Sym­pho­ny Or­ches­tra

Seitliche Ansicht eines Orchesters auf der Bühne, rechts im Bild der Dirigent.
(Foto: Laura Brichta)

The lar­gest sound body

The Sym­pho­ny Or­ches­tra of the HfMDK con­sists main­ly of stu­dents of the Ba­che­lor and Mas­ter Ar­tis­tic Mu­sic Stu­dies pro­grams with an or­ches­tral in­stru­ment as their main sub­ject. The goal of or­ches­tral trai­ning is to com­pre­hen­si­ve­ly pre­pa­re stu­dents for the pro­fes­sio­nal field of or­ches­tral mu­si­ci­anship. Un­der pro­fes­sio­nal con­di­ti­ons, or­ches­tral work at the HfMDK tea­ches es­sen­ti­al and dif­fe­ren­tia­ted skills as well as the joy of play­ing in an or­ches­tra. Through the di­ver­se re­per­toire selec­tion, stu­dents are ex­po­sed to cha­rac­te­ris­tic com­po­si­ti­ons from all eras and styles of Wes­tern sym­pho­nic mu­sic in the cour­se of their stu­dies.

The­re are usual­ly two ma­jor or­ches­tral pro­jec­ts per se­mes­ter, which cul­mi­na­te in con­certs or a vi­deo or au­dio pro­duc­tion. In ad­di­ti­on, wind ex­er­ci­ses and re­per­toire rehe­ar­sals are of­fe­red as one-day pro­jec­ts. Pro­jec­ts in coope­ra­ti­on with the uni­ver­si­ty choirs take place at re­gu­lar in­ter­vals. Ope­ra pro­duc­tions are also rea­li­zed in coope­ra­ti­on with the vo­cal de­part­ment of the HfMDK.

Ausschnitt aus dem Orchester beim gemeinsamen Konzert von Chor und Orchester
Seitlicher Blick ins Orchester, im Vordergrund die Kontrabässe.
Ausschnitt aus dem Orchester beim gemeinsamen Konzert von Chor und Orchester
Der Dirigent schüttelt der Konzertmeisterin nach einem Konzert von Chor und Orchester auf der Bühne des Großen Saals die Hand.
Seitliche Ansicht eines Orchesters auf der Bühne, rechts im Bild der Dirigent.
Ausschnitt aus dem Orchester beim gemeinsamen Konzert von Chor und Orchester

Pro­jec­ts and rehe­ar­sal sche­du­les

Projects and rehearsal schedules

Übersicht über die Projekte des WiSe 2025/26

Stand 22.08.2025

 

Projektplan Symphonieorchester-Projekt 10.11.-15.11.25

Stand: 05.11.25

Projektplan Zusatzprojekt (Wahlbereich): Verabschiedung Prof. Stoodt 16.12.-17.12.25

Stand: 28.10.25

Projektplan Opernprojekt 23.01.-02.02.26

Stand: 04.11.25

Christoph Altstaedt unterrichtet eine Studentin vor dem Ensemble im Dirigieren
(Foto: Laura Brichta)

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Students of conducting classes and church music lead a student instrumental ensemble and gain valuable practical experience - this is the conducting studio at the HfMDK. Dates take place every semester for which interested instrumentalists are sought. Participation can be credited in the elective area.

Con­certs

Concerts

Concerts

Or­ches­tra on the road

Orchestra on the road

On the road with the orchestra

Ar­tis­tic di­rec­tor

Artistic director
Zu sehen ist Michael Sanderling, Professor für Violoncello und künstlerischer Leiter des Symphonieorchesters der HfMDK.
Michael Sanderling, Professor of Violoncello and Artistic Director of the HfMDK Symphony Orchestra.(Photo: Marco Borggreve)

Mi­cha­el San­der­ling has been chief con­duc­tor of the Lu­zer­ner Sin­fo­nie­or­ches­ter sin­ce 2021. His ap­point­ment fol­lo­wed a suc­cess­ful col­la­bo­ra­ti­on over many ye­ars, with a com­mon goal of fur­ther de­ve­lo­ping the or­ches­tra in late Ro­man­tic re­per­toire such as Bruck­ner, Mah­ler and Strauss. 

Un­der Mi­cha­el San­der­ling’s di­rec­tion, the Lu­zer­ner Sin­fo­nie­or­ches­ter has tou­red Asia, South Ame­ri­ca and Ger­ma­ny. Their per­for­mance of Shosta­ko­vich’s 10th sym­pho­ny at the Wie­ner Kon­zert­haus, ac­com­pa­nied by Wil­liam Ken­tridge’s ani­ma­ted film ‘Oh to Be­lie­ve in Ano­t­her World’, at­trac­ted par­ti­cu­lar at­ten­ti­on. This work had pre­vious­ly been pre­mie­red at the KKL Lu­zern and the Pom­peii Thea­trum Mun­di fes­ti­val.

Sin­ce the start of his ten­ure as chief con­duc­tor, several high­ly-ac­c­lai­med CDs have been re­leased. The­se in­clu­de a Brahms cy­cle re­leased in 2023 by War­ner Clas­sics, with the four sym­pho­nies as well as his ‘fifth’ – a pia­no quar­tet or­ches­tra­ted by Ar­nold Schoe­n­berg – and a re­cord­ing of the Schu­mann and Grieg pia­no con­cer­tos with Eli­sa­beth Le­ons­ka­ja.

