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The Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne (German: Gürzenich-Orchester Köln) is a German symphony orchestra based in Cologne. On some recordings, the orchestra goes under the name "Gürzenich-Orchester Kölner Philharmoniker". Its name comes from its past principal concert venue, the Gürzenich concert hall in Cologne. Currently, its primary concert venue is the Kölner Philharmonie.

History

The Gürzenich Orchestra traces its origins to 1827, when a group of Cologne Bürger sponsored the creation of the "Cölner Concert-Gesellschaft" (Cologne Concert Society) to set up "Gesellschaftskonzerte" (Society concerts) and "Abonnementskonzerte" (subscription concerts). The orchestra began to give concerts at the Gürzenich concert hall in 1857, from which it derived its current name. In 1986, the orchestra took up residence at the Kölner Philharmonie. The orchestra also plays in opera productions in the Cologne Opera.

The current Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the city of Cologne, which includes the post of Gürzenich-Kapellmeister, is François-Xavier Roth, since 1 September 2015. Roth's initial contract was for 5 years.^[1]^[2] In October 2018, the orchestra extended Roth's contract to 2022.^[3] In September 2022, the city of Cologne announced that Roth is to stand down as Gürzenich-Kapellmeister at the close of the 2024–2025 season.^[4] In March 2023, the city of Köln announced the appointment of Andrés Orozco-Estrada as its next GMD and Gürzenich-Kapellmeister, effective with the 2025–2026 season.^[5]

In July 2024, in light of accusations against Roth of sexting and sexually inappropriate conduct towards other musicians, the city of Cologne announced the close of Roth's tenure as Gürzenich-Kapellmeister and chief conductor of the Cologne Opera with immediate effect, one season earlier than the previously scheduled tenure conclusion.^[6]

Premieres

The world premieres performed by the Gürzenich Orchestra include the following works:

Johannes Brahms, Double Concerto for Violin and Cello (1887)
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 3 (in collaboration with the Städtischen Kapelle Krefeld, 1902)
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 5 (1904)
Max Reger, Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Hiller (1907)
Richard Strauss, Don Quixote (1898)
Richard Strauss, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks (1895)
Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Sinfonia prosodica (1964)

Gürzenich-Kapellmeister

Conradin Kreutzer (1840–1842)
Heinrich Dorn (1843–1849)
Ferdinand Hiller (1850–1884)
Franz Wüllner (1884–1902)
Fritz Steinbach (1903–1914)
Hermann Abendroth, GMD (1915–1934)
Eugen Papst (1936–1944)
Günter Wand, GMD (1945–1974)
Yuri Ahronovitch (1975–1986)
Marek Janowski (1986–1990)
James Conlon, GMD (1990–2002)
Markus Stenz, GMD (2003–2014)
François-Xavier Roth, GMD (2015–2024)
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, GMD (designate, effective 2025)

Recordings

The orchestra's discography includes several CDs for EMI Classics of the music of Alexander von Zemlinsky, conducted by James Conlon.^[7]^[8] Under their Conductor Emeritus Dmitri Kitayenko the orchestra recorded a number of complete cycles by the composers Shostakovitch, Prokofiev, and Tchaikowski. In October 2005, the Gürzenich Orchestra began to produce their own commercial CD recordings under the "GO live!" label. One unique feature of these recordings is that these are recordings of the orchestra's performances that same evening, made available within 5 minutes of the end of the concert for purchase by audience members.^[9] The "Live CDs" were stopped after Stenz's tenure, in favour of live streaming from the orchestra's website.

References

^ "François-Xavier Roth wird Generalmusikdirektor in Köln" (Press release). Stadt Köln. 14 February 2014. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
^ "Roth wird Nachfolger von Stenz". Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
^ Hartmut Wilmes (13 October 2018). "François-Xavier Roth bleibt bis 2022 in Köln". General-Anzeiger Bonn. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
^ "Vertrag des Generalmusikdirektors läuft 2025 aus" (Press release). Stadt Köln. 29 September 2022. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
^ "Andrés Orozco-Estrada wird neuer Generalmusikdirektor der Stadt Köln" (Press release). Stadt Köln. 30 March 2023. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
^ "Stadt Köln und Dirigent Roth beenden Zusammenarbeit". NMZ. 6 July 2024. Archived from the original on 8 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
^ "Gürzenich-Orchester Kölner Philharmoniker". Discogs. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
^ David Mermelstein (2 February 2003). "A Composer's Modest Champion". New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
^ Richard Morrison (16 August 2008). "Taking the baton for Gustav Mahler's Fifth Symphony". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2009.