The Hanover State Symphony Orchestra () is based in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, the state capital of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

, 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 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 Kamensek's parents immigrated from Kamnica, Maribor, Kamnica pri Mariboru, Slovenia to the United States, eventually settling in the Lou ...

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. He 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 Be ...

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

(1965–1993) *

Christof Perick Christof Prick (born 1946) is a German orchestra conducting, 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 th ...

(1993–1996) * Andreas Delfs (1995–2000) * Hans Urbanek (2000/2001) *

Lü Shao-chia Lü Shao-chia (; born 1960) is a Taiwanese conducting, conductor. He has been music director of the National Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan), National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan since 2010. Biography Born in Hsinchu County, Hsinchu, Taiwan, Lü s ...

(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 the ...

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

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Niedersachsisches Staatsorchester Hannover German symphony orchestras Orchestras in Hanover