Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Gatti, Gerstein

Staatskapelle Dresden

As one of the world’s oldest orchestras, the Staatskapelle Dresden is truly steeped in tradition. Founded in 1548 by Moritz, Elector of Saxony, its history is inextricably linked with the city of Dresden, the royal Saxon court, and its theatre. To this day, the venerable ensemble performs around 250 operas and ballets each season at its home in the Semperoper. In addition, the orchestra presents approximately 50 symphonic concerts, matinee performances, and chamber music evenings. In June 2022, the musicians of the Staatskapelle Dresden elected Daniele Gatti as their future Principal Conductor. The Italian maestro will assume the role for a six-year tenure starting with the 2024/2025 season. ‍

Esteemed Around the World

Celebrated for its unmistakable Dresden sound, the Staatskapelle is one of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, appearing at major international music venues multiple times each season. From 2013 to 2022, the ensemble was the resident orchestra at the Salzburg Easter Festival and received the Herbert von Karajan Prize in recognition of its highly successful decade at the Salzach River. In 2007, the Staatskapelle became the only orchestra to date to receive the European Cultural Foundation Prize for the Preservation of the World’s Musical Heritage. ‍

475 Years of Music-Making in Saxony

In the 2023/2024 season, the Staatskapelle Dresden celebrated its 475th anniversary. Since its founding, many great conductors and renowned musical partners have shaped the orchestra’s history. Among its former principal conductors are Heinrich Schütz, Johann Adolf Hasse, Carl Maria von Weber, and Richard Wagner, who described the orchestra as his miraculous harp. Richard Strauss maintained a close connection with the ensemble for over sixty years. Nine of his operas, including Salome, Elektra, and Der Rosenkavalier, premiered in Dresden, and he dedicated his Alpine Symphony to the Staatskapelle. The orchestra continues to champion contemporary music, regularly presenting world premieres and first performances of works by Hans Werner Henze, Sofia Gubaidulina, Wolfgang Rihm, György Kurtág, Peter Eötvös, Aribert Reimann, Olga Neuwirth, and Georg Friedrich Haas. ‍

Looking to the Future

Over the last 150 years, the Staatskapelle’s most significant principal conductors have included Ernst von Schuch, Fritz Reiner, Fritz Busch, Karl Böhm, Joseph Keilberth, Rudolf Kempe, Otmar Suitner, Kurt Sanderling, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Bernard Haitink, Fabio Luisi, and, from 2012 to 2024, Christian Thielemann. In May 2016, former Principal Conductor Herbert Blomstedt was appointed Conductor Laureate—a title previously held only once, by Sir Colin Davis from 1990 until his passing in 2013. Myung-Whun Chung has served as the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor since 2012. The ensemble’s own orchestral recital series provides a valuable opportunity for emerging conductors to make their debut. The Staatskapelle is deeply committed to fostering young musicians, particularly through the Giuseppe Sinopoli Academy (successor to the Orchestra School founded in 1923), the successful Kapelle for Kids educational programme, and its partnership with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. ‍

A Strong Media Presence

For over a century, the Staatskapelle’s sound has been documented through numerous recordings. Its extensive discography, which includes several benchmark CDs, has been further expanded in recent years through radio productions for MDR Kultur and Deutschlandfunk Kultur, as well as the Edition Staatskapelle Dresden series published by Profil Hänssler. Each year, Germany’s ZDF broadcasts the Staatskapelle’s New Year’s Eve Concert from the Semperoper and the Advent Concert from the Frauenkirche, bringing these performances to television audiences across the country. ‍

Local Commitment

The Staatskapelle is actively engaged throughout Saxony. It partners with the charity Meetingpoint Memory Messiaen in Görlitz-Zgorzelec, collaborates with the community music project Musaik in Dresden’s Prohlis district, and in 2010 helped launch the International Shostakovich Festival in Gohrisch—the world’s first annual festival dedicated to the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. Additionally, the Staatskapelle regularly reaches out to younger audiences in Dresden’s Neustadt district through its project Ohne Frack auf Tour (On Tour Without Tails).

source: Künstleragentur Dr. Raab & Dr. Böhm

When Daniele Gatti assumes the role of Principal Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden in August 2024, it will mark the beginning of a new chapter in a long-standing collaboration. Gatti made his debut with the orchestra in February 2000 at the invitation of then-Principal Conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli, leading a programme featuring works by Mendelssohn, Hindemith, and Brahms. In the years that followed, he returned to Dresden multiple times. With Gatti’s mastery of the Staatskapelle’s core repertoire, visionary interpretations, and keen sense of the sound and unique traditions of this historic ensemble, audiences can look forward to some outstanding concert experiences. In his first season, he will launch the orchestra’s first complete cycle of Gustav Mahler’s symphonic works.

