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The Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester (Frankfurt Opera House and Museum's Orchestra) is the resident orchestra of the Oper Frankfurt. Its somewhat peculiar name is derived from the series of "Museum Concerts", organized by the Frankfurter Museumsgesellschaft since 1808.^[1] The orchestra is ranked as an "A-list" ensemble under the German TVK regulations. Its music director and principal conductor is Thomas Guggeis.

History and repertory

With a history spanning more than 200 years, the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester is one of Germany's oldest symphonic ensembles. It was founded in the late 18th century as the orchestra of the Oper Frankfurt, Frankfurt's municipal opera.^[2] In addition to playing in the opera house, the orchestra maintains a series of 10 subscription programs per season (each played twice, on Sundays 11 a.m. and Mondays 8 p.m. CET, respectively), performed at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, a former opera house converted into a concert hall.

The orchestra has attracted leading conductors and musicians since its founding. Composer-violinist Louis Spohr was the second principal conductor (1817–1819) of the Museumsorchester; his successors included Clemens Krauss, William Steinberg, Franz Konwitschny, Georg Solti, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Michael Gielen.

Other notable conductors and composers who led the orchestra have included Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Arthur Nikisch, Hans Pfitzner, Willem Mengelberg, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Hans Knappertsbusch, Hermann Abendroth, Bruno Walter, and George Szell. The orchestra has played the premieres of several operas.

Richard Strauss' large-scale tone-poems Ein Heldenleben and Also sprach Zarathustra were both premiered by the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester.

Many leading soloists have appeared with the orchestra, beginning with Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann in the 19th century. From 1915 to 1923, composer-violist Paul Hindemith served as concertmaster of the Opern- and Museumsorchester. Its repertoire includes major operatic and symphonic works from Baroque to contemporary music.

In the 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 seasons, the Museumsorchester was voted one of the three top German opera orchestras in the country, selected by the leading operatic magazines in Germany. For the 2007/2008 season, the noted German periodical Die Deutsche Bühne voted the Oper Frankfurt the best opera house in Germany. Finally, in 2009, the respected music-industry magazine Opernwelt voted the Opern- und Museumsorchester Orchestra of the Year among all the German opera- and theatre orchestras, an honour the orchestra shares with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester; in both 2010 and 2011 the orchestra was again named "Orchestra of the Year".^[3]

Music Directors and Principal Conductors

1817 – 1819: Louis Spohr
1821 – 1848: Carl Guhr
1848 – 1860: Franz Messer
1860 – 1891: Carl Müller
1880 – 1892: Felix Otto Dessoff
1893 – 1924: Ludwig Rottenberg
1924 – 1929: Clemens Krauss
1929 – 1933: Hans Wilhelm Steinberg (aka: William Steinberg)
1933 – 1934: Bertil Wetzelsberger
1935 – 1936: Karl Maria Zwißler
1937 – 1938: Georg Ludwig Jochum
1938 – 1944: Franz Konwitschny
1945 – 1951: Bruno Vondenhoff
1952 – 1961: Georg Solti
1961 – 1966: Lovro von Matačić
1966 – 1968: Theodore Bloomfield
1968 – 1977: Christoph von Dohnányi
1977 – 1987: Michael Gielen
1987 – 1991: Gary Bertini
1991 – 1992: Hans Drewanz
1992 – 1997: Sylvain Cambreling
1997 – 1999: Klauspeter Seibel
1999 – 2008: Paolo Carignani
2008 – 2023: Sebastian Weigle^[4]^[5]
2023 – present: Thomas Guggeis^[6]

Orchestra Members (2023–2024 season)

Source:^[7]

1st violin

Ingo de Haas, Dimiter Ivanov, Gesine Kalbhenn-Rzepka, Artur Podlesny, Vladislav Brunner, Arseni KulakovTarasov, Sergio Katz, Hartmut Krause, Basma AbdelRahim, Kristin Reisbach, Karen von Trotha, Dorothee Plum, Christine Schwarzmayr, Freya Ritts-Kirby, Juliane Strienz, Almut Frenzel-Riehl, Jefimija Brajovic, Gisela Müller, Beatrice Kohllöffel, Stephanie Gierden, Yoriko Muto, Tsvetomir Tsankov, Cornelia Ilg, Alexandra Tsiokou

