The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden invites audiences to a series of enthralling events in 2025, celebrating orchestral and chamber music's rich tapestry. From Petr Popelka's return to the Dresden stage with a riveting Russian program, to André Caplet’s haunting compositions inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, and captivating recitals focusing on the harmony between art and nature, these events promise an unforgettable concert season. Experience globally renowned conductors and virtuosos as they perform iconic works, bringing to life the diverse narratives embedded in classical music’s legacy.

A Symphony of Culture: The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden's 2025 Musical Journey

The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden is set to present a series of captivating concerts that beautifully intertwine nature, tradition, and innovation. From Mahler and Beethoven’s enchanting portrayals of the natural world to Verdi’s dramatic requiem and Sibelius’s modern symphonic masterpiece, each event promises to transport audiences on a unique cultural voyage. With performances spanning from intimate chamber music to grand orchestral symphonies, led by acclaimed conductors like Daniele Gatti and Herbert Blomstedt, these concerts promise to leave a lasting impression on all who attend.

Nature, Heritage, and Innovation: A Journey Through the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden's Spectacular Concert Series

This spring, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden invites audiences to experience an array of captivating musical events at the Semperoper Dresden, Germany. From the vibrant works of Mahler to the evocative compositions of Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, the series promises a rich tapestry of sound. Highlights include Daniele Gatti's Mahler cycle, Herbert Blomstedt's interpretations of Beethoven and Sibelius, and Anna Rakitina's exploration of Sibelius's revolutionary symphonic style. Join us in celebrating these outstanding performances, where historical and contemporary musical frontiers converge.

Exploring the Symphony: Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden's 2025 Concert Series

The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden unveils an exquisite lineup of performances for 2025, ranging from engaging symphonic concerts to intimate chamber music evenings. The artistic journey features renowned conductors like Anna Rakitina and Daniele Gatti, taking audiences on an exploration of works by Sibelius, Mahler, and Mendelssohn, among others. As the historic orchestra graces venues from Dresden to Madrid and Valencia, each event promises a unique experience that celebrates timeless masterpieces and contemporary compositions alike.

A Symphony of Cultures: Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden's 2025 Concert Highlights

This May, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden brings a diverse array of musical events to audiences across Europe. From the rhythmic explorations of 'Schlagfertig' for kids to the universal appeal of Shostakovich's and Bruckner's orchestral masterpieces, this series of concerts offers something for every music lover. The events culminate in a poignant chamber music performance dedicated to Dmitri Shostakovich. With celebrated artists like conductor Tugan Sokhiev and cellist Sol Gabetta, these concerts promise to captivate and engage audiences with their rich musical tapestry.

A Symphony of Rhythms: Exploring the Diverse Concerts by the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

Dresden's Semperoper resonates with a rich tapestry of sound as the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden unfolds an array of compelling performances. From Mahler's cosmic exploration in his Third Symphony to Shostakovich's vibrant piano concertos, the events provide a deep dive into the world of classical music. Highlights include Mendelssohn's romantic compositions, Beethoven's enduring Septet, and Brahms' masterful violin concerto, all performed by renowned musicians. This season promises a captivating exploration of musical narratives, offering audiences a profound connection to timeless symphonic stories.

Symphonic Narratives and Romantic Classics: A Journey Through Dresden's Musical Events

Born in London, Nicholas Collon is a violist, pianist and organist by training, and studied as Organ Scholar at Clare College, Cambridge. As a conductor, he is recognized for his elegant conducting style, searching musical intellect and inspirational music-making. He is Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony, Founder and Principal Conductor of the Aurora Orchestra. From 2016-2021 he was Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orkest in Den Haag and was Principal Guest Conductor of Gürzenich-Orchester from 2017-2022.

Advent Concert of ZDF

Frauenkirche Dresden

If you want to do justice to the broad spectrum of Jonathan Stockhammer's musical work and his cross-genre curiosity, you have to leave the usual pigeonholes and classifications behind. Born in Los Angeles, the conductor who consistently pushes musicals limits devotes himself to the classical and contemporary repertoire with the same passion. This is the driving force behind his work: to understand and appreciate music in its universality. He loves opera, ballet and modern dance theatre, experimental premieres and unconventional concert formats that break down encrusted structures in favour of new listening experiences. Thanks to his astonishing talent for explaining music and understanding the audience not only as a resonating space but as a dialogue partner, he makes music newly understandable, newly experienceable.

