Kick off your year with a spectacular series of events from the Loh-Orchester Sondershausen, offering a diverse musical journey through time and genres. From the transformative works of traveling composers to the vibrant symphonies of classical masters, these events promise an unforgettable auditory experience. Conductors and soloists like Julian Gaudiano, Florian Tavic, and many others will guide you through performances that capture the essence of different cultures and histories, all under the unifying theme of music.

A Musical Odyssey: Exploring Global Sounds with Loh-Orchester Sondershausen

The Loh-Orchester Sondershausen is embarking on a captivating musical journey with a series of concerts that promise to enthrall audiences with their diversity and depth. From symphonic masterpieces to chamber music treasures, and the timeless pop hits of ABBA, these events showcase the talents of esteemed musicians and conductors. Each concert offers a unique experience, celebrating both classical compositions and modern interpretations, ensuring that there's something for every music lover to enjoy.

A Symphony of Diversity: Exploring the Loh-Orchester Sondershausen's Musical Journey

The Loh Orchestra Sondershausen is set to take audiences on a musical journey through an array of captivating performances. From whimsical carnival concerts to powerful symphonic tributes, the orchestra's upcoming events promise an extraordinary celebration of music. Under the leadership of talented conductors and featuring a roster of skilled artists, each concert explores different themes and artistic expressions, ensuring a memorable experience for every attendee. Dive into the world of music with us as we explore these diverse and enriching events.

An Orchestral Odyssey: Exploring the Loh Orchestra Sondershausen's Unforgettable Performances

The Loh-Orchester Sondershausen invites music enthusiasts to a series of captivating concerts celebrating musical heritage and future innovations. From an ABBA tribute to opera and chamber music, these events offer something for every taste. Experience the powerful compositions of celebrated artists, immerse in the fairytale of the 'Magic Flute,' and explore the human spirit through Messiaen's wartime creation. Each concert is a testament to musical evolution, paying homage to the past while looking forward to future possibilities.

A Symphony of Sounds: Music Events That Celebrate Heritage and Innovation

In 2025, a series of concert events will sweep across Germany, bringing together an eclectic mix of musical performances that span genres and eras. From the timeless hits of ABBA to the classical serenades of Mozart and the symphonic masterpieces of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, music lovers will have much to celebrate. With celebrated artists and musicians at the helm, these events promise to offer unforgettable experiences, blending the nostalgic charm of the past with contemporary interpretations. Let's explore the highlights of these anticipated concerts and the talents behind them.

Melodies and Memories: A Journey Through Iconic Concerts in 2025

Dive into an enriching musical journey with the Loh Orchestra Sondershausen's eclectic 2026 event lineup. From the playful Pillow Concerts for children to the dramatic narratives of the Symphony Concerts, there's something for all ages and tastes. Whether you're pulled to the whimsical charm of film scores or the profound vibrations of orchestral masterpieces, these events promise an unforgettable auditory experience. Join us as we explore the vibrant cultural offerings hosted at the historic venues of Nordhausen and Sondershausen.

Exploring the Musical Tapestry: A Journey Through Loh Orchestra's 2026 Events

Dive into the world of the Loh-Orchester Sondershausen as they present a captivating series of concerts, ranging from film music to classical symphonies, chamber music, and delightful festivals. Each event showcases the talents of renowned musicians and conductors, offering audiences an unforgettable auditory journey. With performances of works by composers like Brahms, Dvořák, and Tchaikovsky, these concerts promise a unique blend of emotional, thrilling, and culturally rich experiences.

A Symphony of Sounds: The Loh-Orchester Sondershausen Concert Series

The dialogue between eras has always been a source of artistic fascination. The musical language of Giovanni Pergolesi, W.A. Mozart, and their contemporaries found an echo in the neoclassical period of the early 20th century. In his "Antiche danze ed aria," Ottorino Respighi referenced lute pieces from the early and high Baroque periods, including those by Jean-Baptiste Besard and Ludovico Roncalli, which he adapted to the classical string sound. Igor Stravinsky, on the other hand, specifically sought out Pergolesi's works for his "Pulcinella" ballet, allowing him to freely adapt them. With the minor flaw that, as it later turned out, most of these pieces were apparently by other masters...

4th Loh Concert

Octagonal House

This season, the Loh Orchestra will once again be performing open-air concerts in a relaxed atmosphere. The orchestra's performances have been a fixture for years, especially at the two major city festivals in Nordhausen and Sondershausen. Musical delights in summery temperatures, accompanied by a cool drink or other delicacies, guarantee a truly special experience.

EPSG:4326

Concert for the Residence Festival

Fancy a few artistic extravaganzas? Then the third palace concert of the season is just the right place for you. We've got a musical brawl by Biber on offer, a monkey dance à la Purcell, and wild dance numbers by Rameau. Bach's son, Wilhelm Friedemann, also goes against the grain of the laws of harmony. Astor Piazzolla's work isn't quite as bizarre, but then again, the tango was long considered extravagant. And Piazzolla, in particular, repeatedly built stylistic bridges to Baroque music, for example in his version of the "Four Seasons." Where Vivaldi celebrates country life, here we wander through the dance halls of Buenos Aires—including a fugue in "Spring."

