About us
Music for everyone – The Dresden Philharmonic stands for concerts at the highest artistic level, musical education for all ages and looking beyond conventional musical horizons. Guest performances on virtually every continent and collaboration with guests from all over the world have embedded the orchestra’s reputation in the internatio¬nal world of classical music. Since the 2019-20 concert season, Marek Janowski has become the Chief conductor and Artistic director of the Dresden Philharmonic for the second time.
Its home since 2017 is the first-class concert hall in Dresden’s Kulturpalast building. Here the orchestra has acoustically perfect conditions to continue to form its sound ideal and enhance the profile of its programmes. In romantic repertoire, the orchestra has preserved its own warm and round sound. Beyond that, it is characterised by a flexibility in sound and style both for the music of the Baroque and First Viennese School, and for modern works.
The orchestra was founded 150 years ago by Dresden citizens. Philharmonic Concerts were held regularly starting in 1885, until the orchestra adopted its present name in 1923. In its first decades, composers such as Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák and Strauss conducted their own works. Paul van Kempen shaped it into an excellent ensemble starting in 1934. After him Kurt Masur (since 1994 also honorary conductor), Marek Janowski, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Michael Sanderling, among others, have shaped the orchestra.
The orchestra supports young musical talent in the Kurt Masur Academy.
The orchestra began making recordings in 1937. Today, the Dresden Philharmonic’s discography includes almost 330 works. The newer recordings include a CD cycle conducted by Michael Sanderling dedicated to the complete symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich and Ludwig van Beethoven (Sony Classical). With Chief conductor Marek Janowski, the Dresden Philharmonic has thus far recorded Mascagni’s “Cavalleria rusticana”, Puccini’s “Il Tabarro” and Beethoven’s “Fidelio” (Pentatone).