EPSG:4326

Portrait concert by Capell-Compositrice Unsuk Chin

Festspielhaus Hellerau

Two works that create their own musical universes: the Symphonic Suite from Richard Wagner’s »Götterdämmerung« condenses the finale of »Der Ring des Nibelungen«, itself a musical vision of the end of time, steeped in fate, splendour and destruction. Richard Strauss responded a good quarter of a century later with his own vision of the artist as hero. Rather than depicting a myth of ancient times, his symphonic poem »Ein Heldenleben« is an astonishing self-portrait. Nine months after the world premiere, Ernst von Schuch conducted the Dresden premiere in the presence of the composer, who was called to the stage four times. The press spoke of »rapturous applause« and »a sensational concert thanks to Strauss«.

Symphony Concert N° 3

Semperoper Dresden

Ami Yumoto completed her bachelor's degree at Tokyo University of the Arts with Prof Kazuki Sawa, Gerard Poulet and Oleh Krysa. In 2011, she transferred to the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. There she initially studied with Prof Saschko Gawriloff. Under Prof Mark Gothoni, she successfully completed her master's degree in the instrumental soloist programme and her concert exam.

Chamber Music Evening N° 2

Haydn’s Symphony No. 44 got the nickname »Symphony of Mourning« due to its sombre tone, the fugal finale and the air of seriousness that never lets up. Thomas Adès’s »Inferno Suite« is also anything but light-hearted. This condensed excerpt from the ballet music »Dante«, which premiered in 2021, takes up the circles of hell from the »Divine Comedy«, transforming them into garish and frenzied soundscapes that teeter on the abyss. Finally, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto seeks to balance pain with beauty, melancholy with resilience. Describing it as »a work written with love«, the composer completed the concerto during the illness of his sister-in-law, with whom he had a deep emotional bond.

Symphony Concert N° 2

Michael Schmid initially received his violin training as a junior student with Prof Conrad von der Goltz. After leaving school, he studied in Salzburg and Vienna with Prof Harald Herzl and Prof Christian Altenburger. He received further musical impulses in the class of Prof Ingolf Turban, in chamber music studies with Prof Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet) and in masterclasses with Leonidas Kavakos, Christian Tetzlaff and Prof Igor Ozim.

Chamber Music Evening N° 1

Music is always created through movement – ​​it is the vibrations of an instrument that are created by a musician. The music we then hear can not only trigger a variety of emotions in us, such as joy or sadness, but also an irrepressible urge to move! Speaking of the urge to move: It's a good coincidence that 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the "Waltz King" Johann Strauss. His music represents lavish, dance-filled nights at balls. When you hear it, you can hardly keep your feet still! In our program "Step by Step," however, we first take a step back and explore together which movement is hidden in which music. There is music that makes you fall completely still and want to remain motionless. And there is music that immediately tears you from your seat, that makes you want to jump up and dance along! We will move between these two points in "Step by Step." And of course, we want to get you dancing!

Band for Kids: »Step by Step«

Semper Zwei

Ruth Reinhardt is the newly appointed Chief Conductor-designate of the Rhode Island Philharmonic. Her tenure begins with the 25-26 season. She is the fifth chief conductor in the orchestra's 80-year history.

1st Performance Evening

1st Symphony Concert

Daniele Gatti brings his Schumann cycle to a close with the »Rhenish« symphony. The premiere in February 1851 was an unmitigated triumph; indeed, the work became the composer’s most popular piece during his lifetime. Some two years later, one of the most significant meetings in music history took place when the 20-year-old Johannes Brahms from Hamburg introduced himself to Schumann, then aged 43. The latter was moved to pick up his pen once again to praise his young colleague in the article »Neue Bahnen« (New Pathways). For many years this paean became something of an albatross for Brahms. But as a mature composer, he more than fulfilled the lofty prophecies with extraordinary works such as the violin concerto from 1878.

