Music Festival

Dear Music Friends,

First of all, I would like to thank you for your extraordinary interest in the 2012 Festival. You helped make the past season the most successful in the entire history of the Festival. Thus, the »Daily Telegraph« wrote: »Dresden is now one of the great festival cities of Europe.« It seems like a wonderful coincidence that this compliment reached us from the British Isles, which we have chosen as the focus of our 2013 theme, »Empire«. Please join us in looking forward to outstanding orchestras, ensembles and soloists from England, but also to the parallels and traces of our theme that we have found in other countries.

It is no coincidence that the New York Philharmonic opens the 2013 Festival with a magnificent residency and very European programs. However, neither will we ignore the great anniversaries of 2013: Verdi and Wagner will be performed in authentic program combinations, interpreted by artists and ensembles with very close relationships with these composers’ oeuvre. Thus, the Teatro Regio of Turin and its dynamic chief conductor Gianandrea Noseda have made a name for themselves with sophisticated performances of Italian music; and regarding Wagner there is every reason to expect extra- ordinary discoveries from Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden and from a portrait by Louis Lortie and Thomas Quasthoff.
I would like to thank all the supporters and sponsors who have enabled us to make the 2013 Festival program a varied and brilliant one, and I also express my gratitude to the City of Dresden, responsible for the Festival, and the Free State of Saxony for their support.

I look forward to yet another thrilling Festival season in 2013!

Yours, Jan Vogler [Intendant]