As a guest con­duc­tor, Mi­cha­el San­der­ling di­rec­ts lea­ding or­che­s­tras around the world. The­se in­clu­de the Ber­lin Phil­har­mo­nic, the Ge­wand­haus­or­ches­ter Leip­zig, the In­dia­na­po­lis Sym­pho­ny Or­ches­tra, the Hong Kong Phil­har­mo­nic Or­ches­tra, the Roy­al Con­cert­ge­bouw Or­ches­tra, the Or­ches­t­re de Pa­ris, the Phil­har­mo­nia Or­ches­tra in Lon­don, the NHK Sym­pho­ny Or­ches­tra, the Ton­hal­le Or­ches­tra Zu­rich, the Wie­ner Sym­pho­ni­ker, the To­ron­to Sym­pho­ny Or­ches­tra, the Hel­sin­ki Phil­har­mo­nic Or­ches­tra and the BBC Scot­tish Sym­pho­ny Or­ches­tra.

From 2011 to 2019 Mi­cha­el San­der­ling was chief con­duc­tor of the Dres­den Phil­har­mo­nic. Du­ring this time he rai­sed the or­ches­tra’s pro­fi­le, es­tab­li­shing it as one of Ger­ma­ny’s lea­ding en­sem­bles. He per­for­med with them both on the con­cert sta­ge in Dres­den and on nu­me­rous in­ter­na­tio­nal tours, and re­cord­ings of the com­ple­te sym­pho­nies of Beet­ho­ven and Shosta­ko­vich for Sony Clas­si­cal are a tes­ta­ment to this. Pri­or to this he was chief con­duc­tor of the Kam­mer­aka­de­mie Pots­dam, whe­re he was ar­tis­tic di­rec­tor from 2006 to 2011.

In ad­di­ti­on to the re­cord­ings men­tio­ned above, Mi­cha­el San­der­ling’s ex­ten­si­ve dis­co­gra­phy in­clu­des re­cord­ings of ma­jor works by Dvořák, Schu­mann, Pro­ko­fiev and Tchai­kovs­ky, as well as works for cel­lo and or­ches­tra by Bloch, Korn­gold, Bruch and Ra­vel with Ed­gar Mo­reau and the Lu­zer­ner Sin­fo­nie­or­ches­ter.

In 2011 he con­duc­ted the new pro­duc­tion of Ser­gei Pro­ko­fiev’s ‘War and Peace’ at Co­lo­gne Ope­ra, for which he was vo­ted ‘Con­duc­tor of the Year’ by Opern­welt ma­ga­zi­ne.

Mi­cha­el San­der­ling is a pas­sio­na­te sup­por­ter of young mu­si­ci­ans. He tea­ches at the Frank­furt Uni­ver­si­ty of Mu­sic and Per­forming Arts, and also works re­gu­lar­ly with the Schles­wig-Hol­stein Fes­ti­val Or­ches­tra. From 2003 to 2013 he was chief con­duc­tor of youth or­ches­tra the Deut­sche Strei­cher­phil­har­mo­nie.

Guest con­duc­tor­ships and pre­vious coope­ra­ti­on pro­jec­ts

In 2007, the or­ches­tra per­for­med a Beet­ho­ven pro­gram at the 1st Lim­burg Or­ches­tra Fes­ti­val and at the Bad Hers­feld Fes­ti­val. In the same year, it tra­v­eled to con­certs in Frank­fur­t's twin city Guang­zhou in Chi­na. For the 2009 fall con­cert, the So­cie­ty of Fri­ends and Spon­sors of the HfMDK sup­por­ted a rehe­ar­sal pha­se and a con­cert of the sym­pho­ny or­ches­tra with a re­now­ned con­duc­tor for the first time. The chief con­duc­tor of the Kon­zert­haus­or­ches­ter Ber­lin, Lo­thar Za­g­ro­sek, was won for this coope­ra­ti­on.

In the sum­mer se­mes­ter of 2010, a pro­gram con­sis­ting of the "Con­cer­to Gros­so for three cel­los and or­ches­tra" as well as the "Ada­giet­to" by Pen­der­ecki him­s­elf and the 9th Sym­pho­ny by Dmi­tri Shosta­ko­vich was de­ve­lo­ped un­der the di­rec­tion of Krzy­s­tof Pen­der­ecki. The gre­at suc­cess of Se­bas­ti­an Wei­gle's work pha­se with the Sym­pho­ny Or­ches­tra in Fe­bru­a­ry 2011 pro­ved the con­cept right.

Fur­ther pro­jec­ts un­der guest con­duc­tors took place in Ja­nu­a­ry 2014 with the then GMD of the Pfalz­thea­ter Kai­sers­lau­tern, Uwe Sand­ner, and in June 2014 with José Luis Go­mez, princi­pal con­duc­tor of the Tea­tro So­cia­le di Como. Un­der the di­rec­tion of Cle­mens Heil, the Sym­pho­ny Or­ches­tra of the HfMDK per­for­med Phil­ip­pe Hu­rel's "Flash-Back" and "A Short Ride in a Fast Ma­chi­ne" by John Adams in the New Mu­sic Night of the Hoch­schu­le in the sum­mer se­mes­ter 2017.

In­for­ma­ti­on no­ti­ces for stu­dents

Information notices for students

Orchesterpflicht

Orchesterordnung

Stand: 04.03.2024

Merkblatt Orchestereinteilung und Ersatzleistungen

Ques­ti­ons & Con­tact

Questions & Contact

Ques­ti­ons & Con­tact