2nd violin

Guntrun Hausmann, Jörg Hammann, Aischa Gündisch, Ruth Elisabeth Müller, Olga Yuchanan, Lin Ye, Susanna Laubstein, Donata Wilken, Frank Plieninger, Nobuko Yamaguchi, Lutz ter Voert, Sara Schulz, Peter Szasz, Yu-Lin Tsai, Merve Uslu, Samuel Park, Miri Kim, Shaoling Jin

viola

Thomas Rössel, Philipp Nickel, Wolf Attula, Lev Loiko, Guillaume Faraut, Jean-Marc Vogt, Mathias Bild, Fred Günther, Ulla Tremuth, Susanna Bienroth, Ariane Voigt, Elisabeth Friedrichs, Friederike Gutsch, Gabriele Piras, Maria del Mar Mendivil Colom, Vaida Rozinskaite

cello

Rüdiger Clauß, Mikhail Nemtsov, Sabine Krams, Lukas Plag, Johannes Oesterlee, Florian Fischer, Roland Horn, Nika Brnič Uhrhan, Mario Riemer, Bogdan Michael Kisch, Janis Marquard

double-bass

Bruno Suys, Tamás Frank-Dessauer, Hedwig Matros-Büsing, Peter Josiger, Rafael Kufer, Ulrich Goltz, Matthias Kuckuk, Philipp Enger, Jean Hommel, Kalle Helm

flute

Sarah Louvion, Eduardo Belmar, Elizaveta Ivanova, Almuth Turré, Giovanni Gandolfo

oboe

Nanako Becker, Johannes Grosso, Márta Berger, Aurélien Laizé

clarinet

Jens Bischof, Claudia Dresel, Diemut Schneider, Ramón Femenía, Matthias Höfer

bassoon

André Rocha, Richard Morschel, Henrike Kirsch, Eberhard Beer

horn

Matthijs Heugen, Ku-Hsin Chen, Joseph Longstaff, Stef van Herten, Tuna Erten, Claude Tremuth, Genevieve Clifford, Sara Oliveira

trumpet

Matthias Kowalczyk, Florian Pichler, Balázs Drrahos, Markus Bebek, Wolfgang Guggenberger, Dominik Ring

trombone

Jeroen Mentens, Miguel García Casas, Hartmut Friedrich, Manfred Keller, Rainer Hoffmann

tuba

József Juhász-Aba

timpani

Tobias Kästle, Ulrich Weber

percussion

Jürgen Friedel, Nicole Hartig-Dietz, Steffen Uhrhan, David Friederich

harp

Francoise Verherve, Barbara Mayr-Winkler, Sara Esturillo Sanchez

orchestra assistants

Torsten Frenzl, Anton Lauer, Ivan Scaglione, Aaron Veil, Hanns Will

Venues

Oper Frankfurt (Resident orchestra)
Alte Oper (Museumskonzerte)^[8]

Books

Bartholomäi, Paul (2002). Das Frankfurter Museums-Orchester (in German). Frankfurt/M. Leipzig London New York: Musikverl. Peters. ISBN 978-3-87626-224-6.

References

^ "KulturPortal Frankfurt: Orchester & Ensembles". KulturPortal Frankfurt (in German). Retrieved 15 July 2021.
^ "Musiker*innen des Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchesters". Orchester des Wandels (in German). Archived from the original on 15 July 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
^ "Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester". Oper Frankfurt (in German). Retrieved 15 July 2021.
^ "Orchester". Museumskonzerte Frankfurt (in German). 17 March 2020. Archived from the original on 15 July 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
^ "Generalmusikdirektor Weigle kann länger in Frankfurt wirken". Fuldaer Zeitung (in German). 18 November 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
^ Uske, Bernhard (17 September 2023). "Antrittskonzert von Thomas Guggeis: Frischer Wind". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
^ "Mitglieder des Orchesters". Oper Frankfurt (in German). Retrieved 15 July 2021.
^ "Museumskonzerte Frankfurt". Museumskonzerte Frankfurt (in German). 20 March 2022. Archived from the original on 21 August 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.