When the Dresdner Sinfoniker embarked on the Elbkarawane in 2021, a year marked by the Corona pandemic, they engaged with their audience as intensively as in few previous projects: The musicians set sail from Dresden-Pillnitz in small groups. On their way to Dresden city centre, they met their audience at landing stages and Elbe beaches and gave small concerts. Spectators could follow the caravan on bicycles or boats and make musical discoveries.

When the caravan arrived in Dresden’s old town, a vast working pontoon converted into a concert podium received all the musicians. The concert visitors, who had spread out on the Königsufer on the Elbe meadow, were treated to a magnificent scenery: behind the orchestra on its floating stage, the impressive Dresden Old Town was not the only thing towering above them. Especially for the first piece on the concert’s programme, five historic steamships had moved into position.

Pianist and composer Andreas Gundlach wrote the opening piece for highly unusual instrumentation: In Vapora Fortis, he uses the steam whistles of five Dresden passenger steamships in addition to winds, strings and percussion. Their role in the concert piece is quite soloistic. They begin conversations with individual orchestral instruments, blend into sound clusters or mark the rhythm of the whole orchestra with targeted steam blasts. This world premiere was followed by another world premiere of the work Being by Michael Torke, one of the leading American composers of his generation.

A project for the Dresden Summer of Culture 2021 and a production of the Dresdner Sinfoniker in cooperation with Seebühne Erleben and the Weiße Flotte Sachsen. The Elbkarawane is supported in the Kultursommer 2021 programme by the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien with funds from NEUSTART KULTUR, by the City of Dresden – Amt für Kultur und Denkmalschutz and the Kulturstiftung Dresden der Commerzbank. With the kind support of Neumann & Müller Veranstaltungstechnik, Greve Studio Berlin, Sachsen Fernsehen and Domarin Tief-, Wasserbau und Schifffahrts GmbH. The Dresdner Sinfoniker are supported by the City of Dresden (Amt für Kultur und Denkmalschutz) and by the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism. In this respect, they are co-financed by tax funds based on the budget passed by the members of the Saxon State Parliament.

Photos below: Sabine Grüner

In cooperation with Kampnagel and Elbphilharmonie the Dresdner Sinfoniker opened the Hamburg Summer of Culture with a spectacular skyscraper concert on 17 July. The setting for the Sky Above Hamburg was impressive: sixteen alphorns, nine trumpets, four tubas and four Chinese Dà Gǔ drums played from the high-rises of the Lenzsiedlung in the Stellingen district. On the roofs at the height of 40 meters and below on the Tiefenstaaken sports field, where the four drums and percussion formed the sound foundation. The sports field was also where the audience took their seats. For the complete surround sound, additional alphorn quartets played from behind the audience. The evening compositions took advantage of the large distances between the players, showcasing the alphorns aural range.

The evening started with a fanfare written by the film composer John Williams for the 1984 Olympics. The following composition by the Venetian Giovanni Gabrieli was written 400 years earlier, with brass groups sending chords and virtuosic ornamentation from skyscraper to skyscraper. The climax of the evening was a work by Markus Lehmann-Horn, written by the composer especially for the concert series Himmel über… (Sky above…). Already in the morning, the concert’s 33 musicians played in small groups in the courtyards of the Lenzsiedlung, inviting the residents to the evening’s show.

A production of the Dresdner Sinfoniker in cooperation with Kampnagel and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. With the kind support of the Grün-Weiß Eimsbüttel sports club and the SAGA housing association.

© Photos: Maximilian Probst

On 12th September 2020, the Dresdner Sinfoniker staged an extraordinary concert on the rooftops of five East German tower blocks in Dresden-Prohlis. Orchestral musicians played from atop some of Dresden’s highest buildings, performing a piece from the Venetian Renaissance, a classic Fanfare, and a contemporary work.

The setting was spectacular- Sixteen alphorns, nine trumpets and four tubas were positioned on the roofs of neighbouring 50-metre-high residential buildings. Four Chinese Dà Gǔ drums and percussion instruments were set up below, on top of a local shopping centre.

The compositions performed at the open-air concert all embraced the concept of musicians communicating over great distances. The show started with film composer John Williams’ 1984 “Olympic Fanfare”. The spirit of the games came to life, welcoming the global diversity of all nations. Venetian composer Giovanni Gabrieli’s subsequent composition composed 400 years earlier was no less impressive. Brass groups sent indulgent chord blocks from high-rise to high-rise, once written for a performance in Venice’s San Marco church. The evening’s highlight was the premiere of Markus Lehmann-Horn’s “Himmel über…” – commissioned especially for the occasion – which showcased the extraordinary sound of the alphorns.