In addition to his position in Dresden, Daniele Gatti is also Chief Conductor of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Music Director of the Orchestra Mozart, and, since 2016, Artistic Advisor to the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

Born in Milan in 1961, Gatti studied composition and orchestral conducting at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in his hometown. He made his debut at La Scala at the age of 27. This was followed by permanent engagements with leading musical institutions, including the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, London’s Royal Opera House, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. He later served as Principal Conductor of the Orchestre National de France (2008–2016), the Zurich Opera House (2009–2012), and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam (2016–2018), as well as Music Director of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma until 2022. Gatti is also a sought-after guest conductor, regularly appearing with ensembles such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala.

Equally in demand in the world of opera, Daniele Gatti has conducted major new productions, including Parsifal, staged by Stefan Herheim to open the 2008 Bayreuth Festival, as well as four operas at the Salzburg Festival: Richard Strauss’s Elektra, Puccini’s La bohème, Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Verdi’s Il trovatore. He has also launched several seasons at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma with works such as Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust, Verdi’s Rigoletto and Les vêpres siciliennes, Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, and the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’s Julius Caesar. In 2023, he conducted Verdi’s Falstaff and all of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies as part of the 85th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival. In the summer of 2025, he will return to Bayreuth for a new production of Die Meistersinger.

Daniele Gatti’s extensive discography reflects his wide-ranging repertoire. For Sony Classical, he has recorded works by Debussy and Stravinsky with the Orchestre National de France, as well as a DVD of Wagner’s Parsifal, performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. As part of the RCO Live series, he led the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in recordings of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, several Mahler symphonies, a DVD of Stravinsky’s Le sacre du printemps alongside Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune and La mer, a DVD of Strauss’s Salome at the Dutch National Opera, and a CD of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9, featuring the Prelude and Karfreitagszauber from Wagner’s Parsifal. In 2019, C-Major released a DVD of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Gatti and staged at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.

In 2015, Daniele Gatti was awarded the Franco Abbiati Prize as Best Conductor by Italian music critics. In 2016, he was named Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by the French Republic for his work as Music Director of the Orchestre National de France. He also holds the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

source: Künstleragentur Dr. Raab & Dr. Böhm

Fascination for musical discovery combined with boundless curiosity, imagination, and virtuosity have established Kirill Gerstein as one of today’s most prolific and compelling performers. Gerstein is a searching artist. As a pianist, curator, educator, musical leader, and artistic collaborator, his exploration of resonant themes across a vast spectrum of repertoire – from Baroque suites and Classical concerti to contemporary creations, jazz, and cabaret – has nourished relationships with many of the world’s leading orchestras, conductors, instrumentalists, singers, composers, festivals, recording labels, and media platforms.

Highlights of the past season include Gerstein’s Carnegie Hall/Stern Auditorium solo recital debut, marking Ferruccio Busoni’s centenary with performances of his Piano Concerto with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Orchestre National de France, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon; Gershwin with the Staatskapelle Dresden on ZDF German national television’s traditional New Year’s Eve gala broadcast; the closing concert of the Musikfest Berlin performing Messiaen’s From the Canyons to the Stars with Sir Simon Rattle; the Berg Kammerkonzert with Ilya Gringolts, Heinz Holliger and Chamber Orchestra of Europe; Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Santtu-Matias Rouvali and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; returns to Japan and Korea performing Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2; engagements with the orchestras of St. Louis, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Atlanta; a release on the ECM label of Chick Corea’s The Visitors with legendary vibraphonist Gary Burton; a poignantly timely program with the Wiener Symphoniker pairing Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon with Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto followed by a satirical encore by Hanns Eisler; and an interdisciplinary project with the Ruhr Piano Festival uniting school children, renowned choreographers, scholars and world music authorities around the music of Armenian priest, musicologist, and composer Vardapet Komitas.

