Dresden Music Festival 2016 Ends with Record Attendance
The 2016 Dresden Music Festival ended on Sunday (June 5) with a concert of the Dresden Festival Orchestra at the Semperoper. Under the baton of Ivor Bolton, the final concert featured works by Robert Schumann and Ludwig van Beethoven. Intendant Jan Vogler had chosen the motto »Time« for this edition of the festival, expanding the event to an unprecedented duration of 32 days. From May 5 to June 5, 1500 artists from all over the world offered Dresden magical moments during 53 events at 22 performance venues.
The concept of the Dresden Music Festival - to create a unique symbiosis of artists, program and venue for each concert format - was rewarded in 2016 by approximately 48,000 enthusiastic visitors. The festival’s growing resonance among music lovers from Germany and abroad is reflected in the positive summary of the 39th Festival edition: with an average rate of 93% of seats sold, ticket sales revenues increased to over one million Euros for the first time this year.
»As the home of an international festival, Dresden has transmitted an important message to the world during the past weeks. Going forward, we must use this dynamic for Dresden’s benefit – and I hope that all our partners, the city, the Free State of Saxony, our audience and our sponsors remain faithfully at our side during this expansion course,« says Jan Vogler, director of the Dresden Music Festival.
The longest edition of the Festival so far was characterised by a mixture of classical concerts and experimental event formats, ranging all the way to a grand interactive project for everyone: guest performances such as that of the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Semyon Bychkov, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under Lan Shui and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the orchestra in residence with Omer Meir Wellber conducting, will be memorable for a long time. Daniel Hope, David Garrett, Kristine Opolais and many others added soloistic highlights. The program was rounded out by smaller formats, for example Lise de la Salle’s piano recital and the three-part Beethoven cycle with violinist Leonidas Kavakos – exquisite music-making in an intimate, pleasant atmosphere.
Artists such as Andrej Hermlin and His Swing Dance Orchestra, Till Brönner and Sergei Nakariakov brought a jazzy swing to the Semperoper. The musical journey around the world presented by Dorothee Oberlinger at the Annenkirche enticed listeners to enter exotic soundscapes. The opening of the festival offered an unconventional exploration of this year’s motto, »Time«, with a concert by Michael Nyman and his band and the subsequent late-night perambulatory concert at the Deutsche Hygiene-Museum Dresden. A new feature this year was the series »Classical Beats«, during which the Festival offered two events in the charming red-brick atmosphere of the Reithalle Dresden - Straße E, attended by a young audience.
During the interactive project »Klingende Stadt« (Musical City) amateurs and professionals made music together all over the city, while the traditional event »Dresden sings & makes music« grew beyond itself, being held in cooperation with the German Protestant Trombone Days. Further highlights of the 39th Festival edition were the award ceremony of the Glashütte Original Music-Festival Award, which went to the Latvian conductor and designated Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons, as well as the first CD recording of the Dresden Festival Orchestra, commemorating its five-year anniversary – featuring Jan Vogler as soloist and works by Robert Schumann.
The 40th Dresden Music Festival takes place from May 18 to June 18, 2017.
The program will be announced at the end of September.