12th Symphony Concert

This Septet was by no means a mere appetiser at the mammoth premiere concert featuring large orchestral pieces such as the C major Piano Concerto and Symphony No. 1. When Beethoven himself first organised a self-financed Akademie concert in Vienna on 2 April 1800 to present his latest works, the E-flat major Septet was in fact the longest item on the programme. In a letter to his publisher, the composer stressed that this work contained seven fully independent parts and was not simply a string quartet with optional winds. The Septet became Beethoven’s most popular work during his lifetime: not only was it frequently performed, but it also appeared in countless official (and unauthorised) arrangements.

8th Chamber Music Evening Concert

Shostakovich’s two piano concertos are worlds apart. The lively humour of the first, which dates back to 1933, is reminiscent of music for the silent screen; indeed, the composer had once earned his living as a cinema pianist. The neoclassical second from 1957, on the other hand, seems unrooted in time. The composer’s own view was merciless: »I have finished a piano concerto that has no redeeming artistic merits«. Yet perhaps his words should be taken with a pinch of salt: Shostakovich composed the work for his son, and he did not hinder him from performing it. To help launch the Shostakovich Festival, Marie Jacquot is combining this Janus-faced pair of works with Kurt Weill’s Symphony No. 2, which premiered in Paris in 1934, the year in which the composer fled Nazi Germany.

Special Concert International Shostakovich Festival Gohrisch

Kulturpalast Dresden

Mendelssohn's "Scottish" is a prime example of Romantic Classicism: its wanderlust, its folk tone, and its mythological world are romantic, while its structure is classicist. The work was inspired by a trip to Scotland in 1829. In the ruins of Holyrood Palace, Mendelssohn found the opening A minor motif: "I believe I have found the beginning of my Scottish Symphony today," he wrote to his parents. But for a long time, the ascending triad remained unused. It was not until 1840 that Mendelssohn resumed work on this composition. The youthful work now became a symphony of his maturity, in the immediate vicinity of another masterpiece, the E minor Violin Concerto.

4th Evening Recital Performance

Band for Kids: »Wunderhorn«

Like its predecessors, Mahler’s Third also has a narrative programme. But in contrast to the »Resurrection Symphony«, which describes inner processes, the Third shifts the focus outwards to explore the whole world in ever larger circles. Mahler called this musical cosmology »a summer’s midday dream«, transporting the listener from soulless matter to plants, animals, people and angels, all the way up to divine love, reflected in the massive, wordless finale. With its huge orchestration and unprecedented length of over 90 minutes, this work confidently shattered all previous symphonic conventions: »For me, writing a symphony means creating an entire universe with all the technical means at my disposal«.

11th Symphony Concert

To mark the anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich’s death, our chamber music collaboration with the Leipzig Gewandhaus is turning to one of his most significant works: the second piano trio. It was written in memory of Ivan Sollertinsky, the critic and musicologist who not only introduced the composer to the music of Gustav Mahler, but also provided important impulses for Shostakovich’s own work. Dedicated to his friend in the year of his death, the trio also reflects on the hardships and despair of WWII. In the final movement, a melody styled on Jewish folk music recalls the victims of both Hitler and Stalin. The tune was later reworked in the famous 8th String Quartet from 1960 as a poignant reminder to those who survived.

7th Chamber Music Evening Concert

Guest Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Toulouse

La Halle aux Grains

Guest Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Paris

Cité de la Musique

Guest Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Basel

Stadtcasino Basel

Guest Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Munich

Gasteig HP8

Guest Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Vienna

Wiener Konzerthaus

Guest Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Berlin

Berliner Philharmonie

Guest Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Hamburg

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

A concert with the Staatskapelle Dresden under the baton of Tugan Sokhiev and with Sol Gabetta as a soloist: this is the stuff musical dreams are made of. Especially since Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 are outstanding works of their respective composers, which means the audience is in for an extra-special treat. »Since Beethoven, nothing even similar has been written…!«, the conductor Arthur Nikisch uttered when he gave the first performance of Bruckner’s Seventh in 1884.