3rd Castle Concert

Sondershausen Castle

Robert Schumann's Piano Quartet in E-flat major showcases the brilliant chamber music composer at the end of his famous "chamber music year" of 1842. The piece is permeated with musical references in all its movements and exudes a broad Romantic mood, ranging from hesitant contemplation to exuberance. Antonín Dvořák 's Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major is another fascinating chamber music work by the Bohemian composer, brimming with musical enthusiasm, rich melodies, and folk influences, and is one of his most frequently performed works.

4th Chamber Concert

Heringen Castle

Kunsthaus Meyenburg

St. Crucis

"In memory of..." – that could also be the title of the final symphony concert of the season. Although it is sometimes questionable who or what follows the "in". Maurice Ravel is said to have been thinking of a Spanish princess when choosing the title of his Pavane for the deceased Infanta. Or was he simply concerned with the similarity of "infante" and "défunte"? We will probably never know.

6th Symphony Concert

Theater Nordhausen

House of Art

Russian music by two composers who could hardly be more different: on the one hand, the reserved, self-doubt-plagued Peter Tchaikovsky; on the other, the cosmopolitan star pianist Sergei Prokofiev, once a public nuisance, later a figurehead of the Soviet Union. And yet, the two musicians are united by more than their nationality – this evening, featuring two of their orchestral works and Gewandhaus cellist Valentino Worlitzsch as soloist, demonstrates this.

5th Symphony Concert

They convey a "sense of happiness" that "has a doubly soothing effect in these pessimistic times" : this is how the critic-pope Eduard Hanslick once characterized Antonín Dvo ř ák's "Legends," a cycle of poetic miniatures. They were intended as an intimate counterpart to the down-to-earth "Slavonic Dances" and were also a great success. Dvo ř ák's ability to sketch out a story, scene, or atmosphere with just a few strokes seems to have been passed on from him to his compatriots. The younger Bohuslav Martin and the highly talented composer and conductor Vítězslava Kaprálová, who, despite her much too early death, left behind around 50 works and was the first female conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, also mastered the small form.

3rd Loh Concert

In this nearly one-hour concert format, concert dramaturge Katrin Stöck and a changing chamber music ensemble from the Loh Orchestra Sondershausen present stories with music for children ages three and up (relaxed on cushions if desired) and their accompanying adults. The instruments involved, their sound, and their playing techniques are also presented in an entertaining way.

2. Pillow Concert

Cyriaci Chapel

Antonín Dvořák 's famous "Dumky" Trio is the focus of this chamber concert. The dumka, a Ukrainian folk song, is brought to life by the contrast between a subdued mood and cheerful interludes. With a sequence of six dumky, Dvořák impresses listeners with his endless melodic imagination. His trio is flanked by two sonatas for cello, one by Johannes Brahms, who was Dvořák 's great admirer and supporter, and one by Ludwig van Beethoven, without whom Romantic symphonic and Romantic chamber music would be unthinkable.

3rd Chamber Concert

Düsseldorf, autumn 1853: Music director Robert Schumann had just completed a violin concerto for the young Joseph Joachim when the next child prodigy came knocking at his door: Johannes Brahms. Soulful days full of music followed – until Schumann was committed to a sanatorium in early 1854 after a suicide attempt. The artistic friendship between Joachim and Brahms endured a lifetime, despite occasional bouts of trouble.

4th Symphony Concert

It's a cherished tradition: giving the best participants of the Sondershausen International Masterclass a stage together with the Loh Orchestra. The course is now being offered for the 33rd time, in cooperation with the Thuringian State Music Academy. After three different wind instruments, this year's focus is on the viola. The course's instructor will be none other than Prof. Hartmut Rohde, a founding member of the Kandinsky String Trio and a lecturer at the Berlin University of the Arts. Treasures of the viola concert literature from the Baroque period to the 20th century will be heard.

2nd Loh Concert

Without music, many movies wouldn't be nearly as exciting, emotional, and humorous as they are with it. Music powerfully draws us into emotional worlds, adds even more thrill to the crooks' activities, and sometimes "knows" more than the characters in the story. Our concert features songs and music from animated films, blockbusters, and famous film sagas, offering something for every taste. We guarantee you'll leave with more than just a catchy tune stuck in your head!

Film music concert

For Carnival, Shrovetide or Mardi Gras we will take you to Paris, where operetta was born, then travel to Vienna where it continued to flourish and finally to Berlin, which gave the genre a witty and cheeky boost. Included are, of course, compositions by Jacques Offenbach, with whom it all began in Paris, but also by Charles Gounod. Participating in Vienna are Franz Lehár with »Fata Morgana« and Franz von Suppé with the overture to »Dichter und Bauer«. Paul Abraham came to Vienna from Berlin and his performance will be lively with music from »Roxy und ihr Wunderteam«. Leo Fall, finally, came from Vienna and became an operetta star in Berlin, as can be heard in sounds from his »Madame Pompadour«.

