［CITY］
Dresden … Germany
［SCHEDULE］
2024：5.9 … 6.9
To the festival site ▷
Dresden is the capital of the former Saxon kingdom. It is said that the beautiful city view is “Florence on the Elbe River” and is full of magnificent Baroque architecture. Church of Our Lady, Church of the Holy Cross, Zwinger Palace… and many historic buildings, many of which were restored after the Second World War. At the end of the war, the air strikes destroyed the city. After the war, the citizens picked up the rubble one by one and carefully reconstructed it.
On the other hand, for classical music lovers, the city has been called the music city representing Germany since the East German era. In this city, there is a Saxon State Opera, nicknamed “Semper Opera”, from the designer’s name, and the opera orchestra Staatskapelle Dresden has many fans who like their deep sound. There are many enthusiastic lovers, they say that Dresden Staatskapelle is at the top of the orchestra together with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,
The festival was established in 1978 in the East German era. Many famous performers, such as the star conductor Herbert von Karajan, have emerged and followed a glorious history. After the reunification of Germany, the scale has expanded. Currently, during the one-month festival, more than 60 performances have been held using historic buildings. After the cellist Jan Vogler became president in 2009, the move accelerated.
At the age of 20, Vogler was appointed as the principal cello player of Staatskapelle Dresden and was active in the orchestra until 1997. In 2012, he founded the “Music Festival Orchestra” which use a period instrument. He hopes to restore the Dresden Court Orchestra which active in the King of August II era. Members have gathered masters from well-known performance groups across Europe, and the scope of the program has been further expanded, as Jan Vogler is aiming for.