Gabetta — Staatskapelle Dresden — Sokhiev

When Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his first cello concerto in 1959, it was created in collaboration with his close friend Mstislav Rostropovich. The legendary cellist learned the concerto by heart in just three days and then made several suggestions for improvements. "If I do that, you'll be the only one who can play it. But I'm writing for everyone," the composer explained his decision not to accommodate the requests. Tugan Sokhiev, a conductor more than just a Shostakovich specialist, combines the work with Bruckner's Seventh in the concert – the symphony that, after its premiere under Arthur Nikisch, finally brought the composer his long-awaited breakthrough.

10th Symphony Concert

Wherever we are, we are surrounded by rhythm: be it the steadily dripping tap, the rattling of a tram, or the enthusiastic clapping at the end of a concert. These types of rhythm surround us every day, and we have little control over them. But we can also consciously tap out a rhythm, for example, with a wooden spoon on a pot or with our hands on a table. In an orchestra, the drums are responsible for rhythm. Drummers can not only play the most amazing rhythms, they can also produce completely different timbres and even melodies. We once cleared out the instrument cabinets of the Staatskapelle percussion section. We want to bring along and demonstrate what we found. You will be amazed!

Band for Kids: »Schlagfertig«

After Felix Mendelssohn left his parental home in Berlin in 1829, his sister Fanny, who was married to the court painter Wilhelm Hensel, took over the organisation of the family’s salon with its famous Sunday concerts. This was the only place where music lovers could hear her compositions, as for many years her professional ambitions were thwarted by her family. It was not until 1846 that Felix gave his blessing for his sister’s music to be published. Her last major work is the Piano Trio in D minor from 1847. Until recently, Fanny’s compositional talents remained more or less forgotten. Indeed, it was only at the very end of the 20th century that her work was systematically reviewed and edited for public performance.

6th Chamber Music Evening Concert

Guest Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Valencia II

Palau de la Música de València

Guest Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Valencia I

Turia Garden

Guest Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Madrid II

National Music Auditorium

Guest Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Madrid I

It is hard to believe that the people of Dresden once looked askance at the music of Gustav Mahler. And this despite the fact that Ernst von Schuch had very early programmed the Second Symphony: He conducted three movements in January 1897 and the entire work five years later. The critics were certainly unimpressed, sarcastically thanking von Schuch for not aping his colleague’s efforts at composing: »We have enough composers like Mahler but only very, very few conductors like von Schuch«. More than 120 years later, the picture is quite another: the »Resurrection Symphony«, which deals with the themes of life, death and redemption, is universally acclaimed as one of the most profound works of the late Romantic period.

9th Symphony Concert

It’s no coincidence that the focus of Ukrainian-Russian conductor Anna Rakitina at this concert is the work of Jean Sibelius. Completed in 1924, his final symphony transcends the notion of a purely »national« music, an ideal to which the Finnish composer was once committed. Instead, the Seventh consists of a single movement that develops organically while seamlessly integrating various traditional formal elements. This is a true masterpiece of concision. The concert opens with an equally thrilling world premiere, namely the overture »GerMania«, in which the young composer Florian Frannek combines contemporary techniques with traditional influences and experimental sounds.

3rd Evening Recital Performance

8th Symphony Concert

When seeking out the forerunners of the influential »Mannheim School«, one often stumbles across the name of Johann Evangelist Brandl, born in Regensburg in 1760.  Even if he never actually belonged to the leading lights of the musical avant-garde, Brandl was nevertheless in close touch with prominent musicians at the Bruchsal court of the Bishop of Speyer. They helped him when the bishop was forced to flee the invading French in 1792, who finally conquered Bruchsal seven years later. Brandl’s new place of work became the Francophile court of the Grand Duke of Baden. There, until his death in 1837, he composed numerous works for his beloved bassoon – including the Quintet, Op. 63.