Carnival concert

1. Pillow Concert

This multifaceted program, full of changing emotions, is characterized by the beautiful combination of a lower female voice or tenor and cello, for which the piano provides the foundation. This foundation is based on Romantic vocal compositions by Johannes Brahms and Peter I. Tchaikovsky, as well as works from other eras, such as Dmitri Shostakovich and Jean Sibelius. Cello and piano can also be heard in duos and solo performances, for example, in pieces by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Mstislav Rostropovich.

2nd Chamber Concert

Early modernist Paris must have been a fascinating place. Where else in the world did such artistic diversity exist? Musical life oscillated between Impressionism and Neoclassicism, jazz and operetta; there were the "old" artists around Camille Saint-Saëns and Gabriel Fauré, the young artists around the Groupe des Six; there were Russians, Spaniards, and Czechs, and of course mavericks like the legendary Erik Satie. The city was thus a true melting pot and, at the same time, a laboratory of sounds.

3rd Symphony Concert

For the New Year, we extend a heartfelt belated congratulations to the birthday boy of 2025: This October marks the 250th anniversary of Johann Strauss's birth. What could be more fitting than a classical Viennese New Year's Concert featuring Austrian musical delicacies? A few contemporaries such as Franz Lehár and Franz von Suppé, and of course other members of the Strauss family, will also be joining the congratulatory crowd. And as a special "icing on the cake," several vocal works will be performed, such as the Csárdás "Klänge der Heimat" (Sounds of Home) from Johann Strauss's "Die Fledermaus" (The Bat) and the Vilja-Lied (Vilja Song) from Franz Lehár's "Die lustige Witwe" (The Merry Widow).

New Year's Concert

Adventure Mine

Cultural and Congress Center

This year, we're accompanying the Advent season with Italian Baroque music, inviting our audience to enjoy some contemplative, relaxed hours. Rina Hirayama will sing Christmas pieces by such well-known composers as Antonio Vivaldi, as well as lesser-known contemporaries such as Domenico Zipoli and Alessandro Stradella, who was able to imbue his music with such vocal brilliance thanks in part to his own vocal talent. In the second half of the concert, we'll switch to Russian sounds with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Night Before Christmas" and Alexander Borodin's "Polovtsian Dances," thus shifting from an intimate chamber music atmosphere to a festive sonic splendor. Popular Christmas carols for sing-alongs will round off the evening.

Christmas concert

With Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Night Before Christmas" and Alexander Borodin's "Polovtsian Dances," this year's first Loh concert will also set the tone for the Christmas season. Both works exude joie de vivre and festive sonic splendor. This year's performance will once again bring a special touch of color to the ensemble from the prizewinners of the Sondershausen Carl Schroeder Competition, young musicians who already demonstrate masterful mastery of their instruments. Popular Christmas carols for sing-alongs will round out the evening.

1st Loh Concert

Was George Frideric Handel a German composer or an English one? Well, one could also say: He was Italian! For in the four years he spent south of the Alps, he not only met the best musicians of his time, but also dabbled in important genres: opera, oratorio, cantata. One of these works is the cantata "Apollo e Dafne." The subject is piquant. It deals with male aggression. The god Apollo tries to win the nymph Daphne's affection by threatening him with violence. But she is wise and ultimately transforms into a laurel tree. Apollo's only option is to water it with his tears.

2nd Castle Concert

This chamber concert takes the audience on an exciting journey through the world of violin sonatas, from the Classical period (Mozart, Beethoven) through the Romantic period (Brahms) to the modern era (Hindemith). It's interesting to observe how differently the composers handled the two instruments and their musical interplay, which was certainly also due to their personal relationships with the instrument: Mozart and Hindemith were also violinists themselves, while Beethoven and Brahms were pianists.

1st Chamber Concert

A toast to defiance! Nothing inspires creativity more than the will to resist. Take, for example, when Josef Suk writes variations on the secret national anthem of the Czechs on the eve of World War I. Or when Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach lets loose in his D minor concerto, while his employer, Frederick II, prefers galant tones. Further examples are the serenade with which Hugo Wolf responded to the failure of his overture to the opera "Penthesilea": a Mediterranean serenade with the motto "just don't let yourself be defeated." And the Opus 4 of the frustrated college student Benjamin Britten: His "Simple Symphony" consists of musical snippets he composed when he was 10 or 12 years old...

1st Castle Concert

"Not Bach, he should be called the sea!" Ludwig van Beethoven once said with reference to Johann Sebastian Bach. And the influence this had on later generations is truly enormous. In 1911, Arnold Schoenberg peppered his "Harmonielehre" with examples from the Thomaskantor's work. Schoenberg's student Anton Webern, in turn, arranged the "Ricercar" from Bach's "Musical Offering" for orchestra in 1935. His plan: to make not only all six parts audible, but also the components of the fugue subject through sophisticated instrumentation. Alban Berg, Schoenberg's second student, went a step further. His Violin Concerto, also composed in 1935, is contemporary music par excellence. But the melody to which the entire work leads is the Bach chorale "Es ist genug". It forms the moving conclusion of a concerto dedicated to Manon Gropius, Alma Mahler's daughter, who died young.

