The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen

The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, which was founded in 1980, arose from the Young German Philharmonic and has operated under its current name since 1992, making its headquarters in Bremen. A total of 41 musicians belong to the ensemble; they are exclusive partners and share artistic and financial responsibility. After their early years had been shaped by their partnership with Mario Venzago, Heinrich Schiff, and Jiří Bělohlávek, Thomas Hengelbrock became the first Chief Conductor to helm the Kammerphilharmonie in 1995. He was succeeded by Daniel Harding and Paavo Järvi, who has held the position of Artistic Director since 2004. With Järvi the orchestra initially worked on a Beethoven project featuring the composer’s complete symphonies, which they also recorded and which won the German Record Critics’ Prize and the Echo Klassik Award. The ensemble has presented the Beethoven cycle in live performances in Tokyo, Yokohama, Warsaw, Strasbourg, Paris, and São Paulo, as well as at the Salzburg Festival and the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, where it served as orchestra-in-residence from 2005 to 2014. They embarked on a Schumann project in 2011, and since 2015 they have focused on the symphonic works of Johannes Brahms, with complete performances in, for example, St. Petersburg and at the Rheingau Music Festival and the Vienna Konzerthaus. The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen regularly collaborates with such soloists as Christian Tetzlaff, Maria João Pires, Viktoria Mullova, Hélène Grimaud, Janine Jansen, and Igor Le-vit. It is a resident orchestra of the Elbphilharmonie Concerts Hamburg and, since 2017, also the festival orchestra of the Kissinger Summer. For its company model, the ensemble won the Deutscher Gründerpreis in 2008; DeutschlandRadio Kultur selected it as Orchestra of the Year in 2016.

LUCERNE FESTIVAL debut on 22 August 1994 in works by Mozart and Klaus Huber conducted by Heinz Holliger.

November 2017