The sky above Prohlis with its tower blocks transformed into an alpine setting- the entire neighbourhood became the show’s audience. Guests on street level, passers-by, an audience sitting on the local shopping centre’s roof terrace and residents on their balconies all listening to the open-air concert. With musicians being hundreds of metres apart and the audience spread across the district, it was an extraordinary setting and a solution to staging large-scale events in the Covid-19 pandemic.

A production of Dresdner Sinfoniker in Cooperation with „So geht sächsisch“ and the Societaetstheater Dresden. Funded by Landeshauptstadt Dresden – Amt für Kultur und Denkmalschutz, Kulturstiftung Dresden der Dresdner Bank, Vonovia SE, District Office Prohlis and Stiftung Kunst und Musik für Dresden. With friendly support of Zuhause in Prohlis, Greve-Studio Berlin, Neumann & Müller Veranstaltungstechnik and Sachsen Fernsehen. The concert is co-financed by taxes based on the budget approved by the members of the Saxon State Parliament.

© Photos: David Sünderhauf, Therese Menzel and Ben Deiß

On 14 June 2019, a new composition was performed at the Festspielhaus Hellerau, the origin of which was unusual: Andreas Gundlach, composer and pianist, together with children from the Dresden district of Prohlis, developed a contemporary piece which then performed as the finale of the Dresden Symphony Concerto. The Neue Meister (“New Masters”) are members of the Musaik Children’s Orchestra, an initiative of the social music project Musaik – Grenzenlos Musizieren e.V. (“Musaik – Music without Borders”), which has been offering free instrumental lessons in Dresden-Prohlis since 2017, based on the South American model of El Sistema. Thirty-five children from this Dresden district worked together with the Dresdner Sinfoniker and composer Andreas Gundlach on the new composition, rehearsed it for several weeks and then performed it together with the Dresdner Sinfoniker in the Festspielhaus Hellerau. The composition resembles a musical journey, an experiment with an open outcome, oriented towards the skills of the 6-12-year-old participants – showing them that their commitment and responsibility they assume as musicians are met with immediate recognition. The different socio-cultural backgrounds of the children were not perceived as a barrier by them – the different mother tongues and cultural experiences were one of the sources of inspiration for the work on the community composition. Before this extraordinary finale, the Dresdner Sinfoniker played “Shaker Loops” by John Adams, “Musica Celestis” by Aaron Jay Kernis and “Last Round” by the Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov under the direction of Serbian conductor Premil Petrović

A production of the Dresdner Sinfoniker in cooperation with Musaik – Grenzenlos Musizieren and Hellerau – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Dresden. With the kind support of the Robert Bosch Foundation, the Prohlis neighbourhood management and its project “Zu Hause in Prohlis” and the WGS (Wohnungsgenossenschaft “Glückauf” Süd Dresden). The Dresdner Sinfoniker are co-financed by tax revenues on the basis of the budget approved by the members of the Saxon state parliament and by the state capital Dresden – Amt für Kultur und Denkmalschutz.

On November 1^st, 2018, the Dresdner Sinfoniker celebrated their 20th birthday with the performance of three works by a wide variety of composers, soloists and ensembles. The anniversary concert, which took place during the Jazztage Dresden in the Erlwein Capitol, was a great success – Michael Ernst writes in the online edition of the “neue musikzeitung” of 4.11.2018 under the title ” There, where it hurts – 20 years of Dresdner Sinfoniker”:

A world without borders, that is their goal. No insurmountable hurdles for people to make it difficult for others to move freely and think freely; but also no genre attributions that define musical taboo zones and prevent innovations such as improvisations. (…) The legendary birth of the Dresdner Sinfoniker took place exactly two decades ago. It would hardly have been worth mentioning if this ensemble, made up of musicians from renowned German and European orchestras, had it not repeatedly attracted attention with its musical quality and specific content. Their common goal is a noble one: to touch people through the spirit of music and change the world for the better. (…) Saxony’s Minister of Art, Eva-Maria Stange summed it up in her eulogy for the concert as follows: The Dresdner Sinfoniker are “always there where it hurts”. Consequently, the Dresden Symphony Orchestra have conceived its jubilee concert to mark its twentieth anniversary, showcasing a diverse musical score including Frank Zappa, Andreas Gundlach and Enrico Chapela.