2nd Symphony Concert

Üdvözöljük! A real eye-catcher, this accumulation of umlauts, and also the perfect opening for our season's opening concert. In German, this Hungarian word means "Welcome!", and not only our new, interim General Music Director Gábor Hontvári comes from Hungary, but also the horn soloist László Gál. Not to mention Béla Bartók, the figurehead of Hungarian music par excellence, who died in exile in the USA 80 years ago. One of his last compositions was the Concerto for Orchestra: a foray through musical history, with sprinkles of Renaissance and jazz, folklore and dance, as well as a feast of timbres in which virtually every orchestral instrument is put in the spotlight. It's hard to believe that the 62-year-old was already terminally ill when he wrote this brilliant piece...

1st Symphony Concert

With Tina Turner, the Loh Orchestra dedicates its popular crossover series to perhaps the greatest rock legend of all time. She began her career alongside her then husband in the 1960s and 70s with the rhythm and blues duo "Ike & Tina Turner." After their divorce, she launched an unparalleled solo career in the 1980s and became a soul, rock, and pop icon in equal measure. In 1988, she set a world record with a concert at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro in front of an audience of around 180,000. To this day, the exceptional artist, who died in 2023, continues to delight audiences all over the world with her unmistakable voice, her special energy, and her major hits such as "What's the Love Got to Do With It" and "Private Dancer." In Nordhausen, Madina Frey lends her voice to the "Queen of Rock'n Roll" and transforms the stage into a sea of ​​emotions together with Nicky Wuchinger, Laura Saleh and Funda Asena Aktop.

Tina Turner

The Loh Orchestra Sonderhausen is making its first appearance at the Altenstein Castle Summer Concerts. The renowned orchestra from Sondershausen, the former royal seat of Schwarzburg, will be performing Ludwig van Beethoven's arguably most famous Symphony: No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, which has gone down in music history as the "Symphony of Destiny." The second part of the concert program is dedicated to two composers closely associated with Altenstein Castle and Bad Liebenstein: Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt. Brahms will perform "Hungarian Dances" (WoO 1) and Liszt's symphonic poem "Les Préludes."

Concert of the Loh Orchestra

Altenstein Palace

Rarely does a single work contain so much greatness in so little. Schubert's Octet for three wind instruments and five strings is both chamber and orchestral music; it is a cheerful serenade and symphonic solemnity, presenting eight individuals as a close-knit community. With this work, Schubert, after a serious illness, wanted nothing less than to "pave the way to the great symphony," and he succeeded in doing so in a fascinating way, both relaxed and highly concentrated. Nearly 60 minutes of pure musical enjoyment – ​​that is his Octet. Violinist Annegret Klenke, the first member of the award-winning Klenke Quartet, founded in Weimar in 1991, performs the work as a guest.

6th Chamber Concert

Franz Liszt once described the Loh Orchestra, which had always remained loyal to him, as a "great miracle, locked up in a small town" . It is therefore only logical that the Thuringian Liszt Biennale will also stop in Sonderhausen in 2025, this year under the motto "Landscapes of the Soul". Liszt's E-flat major concerto provides insights into such an inner landscape, as it occupied the composer for more than 20 years. The framework is made up of works by Liszt's son-in-law Richard Wagner and Ferruccio Busoni, who followed in Liszt's footsteps as a pianist and lecturer. His "Berceuse élégiaque" is a son's touching farewell to his deceased mother.

4th Loh concert

Achteckhaus

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – never heard of him? Well, the son of an Englishwoman and a doctor from Sierra Leone, he caused a sensation in London around 1900. His "Hiawatha" cantata was a sensational success, and Elgar personally supported him. Coleridge-Taylor's declared aim was the symbiosis of African and European musical traditions, which he achieved most impressively in his Symphonic Variations op. 63 on the spiritual "I'm Troubled in Mind", a 20-minute orchestral masterpiece

Haus der Kunst

There is rarely so much greatness in a small piece in a single work. Schubert's Octet for three wind instruments and five strings is both chamber and orchestral music, it is a cheerful serenade and symphonic seriousness, it presents eight individuals as a close-knit community. With this work, Schubert wanted nothing less than to "pave the way to the great symphony" after a serious illness, and he succeeded in doing so in a fascinating way, relaxed and highly concentrated at the same time. Almost 60 minutes of pure musical enjoyment - that is his Octet. The violinist Annegret Klenke leads the work as a guest, the primaria of the multi-award-winning Klenke Quartet, which was founded in Weimar in 1991.

Banquet Hall

Cruciskirche

When you think of serenades, you probably think of summer evenings, nature, conviviality, and cheerfulness. Mozart captured this relaxed mood in numerous works. But serenades can also focus on the dark side of life, on the hidden and unspoken. This is what Benjamin Britten had in mind when he set six poems, all of which revolve around the theme of "night," to music in the middle of the Second World War. He uses the unusual instrumentation of tenor, horn, and strings to create sound effects that range from sparse to sensual, from defiant to melancholic. Antonín Dvořák, on the other hand, gave his wind serenade of 1878 a slightly nostalgic touch, effectively combined with Bohemian dance music. And here, too, there is a festival of tonal colors!

