opera House, in addition to 50 symphonic and chamber concerts. The orchestra also holds its own concert series in Dresden’s landmark church, the Frauenkirche. A busy touring schedule regularly brings the ensemble to the great music centres of Europe, Asia and the USA, while long-term residencies at Vienna’s Musikverein and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris mean that audiences there can enjoy the Staatskapelle several times each year.

From the early 1920s the orchestra’s outstanding reputation as an opera and concert orchestra has been documented by numerous recordings, some now regarded as legendary.

At a ceremony in Brussels in 2007 the Staatskapelle became the first – and so far only – orchestra to be awarded the «European Prize for the Preservation of the World’s Musical Heritage». In December 2008 the British classical music magazine «Gramophone» once again voted the Staatskapelle one of the world’s top ten orchestras, while at the ECHO Klassik awards ceremony in 2009 the Dresden ensemble was named «Orchestra of the Year».

Volkswagen’s Transparent Factory has been a Partner of the Staatskapelle Dresden since 2008.

March 2010