5th Chamber Music Evening Concert

Initially focusing on the four »Wunderhorn« symphonies, Daniele Gatti continues his Mahler cycle with the Fourth. To elucidate the internal connections within this work, Gatti combines it with six songs from the original collection »Des Knaben Wunderhorn«. The Fourth is the composer’s shortest and most accessible symphony. With its bright and cheerful atmosphere, it is something of a contrast to the rather more sombre first three symphonies. Three instrumental movements open the work before the last movement presents an innocent, even childlike »Wunderhorn« song performed by a soprano, creating a mood of unadulterated bliss that is rare in Mahler.

7th Symphony Concert

When Rossini died in 1868, Verdi suggested that Italy’s leading composers join forces to write a funeral mass. He himself contributed the concluding »Libera me«. However, the project was abandoned shortly before the premiere. Five years later, Verdi decided to write his own requiem, into which he incorporated the existing material. This work was not written for the church, but for the concert hall. Powerful emotions and dramatic contrasts combine to create a stream of deeply felt music that underscores the urgent message of the sacred texts: humility in the face of death and the hope of salvation to be gained through supplication.

6th Symphony Concert

Band for Kids: »Maskerade«

The works in this concert have a common theme, namely our connection with nature. Mahler’s settings of the poems from »Des Knaben Wunderhorn« refract life and nature through a melancholic lens. They incorporate folk tunes to paint a picture of a world in which human experience is closely interwoven with nature. Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony is also more than just a musical depiction of nature. While the »Pastoral« gives us idyllic landscapes, babbling brooks and cheerful village festivities, for Beethoven these are not merely a backdrop but rather reflect the feelings of the observer, thereby creating a unique connection between man and nature.

Moderated Special Concert »Natur pur!« in the Kulturpalast

Palace of Culture

There are only ten years between the main works of this concert. And yet Ottorino Respighi and Igor Stravinsky are worlds apart. The orchestral suite "Trittico botticelliano" is inspired by paintings by the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. Respighi uses impressionistic colors to bring the picturesque scenes to life. With its gentle elegance, the suite is one of Respighi's most poetic works. Stravinsky's concerto "Dumbarton Oaks" is influenced by Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. In three movements, it combines clear structure and contrapuntal density with rhythmic energy and is considered one of the most concise chamber orchestra works from Stravinsky's pen.

2nd performance evening

Only ten years separate the two main works at this concert, and yet Ottorino Respighi and Igor Stravinsky are truly worlds apart. The orchestral suite »Trittico botticelliano« was inspired by the paintings of the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. Respighi breathes life into the picturesque scenes through his impressionistic colouring. With its gentle elegance, the suite is one of the composer’s most lyrical works. Stravinsky’s concerto »Dumbarton Oaks«, on the other hand, is influenced by Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. In three movements, its clear structure and contrapuntal density combined with rhythmic energy conspire to create one of the composer’s most striking works for chamber orchestra.

2nd Evening Recital Performance

Awartime injury forced the talented conductor André Caplet to give up his post as musical director at the Paris Opera. And so the musician, who was born in Le Havre in 1878, soon devoted himself entirely to composition. As a pupil of Claude Debussy, he abandoned his teacher’s Impressionism in favour of the avant-garde, for example in the music he composed for the modern concert harp. In 1919, Caplet wrote a »Fantastic Tale« for harp and string quartet inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s story »The Masque of the Red Death«. The work wonderfully captures both the dark and ghostly atmosphere of the tale while reflecting on the composer’s own experiences of war.

4th Chamber Music Evening Concert

Petr Popelka played double bass in the Dresden Staatskapelle for ten years before devoting himself entirely to conducting. The chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra is now returning to his former ensemble for a symphony concert. He is bringing with him a programme of Russian works that runs the gamut from Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky to Alfred Schnittke. The latter’s Viola Concerto is one of his most significant works, containing an array of musical references drawn from the late-Romantic and Baroque periods as well as contemporary music. This »polystylistic« approach reflects Schnittke’s inner conflict, which can be attributed to the exploration of existential themes as well as his own deteriorating health.

5th Symphony Concert

New Year's Eve Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden

This concert brings together two masterpieces that were both composed in 1786. Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 86 in D major is one of the six symphonies that the composer was commissioned to write by a Parisian concert organiser. According to musicologist H. C. Robbins Landon, the 86th Symphony, with its unusually free slow movement, is one of Haydn’s best works. Mozart’s Prague Symphony, written in the same year, is another pinnacle of the classical period. It is remarkably innovative, particularly in the composer’s jettisoning of the traditional minuet movement. The symphony also shares many features with the opera »The Marriage of Figaro«, which was composed at the same time.

