Fellow music-lovers,
A very warm welcome to the 2009-2010 season! There is great music on the horizon: with the forthcoming Mahler anniversaries, in 2010 and 2011, bound to renew worldwide interest in the composer, we in Bamberg continue our much-praised exploration of his work. The season is framed by the Third Symphony, his most substantial and in many ways most ambitious, which will receive two performances: one at the reopening of our concert hall and one to close our richly varied offering of concerts.
Another focal point is the music of Brahms, whose symphonies will be performed as a cycle during the first subscription series as well as on our twelfth Japanese tour; in addition, the season also offers a chance to sample some of his less often heard works.
Throughout our programming we’ve tried to mix the well known with the not so well known and the old with the new, so as to open up new sightlines through the familiar and thread surprising continuities through the unfamiliar and even unknown.
You’ll discover many gems in 2009/2010, such as Reger’s Symphonic Prologue and his wonderful Mozart Variations, or Lutoslawski’s magical song-cycle Chantefleurs et chantefables. With Sibelius’s rarely heard Sixth Symphony we continue another cycle which has taken shape over the years; and I’m especially excited about the debut of our Baroque Orchestra, making its first appearance at a subscription concert.
We can look forward to a wonderful season, to renewing old friendships, and to forging new ones with a distinguished line-up of artists, who are as excited to be visiting Bamberg as we are to receive them here.
I would like to thank all our political partners who have supported us so magnificently over the last year and have also helped to shoulder the burden of the building and structural works which are so vital for the Orchestra’s reputation; and, of course, my thanks also go to you, our cherished audience. The Bamberg Symphony Orchestra’s uniqueness is intimately bound up with the loyalty of the Bamberg audience and is a crucial part of our identity. Long may that continue!
I look forward to seeing you all at the concerts,
Wolfgang Fink
General Manager and the Director of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra Foundation
Ladies and Gentlemen,
For more than six decades the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra / Bavarian State Philharmonic has been a central pillar of the cultural life of Bamberg, Bavaria and Germany as a whole. The Orchestra’s interpretations of the masterpieces of the past and of contemporary music make it a source of inspiration and a trend-setter, rightly admired the world over for its traditions and unique sound.
Alongside the Orchestra’s artistic achievements, the high point of 2009 is the renovation of Bamberg’s concert hall, which will enhance the Orchestra’s permanent home in two ways: the Joseph-Keilberth-Saal, after its acoustical optimisation, is already considered one of the best in Germany, while this summer a new foyer is being built and the hall’s interior remodelled.
Both projects will play a vital part in making Bamberg’s concert hall a better-looking, better-designed cultural venue and an artistic base for the Orchestra worthy of its unique reputation.
The Bamberg Symphony Orchestra enjoys the status of ‘world cultural ambassador for Bavaria’ and is welcomed in the world’s leading musical cities and concert halls. This season the Bambergers will be making their twelfth tour of Japan, and, in January and February, an extended tour of Spain. Such prestigious engagements demonstrate once more the worldwide recognition and appreciation achieved by Jonathan Nott’s artistic work with his Orchestra.
I wish the gentlemen and ladies of the Orchestra and management a brilliant season; and to you, our audience, as ever, the very best that music can offer!
Dr. Wolfgang Heubisch
Bavarian State Minister/Secretary for Science, Research and the Arts
Concerts 2009/10
You can find all our concerts in the new season 2009/10 in our concert calendar. To download the complete season's brochure (in German) as a pdf-document, please click here.
Summer Concerts 2009
In 2009, the „Bamberger Sommernächte“ will centre on the work of Joseph Haydn. To download the brochure with details about repertoire and prices (in German) please click here.
Conducting Competition
The next Gustav Mahler Conduction Competition will take place from 26 Feb -7 March, 2010. You find more information on repertoire, applicaton process, jury and conditions here.