Blue Hall

The common prejudice that Haydn and Mozart had little sympathy for the transverse flute is amply refuted by their music. It is true, however, that the flute was considered an instrument for domestic use and the corresponding literature was rather modest. Haydn's and Mozart's flute quartets, on the other hand, despite all their melodic charm, always meet the requirements of sophisticated chamber music. Mozart wrote his C major work on behalf of a Dutch doctor in Mannheim, while Haydn's D major quartet was probably written for the Esterházy court. The concert is rounded off with two colorful chamber music works from the beginning of the 20th century: a flute quartet by the Swiss Volkmar Andreae and the first movement of the string trio by the French composer Jean Cras.

In April 1945, the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora concentration camps were liberated by American soldiers. How do you commemorate these events musically? The best way is to let victims of that time have their say. Viktor Ullmann, a student of Arnold Schönberg and Alexander Zemlinsky, was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942 because of his Jewish descent. Looking back, it is hard to imagine the creative energy he mustered there despite the most unfortunate circumstances. The musical setting of Rilke's legendary "Cornet" story, a large-scale project for speaker and orchestra, was also created there. With it, Ullmann attempted to place the text, often shortened to soldier's prose, on a different, more humane level. The composer was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.

Watch out, there's something to discover here! The 3rd Loh concert features two opera specialists and a film composer with spectacular instrumental works. Like so many before him, Antonio Salieri, who has chosen to live in Vienna, wrote variations on the popular "Follia" bass. He took the original meaning of "Follia", "madness", very seriously and created extravagant miniatures with highlights for violin, harp, percussion and wind instruments. The fact that his compatriot, the Oscar-winning film music composer Nino Rota, was also at home in classical genres is demonstrated by his bassoon concerto, which is also crowned by a series of variations. The concert concludes with Weber's 1st Symphony, a work full of energy and dynamism that already gives an idea of ​​the later creator of "Freischütz".

3rd Loh concert

The place: the main camp VIII A near Görlitz. The time: the Second World War. Instruments available: clarinet, piano, violin and cello. Not ideal conditions for musical world literature, but Olivier Messiaen managed to do just that at the turn of the year 1940/41 while he was a German prisoner of war. His quartet is as much an end-time work that explores the depths of human existence as it is a vision of the future that hears the divine in birdsong. 80 years after the liberation of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora concentration camps, Messiaen's music is placed alongside selected texts.

5th Chamber Concert

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Magic Flute" is about, among other things, the magical power of the flute. The melodies from the opera were famous since the premiere and became real hits. As a result, arrangements for smaller ensembles were quickly created, such as the one for flute quartet by Franz Heinrich Ehrenfried. In this pillow concert, we discover the flute and string instruments through the wonderful music and the fairytale story of Pamina and Tamino, Papagena and Papageno, and Sarastro and the Queen of the Night.

2nd Pillow Concert

With the song "Waterloo", the then unknown Swedish pop band ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton in 1974. This performance was the start of a rapid international career. With "SOS", "Mamma Mia", "Dancing Queen", "Thank You for the Music" and "The Winner Takes It All", the four musicians took the hearts of millions of people by storm and the charts around the world. Experience the unforgettable music of a band that wrote pop history like no other!

ABBA in Concert

Dank der Unterstützung vor allem durch den Förderverein Loh- Orchester Sondershausen e. V. sind wir seit letzter Spielzeit im Besitz zweier fabrikneuer Harfen, die in diesem Konzert präsentiert werden: Unsere Harfenistin Cecilia Domuncu wird Solostücke zu Gehör bringen und mit einigen ihrer Orchesterkolleg:innen musizieren.

4. Kammerkonzert

Bankettsaal

The stage is set for all sorts of breakneck, virtuoso and comical performances by the various instrument groups and individual soloists of the Loh Orchestra. Julian Gaudiano leads the orchestra through a colorful program in which everyone can show off their craziest tricks and gimmicks, their sound confidence and instrumental mastery, and enter into a high-spirited musical competition. And just like in a real circus, the musical ring naturally includes funny animals and winking clowns.

carnival concert

This time, the oboe is the focus of the Sondershausen master class. Young talents from near and far are being taught by Washington Barella. He has been a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts since 2012, gives concerts internationally and has been principal oboist in the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg since 1992. As usual, the participants will perform the final concert together with the Loh Orchestra Sondershausen, here under the direction of Michael Helmrath, himself a long-time oboist with the Munich Philharmonic. You can expect a highly diverse program, as the oboe is one of the few wind instruments that has been popular in practically all eras from the Baroque to the modern era.

2nd Loh concert

The act of creation has inspired many musicians to create works: Rameau, Haydn, Milhaud, to name just a few. The Russian Andrei Petrov, film composer and friend of Shostakovich, also belongs in this series. His ballet "The Creation of the World" became popular after its premiere at the Mariinsky Theater in 1971, especially in the concert version. Petrov's message - humanity - is as relevant today as it was then, and the music also surprises with its freshness and lightness.

