Music for everyone – the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra stands for concerts of the highest artistic quality, musical education for all ages and a view beyond the musical horizon. Guest performances on almost every continent and collaborations with guests from all over the world have established the orchestra’s reputation in the international classical music world. Marek Janowski was most recently Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Dresden Philharmonic (2019-2023). Sir Donald Runnicles will take over from the 2024/25 season. Kahchun Wong is the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor from 2023/24.

Since 2017, the Dresden Philharmonic has been at home in the first-class concert hall of Dresden‘s Kulturpalast. Here, the orchestra has the ideal acoustic conditions to further develop its sound ideal and to distinguish its programmes. The orchestra has retained its own warm, rounded sound in the Romantic repertoire. In addition, it is characterised by a tonal and stylistic flexibility for Baroque and Viennese Classical music as well as for modern works.

The orchestra was founded over 150 years ago by the self-confident citizens of Dresden. Philharmonic concerts were held regularly from 1885 until the orchestra adopted its current name in 1923. In its early decades, composers such as Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák and Strauss conducted their own works. Paul van Kempen formed the orchestra into a first-class ensemble from 1934. After him, Kurt Masur (who has also been its Honorary Conductor since 1994), Marek Janowski, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Michael Sanderling, among others, shaped the orchestra. 

The orchestra promotes young musicians at the Kurt Masur Academy.

The orchestra began recording in 1937. Today, the Dresden Philharmonic’s discography includes nearly 330 works. Recent recordings include a cycle of the complete symphonies of Shostakovich and Beethoven under the baton of Michael Sanderling (Sony Classical). With Marek Janowski, the Dresden Philharmonic has recorded Mascagni’s “Cavalleria rusticana”, Puccini’s “Il Tabarro”, Beethoven’s “Fidelio”, all of Schumann’s symphonies, Haydn’s “The Creation” and Schubert’s “Unfinished” and “Great” C major symphonies (PentaTone). Most recently, Verdi’s “La traviata” has been released in a concert recording conducted by Daniel Oren and featuring bel canto arias with Lisette Oropesa (also on PentaTone).

American-Russian violinist Maria Ioudenitch captured the attention of music lovers worldwide when she received first prizes in three international violin competitions – the Ysaÿe, Tibor Varga and Joseph Joachim – in 2021, as well as numerous special prizes at these competitions, including Joachim’s Chamber Music Award, the prize for Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work and the Henle Urtext Prize. In 2023, she won the Opus Klassik award in the category “Chamber Music Recording of the Year” for her debut album, Songbird, on Warner Classics.

Highlights of Maria’s 23/24 season include concerts with Camerata Bern, where she will open the season with a play-direct program, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Dresden Philharmonic, the latter to include a six-city tour of the UK. She will also feature on the Marlboro Music Festival’s US-tour, having attended the festival under the artistic direction of Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss for the third time this summer. In September, she will participate in the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival directed by Elena Bashkirova, and in February, she returns to Carnegie Hall for a chamber music concert presented by the Kronberg Academy. This season, for the first time she will also perform recitals with her father, Stanislav Ioudenitch.

Maria grew up in Kansas City and began playing violin with Gregory Sandomirsky at the age of three. She continued her studies with Ben Sayevich at the International Center for Music in Kansas City and Pamela Frank and Shmuel Ashkenasi at the Curtis Institute of Music and completed her master’s degree and Artist Diploma at the New England Conservatory, where she studied with Miriam Fried. Last year, she was mentored by Sonia Simmenauer as part of her new initiative, zukunfts.music. Currently, she is in the Professional Studies program at the Kronberg Academy, working with Christian Tetzlaff. She is also a member of the emerging US-based chamber music collective, ensemble132.