Kölner Kammerorchester

The Cologne Chamber Orchestra, with its concert debut in 1923, is the oldest chamber orchestra in Germany. The idea of ​​a faithful interpretation of the works led to the founding of the Cologne Chamber Orchestra in 1923, which in its early years played under Hermann Abendroth and later under Erich Kraack. The inaugural concert on November 30, 1923, in the hall of the then-new Art Association building on Friesenplatz in Cologne, as part of the concert series of the Society for New Music, has now been scientifically documented. This first concert was conducted by Gustav Classens, who had studied piano and conducting with Hermann Abendroth at the Cologne Conservatory since 1914 and later shaped cultural life as Bonn's music director from 1933 to 1949. Under the direction of Otto Klemperer and Hermann Abendroth, the newly founded orchestra also performed in the 1920s as part of the "Rhenish Chamber Music Festivals," held annually in May in Cologne, and in the music hall of Brühl Palace.