Do you like to make travel plans at the beginning of the year? Then let yourself be inspired by traveling composers who have translated their dream destinations, holiday oases and creative breaks into entertaining music. For our trip you don't have to get on the train or the car, you just need to come to our New Year's concert and off you go with Saint-Saëns to Aragon, with Rossini to Reims, with Johann Strauss to St. Petersburg or to the roses in the south. The Loh Orchestra, the baritone Florian Tavic and Julian Gaudiano will be your tour guides and will musically fuel your wanderlust.

Culture and Congress Center

As every year, the 1st Loh Concert sets the mood for the Christmas season. You can hear ballet music and dance suites by Peter I. Tchaikovsky (»The Nutcracker«, »Mozartiana«) and Ludwig van Beethoven (»Prometheus«). And of course the program ends with the singing of Christmas carols together - this is also a tried and tested tradition of the Loh Concert during Advent. At the same time, it is a forum for selected prizewinners of the Sondershausen Carl Schroeder Competition: Here they have the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and musicality in front of an audience.  

1st Loh concert

Engelbert Humperdinck composed an exciting opera with catchy music based on the well-known fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel. This morning we will play the most beautiful and most important catchy tunes from it and tell the story. Of course, the instruments of the woodwind quintet will also be presented in detail in the concert.

1st Pillow Concert

For this year's Christmas concert - after the successful musical "The Spirit of Christmas" - the angel will once again float down onto Nordhausen's stage: Stefanie Hertel, together with her daughter Johanna Mross and her husband Lanny Lanner, will sing a selection of their most popular Christmas songs, including traditional and original Christmas songs as well as international songs such as "To the Post Office Cloud 7" and "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas". The Loh Orchestra will provide the appropriate sound base and will also be represented with rousing orchestral pieces. And of course the audience is invited to sing along to some Christmas songs.

Georges Bizet did not live to see the success of his last opera, "Carmen," as he died just a few months after its premiere, which took place in March 1875 at the Paris Opera-comique. At the time, there was a hail of harsh criticism: the title character, for example, was "obscene" in her unconditional love of freedom, an "incarnation of vice" and should be "banned by the police." The composer and his librettists portrayed the dramatic story of the spirited Spanish woman Carmen and her lover Don José in a drastic realism that was unusual for the time. Carmen, who loves her independence and does not allow herself to be taken over, increasingly frees herself from the possessive clutches of Don José. The latter is drawn into a fatal vortex of jealousy and mistrust.

Carmen

Haydn, Mozart and Schubert, the Viennese trio – and right in the middle of it all, Johann Nepomuk Hummel. This is to be understood as symbolic, as the gifted pianist Hummel was in personal contact with all three. He was a student of Mozart, Haydn's successor in Esterházy and the dedicatee of Schubert's last piano sonatas. He is represented here with one of his best-known works, the highly virtuoso trumpet concerto, played by the Loh Orchestra's solo trumpeter Ralf Glitscher. In addition, there is the lively overture to Haydn's magic opera "Armida" and some of the dances that Mozart wrote for festive balls in the Vienna Redoutensaal. The program is rounded off by Schubert's 5th Symphony, a work from his youth that nevertheless already opens the door wide to Romanticism.

A violoncello can do pretty much anything, bel canto and rumbling bass, languishing and humming, solo and accompaniment. If four of them come together, the possibilities are almost unlimited. And so the cello players from the ranks of the Loh Orchestra take on any score, be it classical or modern. Their program includes works by Joseph Haydn, David Popper and Jacob Gade ("Tango Jalousie"), as well as other dance music and, by popular request, arrangements by the metal band "Metallica". Details are not yet being revealed. One thing is certain: it will be a listening pleasure again!

Good mood guaranteed! With Germaine Tailleferre's orchestral overture from 1931, we plunge into the hustle and bustle of the big city, into the pulsating life of Paris. The fact that the composer was a member of the legendary artist group "Les Six" (the only female member, incidentally) can be heard in every bar of this music, which is free of romantic pathos.

Romanticism has many facets, and some of the most beautiful can be heard here. The range extends from the stroke of genius of the 14-year-old Franz Schubert to the Spring Fantasy of the late Romantic Delius. As well as Schubert, Schumann, Grieg and Brahms are represented in our program with songs that the Swiss composer Fabian Müller has arranged for clarinet and string orchestra. The fifth of the once immensely popular serenades by Robert Fuchs will be heard at the end. Fuchs, the Viennese teacher of Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss and many others, pays homage to his colleague Johann Strauss in the last movement of his work - with quotes from "The Bat".

Heringer Castle Concert

"Who can do anything after Beethoven?" This sigh, attributed to the young Franz Schubert, expresses - on behalf of so many other composers up to the end of the 19th century - the difficulty of creating any more symphonies after Beethoven's symphonies, which were considered so perfect. Schubert himself left behind a whole series of symphonic fragments in his search for his own path, including perhaps the most beautiful torso of Romanticism with "the Unfinished". Only two movements, but they traverse an entire emotional cosmos.