Zappa’s music, which has fascinated the Sinfoniker since their beginnings, was heard in collaboration with the “Universal Druckluftorchester ” (literal translation- Universal Compressed Air Orchestra), an ingenious device comprised of wind and key instruments atop an Italian tricycle and operated by compressed air. Created by Peter Till, a craftsman and sound magician whose orchestral instruments are described as “Music on Wheels”. The music machine is operated via the driver’s seat creating an optical and acoustic orchestral delight, which for this concert also included a standing illuminated marimba. After a symphonic solo, the “Universal Druckluftorchester ” performed two more parts from Zappa’s last great legacy “The Yellow Shark” from 1993 culminating in a dazzling performance.

The composer and keyboard virtuoso Andreas Gundlach, composed a concerto for synthesizer, piano and orchestra for Dresdner Sinfoniker’s jubilee. Titled “Quartüürium”, the composition suggests that it consists of fourths and four-tone melodic runs. Originally intended to be played alongside a pianist, Gundlach was forced to play the piece himself due to a sudden absence, resulting in a virtuoso performance. The resounding concert, simultaneously achieving the sounds of an orchestral tutti, magical solos and jazzy impulses.

The rock opera “Disidentes” by the Mexican composer Enrico Chapela, was premiered as the third piece of the evening. In keeping with Dresdner Sinfoniker’s history of combining contemporary music with socio-political themes, Chapela’s piece centres on the protest movement and massacre of students in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Mexico City , 2^nd October 1968. A legacy to the hundreds of students that were murdered, the performance had a uniquely Mexican sound consisting of an orchestra, band and four soloists. Tenor singers Juanra Urrusti, Hazel Mendoza and Humberto Alarcón and Blazko Scaniglia (bass baritone) shone along-side electric guitarist and composer Enrico Chapela.

A production of the Dresdner Sinfoniker in cooperation with the Jazztage Dresden. Supported by the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung together with the Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden, the Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen and the Landeshauptstadt Dresden – Amt für Kultur und Denkmalschutz.  The concert is co-financed by tax revenues on the basis of the budget approved by the members of Saxony’s state parliament. With the kind support of the GEMA Foundation and Neumann & Müller Veranstaltungstechnik.

You may remember December 21^st, 2012? The day the world was supposed to end. Esoterics and astrologers predicted natural disasters of unknown magnitude and referred to an alleged prophecy from the ancient Mayan calendar. The day passed like all the others before it. For the Maya themselves, this important date marked the end of a 400-year Baktun (a Mayan calendar cycle) and the beginning of a new period.

One of the three Mayan manuscripts preserved worldwide and the only one publicly accessible is the Codex Dresdensis, which is available in the treasury of the Saxon State Library – State & University Library Dresden and which has contributed significantly to the understanding of the Maya calendar.

From the concert hall under the treasury chamber, the Dresden Symphony Orchestra joined Mayan musicians and a Mayan singer in Mexico City live via satellite across the ocean at midnight on December 21^st. Welcoming the 14th Baktun together, the performance was a vestige to an ancient culture and a celebration of the turn of time.

Jens Legler, E-Guitar – Germany
Jesús Lara, Bass Guitar – Mexico
Luis Miguel Costero, Drums – Mexico
José Areán, Conductor – Mexico
Sara Curruchich Cúmez, Maya-Singer from Guatemala
Gonzalo Ceja und Horacio Franco, Maya-Instruments
Tom Roeder, Light Design and Pyrotechnics

A production by the Dresdner Sinfoniker in cooperation with the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden and supported by the Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen and the Stadt Dresden – Amt für Kultur und Denkmalschutz. Kindly supported by Lufthansa, Lichtenauer Mineralquellen, Radeberger, Kronsegler and Neumann & Müller Veranstaltungstechnik.

Since their foundation, the Dresdner Sinfoniker have caused a stir with spectacular projects. But on the occasion of their tenth birthday, the orchestra had come up with a truly special event: a remotely conducted orchestra.

Conductor Michael Helmrath, conducted the orchestra live from the banks of the Thames via satellite. Accompanying  him in London, a barrel organ player performed the Star Wars overture. Broadcast on a transparent screen at the Kulturpalast Dresden, together they played alongside Dresdner Sinfoniker. For the Dresden audience Michael Helmrath was the distant conductor, while the Londoners must have thought he and his barrel-organist were street musicians.

After this futuristic entrée, the Estonian conductor Olari Elts took over the direction of the further, no less exciting programme in Dresden:

Torsten Rasch
Excantare Fruges (world premiere)
Enrico Chapela
Noctámbulos for rock trio and orchestra (world premiere)
Erkki-Sven Tüür
Symphony No. 5 for Bigband and Orchestra

Jens Legler  Electric Guitar
Jesús Lara  Bass guitar
Luis Miguel Costero  Drums
Berlin Jazz Orchestra
Dresdner Sinfoniker
Conductors
Olari Elts, live in Dresden
Michael Helmrath, live from London