4th Symphony Concert

The audience at this chamber music evening can enjoy works featuring unusual combinations of instruments. Hindemith’s Sonata for Four Horns exploits the tonal possibilities of this grouping; indeed, the composer’s use of complex harmonies and dense polyphony highlights the instrument’s unique timbre. The horn also appears in a trio by Beethoven’s pupil Carl Czerny, confirming that the famed composer of pianistic finger exercises was capable of more substantial fare. Dvořák’s String Quartet in F major is the companion piece to the symphony »From the New World«. The Czech master’s integration of American spiritual and folk music with his unmistakably Bohemian melodies is even stronger here than in the more celebrated Ninth.

3rd Chamber Music Evening Concert

Born into a family of musicians in Munich, her career began at an early age. Her breakthrough came at the latest with numerous prizes at the Sarasate, Paganini and Tchaikovsky competitions, which quickly took her to the world's most important stages as a soloist. As a soloist and chamber musician, Yuki Manuela Janke also inspires as concertmaster of the most traditional orchestras. Her interpretation of Richard Strauss' "Heldenleben" in the Golden Hall in Vienna with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Christian Thielemann attracted particular attention.

Evening Recital N° 2

One of the leading composers of our time, Unsuk Chin now graces the Staatskapelle stage as Capell-Compositrice. »Subito con forza« from 2020 is her homage to Beethoven. A former student of György Ligeti, Chin’s music combines analytical acuity with evocative imagery. This work provides a stimulating contrast to Mahler’s Sixth while also provoking a conversation on structural clarity and existential expressiveness. The symphony conjures up a world of tragedy. Offering no comfort and no conciliatory finale, the »Tragic« is uncompromising in its severity. Part of the ongoing Mahler cycle, Daniele Gatti will conduct this jewel of the composer’s middle creative phase, celebrated not least for its powerful hammer blows.

Symphony Concert N° 4

Federico Kasík began his musical career at the age of 7. After being taught by Tibor Varga in Sion (Switzerland) from 1992, he took lessons with Igor Pylatyuk and Bogodar Kotorovych at the National Academy of Music in Lviv and Kiev from 1994. Due to this long-standing connection, Federico Kasík is a direct successor to the artistic and didactic lineage of Avram Jampolski and Yuri Yankelevich, two of the most successful teachers of the Russian violin school.

Chamber Music Evening N° 3

Andrés Orozco-Estrada has been Music Director of the Houston Symphony since the 2014-15 season, and after eight years, the 2021-22 season will be his last as Music Director. Andrés Orozco-Estrada was principal conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony from September 2014 to July 2021.

When Herbert Blomstedt ascends the conductor’s rostrum, music truly becomes a way of life. The 98-year-old Conductor Laureate of the Staatskapelle embodies a humility and clarity that are deeply rooted in his art. His performances of Bruckner have long been regarded as benchmark interpretations. They are free of pathos and imbued with intellectual rigour, tonal transparency and inner calm. Bruckner’s exploration of musical form culminated in the Fifth Symphony, which premiered in 1876. The composer himself described it as his »most contrapuntally daring symphony«. Placing the highest demands on musicians and listeners alike, the work has an understated grandeur. The finale brings a brilliant fugato, truly an aural apotheosis that abjures vanity.

Symphony Concert N° 5

An evening that invokes the spirit of Romanticism: the overture to »Der Freischütz« introduces a key work from the era, whose magic spell was cast early in the Dresden career of Carl Maria von Weber. Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor combines poetic expression with formal clarity. First performed in Dresden in December 1845, the work sees the piano and orchestra enter into a lively dialogue. The programme concludes with Mendelssohn’s »Scottish« symphony, an atmospheric piece permeated by a sense of vastness, melancholy and hymn-like power. Drawing inspiration from a visit to Edinburgh’s Holyrood Palace in 1829, the young composer did not complete the symphony until twelve years later.