With Tina Turner, the Loh Orchestra is dedicating its popular crossover series to perhaps the greatest rock legend of all time. She began her career alongside her then husband in the 1960s and 70s with the rhythm and blues duo "Ike & Tina Turner". After her divorce, she started an incomparable solo career in the 80s and became a soul, rock and pop icon in equal measure. In 1988, she set a world record with a concert in the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro in front of around 180,000 spectators. To this day, the exceptional artist, who died in 2023, inspires people all over the world with her unmistakable voice, her special energy and her big hits such as "What's the Love Got to Do With It" and "Private Dancer". In Nordhausen, Madina Frey lends her voice to the “Queen of Rock’n Roll” and transforms the stage into a sea of ​​emotions together with Nicky Wuchinger , Laura Saleh and Funda Asena Aktop .

For the Open Monument Day, soprano Yuval Oren and tenor Marian Kalus, two soloists from the Nordhausen Theater, and the opera choir will give a celebratory concert that leaves nothing to be desired. Highlights from opera, operetta and musicals can be heard, including from Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen" and Bedrich Smetana's "The Bartered Bride", from the operetta "The Bat" by Johann Strauss as well as timeless "evergreens" in the musical "A Cage Full of Fools" and Leonard Bernstein's "Westside Story" and much more. The artists will be accompanied on the piano by choir director Markus Fischer and the director of studies and conductor Svetlomir Zlatkov.

Festive Concert for the Open Monument Day

After the terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, Igor Levit recognizes "an explosion of anti-Semitism" and is stunned by the widespread silence, including in the cultural scene. He has already broken this silence with several benefit concerts and now wants to set another example together with TN LOS!.

»Against silence. Against anti-Semitism.

This season, the Loh Orchestra will once again be giving open-air concerts in a relaxed atmosphere. The orchestra's performances have been a permanent fixture at the two major town festivals in Nordhausen and Sondershausen for years and are now indispensable. Musical delights in summer temperatures, with a cool drink or other delicacies, guarantee a special experience.


Coffee Concert for the Roland Festival

Petersberg

This season, the Loh Orchestra will once again be giving open-air concerts in a relaxed atmosphere. The orchestra's performances have been a permanent fixture at the two major town festivals in Nordhausen and Sondershausen for years and are now indispensable. Musical delights in summer temperatures, with a cool drink or other delicacies, guarantee a special experience.

concert for the Roland Festival

Concert for the Residenzfest 2024

castle courtyard

In this Loh concert we combine a promising musical program, open-air atmosphere and culinary delicacies to create a special evening. The overture to Gioacchino Rossini's opera "Il barbiere di Siviglia" exudes airy lightness, while Hector Berlioz explores the tragic facets of love in his famous song cycle. The expressive melodies and subtle instrumentation are unparalleled. The strings of the Loh Orchestra accompany the break in the open air in front of the octagon house with Mozart's famous serenade "Eine kleine Nachtmusik", during which you can also indulge in culinary delights.

Mozart the revolutionary? With works such as the Piano Quartet in G minor, the composer was indeed exploring unknown territory: not only was the instrumentation new, but also the uncompromising, even grim tone that dominates the opening movement. The 2nd String Quartet, which Alexander Borodin dedicated to his wife, is completely different: it looks back on 20 years of happy partnership. Carl Maria von Weber, on the other hand, lets the five instruments act like figures on an opera stage in his B major quintet, with the clarinet as the undisputed prima donna.

The meteoric rise of Stevie Wonder, who went blind shortly after birth, began when he was just 11 years old. With songs like "My Cherie Amour" and "Superstition," he renewed and revolutionized "black music" in the early 1970s and became one of the most successful entertainers in the USA. Stevie Wonder has received 25 Grammys, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar in 1984 for "I Just Called to Say I Love You." Three fantastic singers and proven specialists in "black music" lead you into the rich world of Stevie Wonder, the magician of blues, soul, and funk, supported by the orchestral arrangements of Viktor Åslund.  


Stevie Wonder - The Legend

Hardly any other rock band has achieved such lasting success as the Beatles. Our singers, accompanied by the Loh Orchestra, bring these golden years of pop history back to life on the Nordhausen stage. Under the motto "All You Need Is Love", visitors can expect an unforgettable evening full of highlights such as "Yesterday", "Strawberry Fields" and "A Hard Day's Night". Not only die-hard Beatles fans will be thrilled!

The Beatles in Concert

With Louis Spohr's Notturno op. 34, a work dedicated to the court of Sondershausen returns to its destination. Here, Spohr continued the great tradition of harmony music in the royal city. By using percussion instruments, which had come to Europe as "Janissary music" during the Turkish wars, he also sets striking rhythmic accents. Then the strings take the floor. Leoš Janáček's seven-movement string suite "Idyla" impressively shows the fascination that the folk music of his homeland exerted on the 24-year-old. Dvořák echoes are no coincidence here, as Janáček had recently gotten to know and appreciate his colleague, who was 13 years older.  

Painting in tones – that has always been one of the specialties of French music. Claude Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" is probably the best-known example: the heat shimmers, the sun blazes, and erotic fantasies wander. But "Spring Morning" by Lili Boulanger, who died young, also conjures up colourful images before our inner eyes. It is hard to believe that such a light-flooded, life-loving piece was written when the highly talented composer was already struggling with death.

