The Hanover State Symphony Orchestra (german: Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover) is based in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, the state capital of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, Germany. It serves as the orchestra of the Hanover State Opera (), and primarily performs its symphony concerts at Hanover Opera House ().

History

George, Duke of Brunswick-Calenberg George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (17 February 1582, in Celle – 12 April 1641, in Hildesheim), ruled as Prince of Calenberg from 1635. George was the sixth son of William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1535–1592) and Dorothea of Denmark (15 ...

established the precursor ensemble to the orchestra as his court orchestra () in 1636. In 1852, this ensemble became established in the city of Hanover. Since 1 January 1970, the orchestra has been part of Hanover State Theatre of Lower Saxony (). , its roster numbers 105 members. The longest-serving general music director () of the orchestra was

George Alexander Albrecht George Alexander Albrecht (15 February 1935 – 21 December 2021) was a German conductor and composer, who also worked as a musicologist and academic teacher. A prolific composer at a young age, he was Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the Staatsope ...

from 1965 to 1993.

Karen Kamensek Karen Kamensek (born January 2, 1970 in Chicago) is an American orchestral and opera conductor. Biography Her parents came from Kamnica pri Mariboru, Slovenia. Kamensek received degrees in orchestral conducting and piano performance from Indiana ...

was the first woman, and first American, in this position, from 2011 to 2016. In January 2020, Stephan Zilias first guest-conducted the orchestra in a symphony concert, following his earlier guest-conducting debut with the Hanover State Opera in the 2019–2020 season. In February 2020, the orchestra announced the appointment of Zilias as its next general music director, effective with the 2020–2021 season.

General music directors

Johannes Schüler Johannes Schüler (21 June 18943 October 1966) was a German conductor who held leading positions at opera houses such as the Berlin State Opera and the Staatsoper Hannover. He promoted contemporary music, leading the world premieres of Alban Ber ...

(1949–1960) * Günther Wich (1961–1965) *

(1965–1993) *

Christof Perick Christof Prick (born 1946) is a German orchestra conductor. He uses the name Christof Perick in English-speaking countries. His father was the concertmaster of the Hamburg Philharmonic. Biography Born in Hamburg, Prick studied at the Universi ...

(1993–1996) *

Andreas Delfs Andreas Delfs (born 30 August 1959) is a German Conductor (music), conductor. He is the music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Biography Delfs was born in Flensburg, We ...

(1995–2000) * Hans Urbanek (2000/2001) *

Lü Shao-chia Lü Shao-chia (; born 1960) is a Taiwanese conductor. He has been music director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan since 2010. Biography Born in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Lü studied piano at an early age. Initiated by Taiwanese conductor C ...

(2001–2006) * (2006–2011) *

(2011–2016) *

Ivan Repušić Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

(2016–2019) * Stephan Zilias (since 2020)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Niedersachsisches Staatsorchester Hannover German symphony orchestras Musical groups from Hanover