Special concert with Myung-Whun Chung

Chamber Music Evening N° 4

This year’s Remembrance Concert commemorating the destruction of Dresden on 13 February 1945 features Igor Stravinsky’s »Mass«, a deliberately sober, liturgically reduced Mass setting. The composer did not produce a bombastic celebration of Christ’s sacrifice but rather a piece of quiet contemplation. Anton Bruckner’s Ninth feels rather like a testimonial. The composer dedicated the symphony to »our dear Lord« as an act of the deepest devotion. The three completed movements take us on an emotional journey from loss and devastation to hope before the unfinished work fades into silence. Daniele Gatti unites these two compositions to create a poignant tapestry of mourning, remembrance and contemporary spirituality.

Symphony Concert N° 6

Chamber Music Concert of the Giuseppe-Sinopoli-Academy

Gustav Mahler’s »Kindertotenlieder« were written, as he said, »in one breath«. This is music of harrowing intimacy, in which the focus is not on pain but rather the depiction of suffering through images of quiet consolation. Composed between 1901 and 1904, the cycle explores a theme that, tragically, would affect Mahler only a few years later. In his Seventh Symphony, however, the composer strikes a very different tone: enigmatic, fragmented, often unearthly. Two so-called Nachtmusiken (Night Musics) frame a ghostly scherzo that oscillates between darkness and demonic mockery. But then comes the turning point: the Finale shocks with the glaring light of day, almost as if from another world – triumphant yet at the same time ambiguous.

Symphony Concert N° 7

Robert Lis, born in Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland, began playing the violin at the age of 6. He is one of the most talented Polish violinists of his generation and has won numerous national and international violin competitions. In 2011, he graduated with honours from the Ignacy Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan as a student of Prof. Dr Marcin Baranowski. In 2012 he obtained his second master's degree at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam as a student of Ilya Grubert.

Chamber Music Evening N° 5

Semper Opera Dresden

Lukas Stepp has been concertmaster of the 2nd violins of the Staatskapelle Dresden since the beginning of 2019.

Chamber Music Evening N° 6

Through his thrilling concerts and highly acclaimed recordings, Gautier Capuçon has already established a solid reputation as one of the leading cellists of his generation. Born in the French city of Chambéry in 1981, Capuçon first took cello lessons at age five. He went on to study at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris under Philippe Muller and Annie Cochet-Zakine, later attending a masterclass of Heinrich Schiff in Vienna. A prize-winner at numerous international competitions, Capuçon was named »Young Artist of the Year« at the Victoires de la Musique ceremony in 2001. In 2004 he was awarded the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and has also received several ECHO Classical Music Awards. In addition to his work as a soloist, Gautier Capuçon is an enthusiastic chamber musician, performing with Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim and, naturally, his brother, Renaud.

Recital of the Capell virtuoso

The traditional Palm Sunday Concert was established in 1827 to gather money for the widows and orphans of the Royal Kapelle (today’s Staatskapelle). For decades, this was the only concert programme to feature choral symphonic music. Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Kapellmeister Felix Mendelssohn was also once a guest here, conducting his oratorio »St. Paul« on Palm Sunday in 1843. Five years later, in memory of Mendelssohn’s death a few months earlier, Carl Gottlieb Reißiger conducted the Dresden premiere of »Elijah«. The oratorio tells the story of the prophet in a series of dramatic scenes depicting a life of destiny, doubt, faith and consolation.

Symphony Concert N° 8

Born in Sibiu, Romania, in 1989 into a Hungarian-Romanian family of musicians, Tibor Gyenge received his first violin lessons from his father.

Chamber Music Evening N° 7

»Wien pur!« A concert with Viennese charm

In this program, you can experience a rather unusual combination of three unique and very special instruments. And all of them are absolutely record-breaking: the piccolo as the smallest and highest-pitched woodwind instrument, the tuba as by far the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument, and the harp as the orchestral instrument with the most strings! In a large orchestra, the three are often very far apart – and they have very different functions. But of course, the Olympic spirit is at the forefront of "Higher, Lower, Cheerful": "Taking part is everything," or, more accurately, making music together. We will get to know the different characteristic traits of the instruments and experience how, through the power of music, the piccolo, tuba, and harp, despite their great differences, can come together to form a wonderful whole!