Gerstein was Artist-in-Residence with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2023–24, Spotlight Artist with the London Symphony Orchestra, Resident Artist at the Festival Aix-en-Provence, and curated a three-part Busoni and His World concert series at London’s Wigmore Hall. In 2023, he released an acclaimed album with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko celebrating Rachmaninov’s 150th anniversary and performed Berlin cabaret songs of the 1920s with iconic performance artist and composer HK Gruber. Gerstein also regularly play-conducts programs, most recently the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Beethoven 4), the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris (a program of Mozart, Salieri and Beethoven Piano Concerti), the Budapest Festival Orchestra (Rhapsody in Blue) and the Czech Philharmonic (Beethoven 1).

Media projects, broadcasts, and digital innovation represent an integral part of Gerstein’s creativity. He has recorded for Platoon/Apple Music, myrios, Deutsche Grammophon, DECCA, Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings, with performances filmed by Unitel, Accentus Music, and EuroArts, broadcast on ORF, BBC, ARTE, and Marquee TV, and streamed on medici.tv and STAGE+. Gerstein’s Music in Time of War, pairing late piano works by Claude Debussy with pieces by Vardapet Komitas, earned him a 2025 special Opus Klassik Award for exceptional curation. Expanding the traditional album concept, the recording is integrated into a hardcover book containing a wealth of documentary images and original scholarship.

Gerstein’s world première recording of Thomas Adès’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with the Boston Symphony conducted by the composer was nominated for three Grammys and received the 2020 Gramophone Award. His recording of Adès’s The Tempest Suite, with violinist Christian Tetzlaff, was released on the Platoon label in 2025. Other noteworthy Gerstein albums include Strauss’s Enoch Arden with the great Swiss actor Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire, The Downfall); Tchaikovsky’s complete Piano Concertos (including the Piano Concerto No. 1 in the composer’s original urtext version) with Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic; The Gershwin Moment with the St. Louis Symphony and David Robertson, including special appearances from American singer-songwriter Storm Large and Gary Burton; and Mozart Four-Hand Piano Sonatas with Ferenc Rados.

A true champion of music of our time, Gerstein has commissioned and premièred new works by Timo Andres, Chick Corea, Alexander Goehr, Oliver Knussen and Brad Mehldau, among others. Since giving the world première of Thomas Adès’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in 2019, Gerstein has performed the work over 60 times, with 20 different orchestras on three continents. Gerstein also recently recorded Thomas Larcher’s Piano Concerto with the Bergen Philharmonic and Ed Gardner for ECM. His premiere performances of Francisco Coll’s Two Waltzes Toward Civilization at Carnegie Hall will be followed by the creation of Coll’s new Piano Concerto with Sir Simon Rattle and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2026.

Gerstein is dedicated to learning. He is currently Professor of Piano at Berlin’s Hanns Eisler Hochschule and on the faculty of Kronberg Academy. At Kronberg Academy, his series of free online seminars featuring conversations with the 21st century’s leading artistic minds has to date reached an audience of over 150,000 viewers. His guests have included Ai Weiwei, Brad Mehldau, Thomas Adès, Iván Fischer, Alex Ross, Matthew Aucoin, Kirill Serebrennikov, Elizabeth Wilson, Simon & Gerard McBurney, Robert Levin, Reinhard Goebel, Simon Callow, Emma Smith, Deborah Borda, Sir Antonio Pappano, and the late Kaija Saariaho. Gerstein also coaches at the Verbier Festival Academy and at IMS Prussia Cove.

Born in 1979 in Voronezh, Russia, Gerstein attended one of the country’s special music schools for gifted children and taught himself to play jazz at home by listening to his parents’ record collection. Following a chance encounter with Gary Burton in St. Petersburg when he was 14, he was invited as the youngest student to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. At the age of 16, Gerstein completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees at New York’s Manhattan School of Music, followed by further studies with Dmitri Bashkirov in Madrid and Ferenc Rados in Budapest. First Prize winner at the 10th Arthur Rubinstein Competition, in 2010, Gerstein received the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award, as well as an Avery Fisher Career Grant. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Musical Arts from the Manhattan School of Music in 2021.

source: kirillgerstein.com

photo © Marco Borggreve