Staatskapelle Dresden: Mahler Symphony No. 9
About the Event
An orchestra boasting a venerable tradition, the Staatskapelle Dresden is steeped in European musical history. On 22 September 2008 the orchestra celebrated its 460th jubilee.
Over its long history, the ensemble has been shaped by many distinguished conductors and internationally celebrated instrumentalists. One of the previous directors of the ensemble, Richard Wagner, called it his “miraculous harp”, while Richard Strauss and the orchestra were closely linked for over sixty years. Nine of the composer’s operas were premiered in Staatskapelle’s home, the Semperoper, including Alpine Symphony that was dedicated to the orchestra. In Dresden, the orchestra performs around 260 operas and ballets each season. In addition, the ensemble presents another 50 symphony and chamber concerts in the opera house, as well as playing at various musical events in Dresden’s Frauenkirche. As one of the world’s most celebrated and popular symphony orchestras, the Staatskapelle regularly travels abroad to the world’s leading classical venues. The ensemble also does valuable work to support the local region. In 2008, the Kapelle became the first – and so far only – orchestra to be awarded the “European Prize for the Preservation of the World’s Musical Heritage”.
The principal conductor of the orchestra is Christian Thielemann, and since 2012/13 its principal guest conductor has been Myung‐Whun Chung.
World renowned conductor and pianist Myung‐Whun Chung, winner of the legendary Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1976, has since 2000 been music director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, apart from which he also holds the post of the artistic director of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Ninth Symphony by Gustav Mahler was written for virtuoso performers. Mahler’s last finished masterpiece, with which the fifty‐year‐old composer bade a final farewell to the world, forged the path for modern symphony.
Conductor: Myung‐Whun Chung