Band for Kids: "Higher, deeper, merrier!"

Evening Recital N° 3

A romantic programme with a close connection to Dresden. As royal Kapellmeister from 1817, Carl Maria von Weber had a long-lasting impact on the city’s musical life. His »Oberon« overture is a late vision of romantic opera that is both radiant and dramatically charged. Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto was premiered on 4 December 1845 at the local Hotel de Saxe with Clara Schumann as soloist and Ferdinand Hiller conducting. Clara noted in her diary: »The concerto is quite rich in invention. All the movements are particularly beautiful, all of a piece, fresh and not too long.« Johannes Brahms was also closely associated with Dresden, frequently performing here as a pianist and conductor of his own works.

Symphony Concert N° 9

Blending sonic mysticism with maritime contemplation, this concert unites German and French Romanticism in a way that is both rich in contrasts and affinities. Richard Wagner’s music from »Parsifal« and »Tristan und Isolde« transports us into worlds of redemption and Liebestod (love death), metaphysical silence and burning ecstasy. Between these works come two French masterpieces that create their own unique sensuality: Camille Saint-Saëns’ First Cello Concerto is a virtuoso and dramatic concert piece without symphonic pretensions, while Claude Debussy’s »La Mer« is an impressionistic naturalistic panorama, full of movement and refracting sunlight. The Cello Concerto is interpreted by our »Artist in Residence« Gautier Capuçon, a master of the warm, cantabile tone.

Symphony Concert N° 10

Marie Jacquot is one of the leading conductors of her generation. According to one critic, her interpretations are »more inventive than innovation-driven, they float, they arise autonomously, without the gesture of emancipating oneself from anything.« In Dresde1, the French maestra will present two key works: Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major, a piece of luminous clarity with a symphonic breadth and formal balance, complemented by Béla Bartók’s »Concerto for Orchestra«, which the composer wrote in 1943 while living as an émigré in America. This is a work of irrepressible energy and subtle irony, combining counterpoint, Hungarian folklore and late Romantic opulence.

Symphony Concert N° 11

On the eve of the International Shostakovich Days, the Staatskapelle is exploring two key works by the Russian composer. Written for David Oistrakh in 1967, the Second Violin Concerto is a work full of inner tension that captivates with its austere tonal language and chamber music-like density. The Tenth Symphony, composed in 1953 shortly after Stalin’s death, is one of the most discussed orchestral pieces of the 20th century. Here Shostakovich truly makes his mark: featuring his musical monogram – the famous DSCH motif (i.e. D-Eb-C-B) – this work is also an existential cri de coeur. The Tenth has been interpreted as a denunciation of Stalinism, particularly the second movement, which is seen as a savage portrayal of the brutal dictator.

Chamber Music Evening N° 8

A colourful season finale with works of great imagination and formal diversity. The concert begins with a late Romantic masterwork in Paul Dukas’s »Sorcerer’s Apprentice«, a brilliantly orchestrated musical parable on power and its unintended consequences. »Puzzles and Games« features scenes from the opera »Alice in Wonderland« by Capell-Compositrice Unsuk Chin; at times poetic, grotesque and even playful, this is a veritable cosmos of sonic illusions and absurd humour. The programme is capped by Sergei Prokofiev’s thrilling suite from »Romeo and Juliet«. Here the great Russian composer created an enchanting score of ever shifting moods that marries classical dance with the sounds of the first half of the 20th century.

Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

Dec 9, 2025

Evening Recital N° 2

14 - 16 Dec, 2025

Symphony Concert N° 4

Dec 18, 2025

Chamber Music Evening N° 3

Dec 31, 2025 - Jan 1, 2026

New Year's Eve Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden

11 - 13 Jan, 2026

Symphony Concert N° 5

Nov 29, 2025

Advent Concert of ZDF

Nov 6, 2025

Portrait concert by Capell-Compositrice Unsuk Chin

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Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden