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The Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate) is a German orchestra based in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. [1] [2]
In 1919, the orchestra was founded as the Landes-Sinfonie-Orchester für Pfalz und Saarland ('State Symphony Orchestra for Palatinate and Saarland'). In 1923, the orchestra was reorganised into a GMbH under the name Pfalzorchester. The orchestra changed its name in 1933 to Saarpfalzorchester, and subsequently to Landessymphonieorchester Westmark in 1941, holding the latter name to 1944. In 1967, the orchestra took the name Philharmonisches Orchester der Pfalz.
In 1974, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate took over sponsorship of the orchestra in place of the orchestra association, with a change in the orchestra's name to Pfälzische Philharmonie, Staatsorchester Rheinland-Pfalz. During the tenure of Christoph Eschenbach as chief conductor, the orchestra acquired the name of Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. In 1985, during the tenure of Leif Segerstam as chief conductor, the orchestra took up residence in the Philharmonie in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. On 1 January 1998, the orchestra was formally transformed into a state operation. The orchestra acquired its current name of Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz on 1 January 2007.
In December 2016, Michael Francis first guest-conducted the orchestra. [3] In December 2018, the orchestra announced the appointment of Francis as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2019–2020 season, with an initial contract of 5 years. [4] [5] In March 2023, the orchestra announced a five-year extension of Francis' contract as chief conductor. [6] [7]
Rhineland-Palatinate is a western state of Germany. It covers 19,846 km2 (7,663 sq mi) and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Koblenz, Trier, Kaiserslautern, Worms, and Neuwied. It is bordered by North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse and by France, Luxembourg and Belgium.
Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein, is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it forms the Rhine Neckar Area.
Südwestrundfunk, shortened to SWR, is a regional public broadcasting corporation serving the southwest of Germany, specifically the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The corporation has main offices in three cities: Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Mainz, with the director's office being in Stuttgart. It is a part of the ARD consortium.
The NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra is a German radio orchestra. Affiliated with the Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the orchestra is based at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany. Earlier the ensemble was called the NDR Symphony Orchestra, and was also known in English as the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra.
The Konzerthausorchester Berlin is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra is resident at the Konzerthaus Berlin, designed by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The building was destroyed during World War II, and was rebuilt from 1979 to 1984.
Böhl-Iggelheim is a municipality in the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It has about 8,200 inhabitants and is situated approximately 15 km southwest of Ludwigshafen, and 10 km northwest of Speyer.
The WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne is a German radio orchestra based in Cologne, where the orchestra mainly performs at two concert halls: the WDR Funkhaus Wallrafplatz and the Kölner Philharmonie.
Birkenheide is a municipality in the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany and is part of the Verbandsgemeinde Maxdorf.
Neidenfels is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Karl-Heinz Steffens is a German clarinetist and conductor.
Frankenthal Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station for the city of Frankenthal in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and is located on the Mainz–Ludwigshafen railway. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 3 station. Besides Frankenthal Hauptbahnhof the only other station in Frankenthal are Frankenthal Süd and Flomersheim.
Benjamin Shwartz is an American-Israeli orchestral and opera conductor, and music director of the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, Koblenz (Germany). Formerly he held the position of music director of the Wrocław Philharmonic known for his interest in and commitment to new music. Born in Los Angeles and raised there and in Israel, he attended the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California before enrolling in the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied composition with James Primosch. He continued his composition studies in Germany with Karlheinz Stockhausen. As a conducting student at the Curtis Institute of Music, he studied with Otto-Werner Mueller and worked closely with Christoph Eschenbach and Ned Rorem. Shwartz won numerous awards including the Presser Award, and Third Prize in the 2007 International Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg, Germany.
The Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern is a German radio orchestra. Its administrative headquarters is in Saarbrücken, at the Funkhaus Halberg. The orchestra gives concerts at the Funkhaus Halberg and the Congresshalle in Saarbrücken, and at the Fruchthalle in Kaiserslautern.
The Mannheim/Ludwigshafen tramway network is a metre-gauge transport network of tramways focused on the cities of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen am Rhein, and connected to Heidelberg and Weinheim via the Upper Rhine Railway Company (OEG), in the Rhine Neckar Area of Germany.
Michael Francis is a British conductor.
Jockgrim station is the only station in the town of Jockgrim in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Deutsche Bahn classifies it as a category 6 station and it has two platform tracks. It is located on the network of the Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund and belongs to fare zone 555. Since 2001, the station has also been part of the area where the fares of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar are accepted at a transitional rate. Its address is Am Bahnhof 1.
Ralf Otto is a German conductor, especially known as a choral conductor and academic teacher. He founded the Vokalensemble Frankfurt, focused on contemporary music and winning competitions including Let the Peoples Sing. Since 1986, he has been director of the Bachchor Mainz, with a tradition of performing Bach cantatas in broadcast church services. He added late romantic and contemporary works to their repertoire and made international tours with them. They made world premiere recordings of some cantatas by Bach's oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, among other recordings. Otto was professor of choral conducting at the Folkwang Hochschule from 1990 to 2006, when he took the same position at the Hochschule für Musik Mainz.
Wolf-Eberhard Georg Felix von Lewinski was a German music and theatre critic. He studied violin, piano, trombone, conducting, theatre and opera direction, but turned to musical criticism early. He was chief critic for papers in the Rhein Main area, and worked for several newspapers and broadcasters. He wrote biographies of singers such as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Brigitte Fassbaender, and created television portraits of pianists such as Claudio Arrau and Wilhelm Kempff. He was also an academic lecturer of musical criticism.
Garrett Keast is an American conductor of symphony orchestra, opera, and ballet and founder of the Berlin Academy of American Music (BAAM).
The Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, also known as the Rheinische Philharmonie, is a professional symphony orchestra in Koblenz, Germany. Founded in Autumn of 1945, it was adopted as an orchestra of the German state with state tax support in 1973. It is the resident orchestra of the concert venue Rhein-Mosel-Halle in Koblenz. Former principal conductors of the orchestra include Walter May, Carl August Vogt, Claro Mizerit, Walter Crabeels, Pierre Stoll, James Lockhart, Christian Kluttig, and Garry Walker. The orchestra has a good reputation internationally. Conductor Benjamin Shwartz serves as the orchestra's current musical director.