Dresdner Festspielorchester

A masterful combination of passionate, joyful music-making and knowledgeable interpretations – that is the Dresdner Festspielorchester. Founded in 2012 by the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, the ensemble dedicates itself to the fascinating search for a work’s original sound – with a repertoire that focuses the late romantic era, its musicians have presented the results of their work in lively, gripping performances.
The orchestra’s vital and accomplished sound results from its international cast, with members who are at home in such renowned early music ensemble as the Academy of Ancient Music, the Orchestra of the 18th Century, the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, the Concentus Musicus Wien, Il Giardino Armonico, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, Concerto Köln, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin or the English Baroque Soloists. The varied insights and experiences form the basis of the orchestra’s fresh and authentic approach.
Already at its celebrated premiere, the ensemble thrilled both audiences and critics. In 2015 the Dresdner Festspielorchester was nominated for the »International Opera Award«, offering a brilliant rediscovery of Richard Strauss’ opera »Feuersnot« (a coproduction with the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden).
Since 2012, Ivor Bolton has been Chief Conductor of the Dresdner Festspielorchester. Furthermore, the ensemble has worked with such conductors as Hans-Christoph Rademann, Johannes Klumpp, Josep Caballé Domenech, Stefan Klingele, Constantinos Carydis, David Robertson and Jean-Christophe Spinosi. A recent highlight was the performance of the complete symphonies by Schumann under the baton of Daniele Gatti. The Orchestra has shared the stage with internationally celebrated soloists including Giuliano Carmignola, Isabelle Faust, Bejun Mehta, Waltraud Meier, Valer Sabadus, Nicola Benedetti, Thomas Zehetmair, Simone Kermes and René Pape. In addition to its acclaimed performances during the Festival, guest appearances have taken the orchestra to Berlin’s Philharmonie, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Bogotá Music Festival and all as ambassadors of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele. The orchestra’s first recording, featuring Schumann’s Second Symphony and his Cello Concerto with Jan Vogler as soloist, was released in 2016. Additional concert highlights include a performance with Jan Lisiecki under the baton of Jean-Christophe Spinosi in 2022, concerts with Martin Helmchen performing Schubert and Brahms, and at La Seine Musicale in Paris with Ivor Bolton in 2023.
In 2023 the unique project »The Wagner Cycles« started in Dresden with the aim to perform Richard Wagner’s »Der Ring des Nibelungen« in historical performance practice. Together with Concerto Köln and under the artistic direction of Kent Nagano and Jan Vogler, the orchestra will reexamine, rehearse and perform the entire »Ring« on the basis of the most recent research on Wagner and historical performance practice.
Following the premiere of Das Rheingold in Dresden, the project continued with performances in Cologne, at the Ravello Festival, and the Lucerne Festival in 2023. In 2024, the focus turned to Die Walküre, with concerts in Prague, Amsterdam, Cologne, Hamburg, and Lucerne. At the end of 2024, Die Walküre was named one of the best performances worldwide by The New York Times.
In the same period, the orchestra also performed under the baton of Marc Minkowski with mezzo-soprano Astrid Nordstad in Dresden. In May 2025, the orchestra appeared under Josep Caballé Domenech in a staged production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at the ClàssicAnd Festival in Andorra. In 2025, the cycle continued with Siegfried, with performances in Prague, Paris, Cologne, Dresden, and concluding in Lucerne in September.