At the end of the 19th century, Great Britain was considered a pioneering nation in practically all areas, but it lagged behind in music. Men like Cecil Forsyth did real pioneering work: the violist from London not only wrote important musicological texts, but also gave the country the first solo concert for his instrument. First performed in 1903, it showcases the lyrical abilities of the viola wonderfully. And it inspired successors: colleagues such as Vaughan Williams, Walton, Bax and Bridge also wrote solo works for viola.

"Missa in angustiis" ("Mass in times of distress") is a truly telling title. Joseph Haydn's D minor work does indeed tell of current hardships and the hope for a better future. The music clearly refers to the war events of that time, the end of which was still far from in sight in 1798. In 1815, the very year when peace finally returned to Europe, the 18-year-old Franz Schubert wrote his 3rd Symphony, in just nine days, as it is said. The youthful stroke of genius seems to capture in music the spirit of optimism after the victory over Napoleon.

St. Blasii Church

The Kyffhäusersparkasse presents a chamber concert by the CelLohlisten with members of the Loh Orchestra Sondershausen.

Tickets are available at all branches of the Kyffhäuser Sparkasse. The proceeds go to the Arterner Tafel!



anniversary chamber concert

Artern

What a variety of expressive possibilities lies in the instrumentation of this chamber concert! Folkloristic tones, sometimes playful and exuberant, sometimes thoughtful, are conjured up by Aram Chatschaturian's piano trio. In contrast, the duo for violin and cello, with which Maurice Ravel created a monument to his late colleague Claude Debussy, is of gripping intensity and a masterpiece that is far too little known. Brahms' clarinet quintet, one of his last compositions, provides the melancholy conclusion.

These concerts are just the thing for parents who want to get their children excited about music. Chamber music groups from the Loh Orchestra introduce the little ones to music in a playful way, introduce the instruments and encourage them to join in.

This concert offers a real discovery: the lively Concertino by Prague composer Erwin Schulhoff for the unusual combination of flute, viola and double bass. And Schulhoff was not the only one who liked this instrumentation. Milhaud's student Pierre Max Dubois also demonstrated how well the three instruments fit together. Also on the program: trios by Jean-Marie Leclair and Joseph Haydn in appropriate arrangements as well as solo and duo literature from the 1980s.

Together with musical stars Eve Rades (most recently in "Doctor Zhivago") and Tobias Joch ("Addams Family"), the Loh Orchestra dedicates itself to the big and small wishes and dreams of the most diverse film and musical characters from cartoons, feature films and musicals. Whether their protagonists move around in the jungle, under water, in ice, desert or fantasy worlds, their songs and duets are always the emotional highlights of the stories. Ariel, Aladdin, Elsa, the Beauty or Simba and all their names dream of love, a better life, wealth and much more. We invite young and old to lose themselves with us in these happy dreams.

At the 31st Sondershausen Master Class, young course participants from near and far will work intensively with the renowned trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich, professor at the Karlsruhe University of Music and sought-after lecturer. At the end and climax, together with the Loh Orchestra Sondershausen, they will present not only the instrumental and musical skills they have expanded during the course, but also a colorful excerpt from the rich concert repertoire for trumpet.  

We have 007, the world's most famous secret agent, to thank for numerous rousing, cool and "hot" songs. Each individual Bond film (there are 25 in total!) has its own theme song. This evening we'll be playing a number of them, such as "Live And Let Die", "Golden Eye" and "Skyfall", and will take you into the glittering world of gangsters and villains with stories and anecdotes about James Bond. Jeannette Wernecke, a native of Nordhausen, who already played the female lead in the musical "Jedermann", and Peter Saurbier, a true all-rounder as an author, actor, performer and producer, will serve up this show mix shaken, not stirred...

James Bond in Concert

Small ensemble - great sound imagination. Mozart ensures that this formula works when he conjures up a wealth of tones with just a few instruments in his B major symphony of 1779. Alessandro Marcello's oboe concerto is tailored entirely to the soloist. The second movement in particular, with its touching cantilena, is very popular, also thanks to Johann Sebastian Bach's adaptation into a harpsichord concerto. Marcello's contemporary Arcangelo Corelli gets by completely without wind instruments in his famous Christmas concert. Here it is the lively interplay between soloists and tutti that provides variety. Edward Elgar's String Serenade in E minor op. 20 forms a romantic, yearning haven of calm within the program.

Start the new year in Spain? Musically, that's no problem! Pavel Baleff and the Loh Orchestra Sondershausen take you on a journey to a country that has inspired many composers. In Andalusia, for example, famous operas by Giovanni Paisiello and Conradin Kreutzer are performed. Through Russian glasses, we look at the Iberian Peninsula with brilliant orchestral pieces by Mikhail Glinka and Peter I. Tchaikovsky. The Spanish national heroes Don Quixote and El Cid make an appearance, and there is also the ballet music from Giuseppe Verdi's "Don Carlo". Zarzuela, the Spanish version of the operetta, is also represented with a few examples, before the concert ends appropriately: with Georges Bizet's "Carmen" suite.

Loh-Orchester Sondershausen

Jun 3, 2026

4th Loh Concert

May 29, 2026

Concert for the Residence Festival

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