The Artists

Every year, some of the best musicians for historically informed performance practice from the finest early-music ensembles in Europe unite to the Dresden Festival Orchestra as the Dresden Music Festival's very own ensemble. With great joy of discovery, precision and a keen sense for authentic interpretations, the Dresden Festival Orchestra has explored the original sound of various epochs since its inception in 2012 and in doing so fills a void in the musical life of the city. The musicians play original instruments, varying with the era and historical background of its repertoire, which means that the strings use gut strings and the winds offer a completely new sound. The artists, all virtuosos and specialists on their instruments, are giftet with variety of styles and playing techniques, wich they bring to Dresden from orchestras such as the Academy of Ancient Music, the Orchestera of the18th Century, the Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, the Concentus Musicus Wien, Il Giardino Armonico or Le Cercle de l'Harmonie. Already at its celebrated premiere during the 2012 Music Festival the ensemble thrilled both audiences and critics. During the 2014 Festival season, the orchestra paid homage to Richard Strauss in his anniversary year, offering a brilliant rediscovery of his opera »Feuersnot« (a coproduction with the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden), that was nominated for the 2015 »International Opera Award«. In October 2016 the first recording was released with Schumann’s second symphony and his cello concerto featuring Jan Vogler as solist. Renowned soloists that performed with the orchestra inculde Simone Kermes, Giuliano Carmignola, Isabelle Faust, Bejun Mehta, Waltraud Meier, Thomas Zehetmair and Valer Sabadus. Since 2012 Ivor Bolton has been chief conductor of the Dresden Festival Orchestra.

is one of the leading virtuosos on the international Baroque scene today, both as a soloist and alongside many prestigious orchestras. Her mastery of the instrument, nourished by her musical research and her exemplary experience, has made her a highly sought-after musician of marked individuality.

She began studying the violin with Tibor Varga in Sion, then was admitted at the age of fifteen to Pavel Vernikov’s class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon. In 2002, she began training with Zakhar Bron at the Musikhochschule Zürich, and obtained her soloist’s diploma with the highest honours in 2007. Shortly afterwards she became concertmaster of the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen (Switzerland), where she remained until her decisive encounter with Reinhard Goebel. She then devoted herself intensely to the study of early music with him at the Salzburg Mozarteum and regularly worked with him as a soloist.

She also participates in the creation of new works, collaborating with such composers as Daniel Schnyder, Marc-André Dalbavie, Michael Rosin, Bechara El-Khoury, Eric Tanguy, Benjamin Attahir and Thomas Demenga. Chouchane Siranossian performs as a soloist on both modern and Baroque violin, with partners including Kristian Bezuidenhout, Bertrand Chamayou, Andrea Marcon, Leonardo García Alarcón, Daniel Ottensamer, Thomas Demenga, Jos van Immerseel, Christophe Coin, Václav Luks, Andreas Spering, Rudolf Lutz, Alexis Kossenko, Thomas Hengelbrock and François-Xavier Roth. She is leader of the Esperanza ensemble, founded in Liechtenstein in 2015, which won an »Opus Klassik« award in 2018.

Her first solo album, »Time Reflexion«, was awarded a »Diapason Découverte« in 2015. Her recording of the Mendelssohn Concerto with Anima Eterna Brugge (»In Time«) and the CD »L’Ange et le Diable« in duo with Jos van Immerseel both received numerous prizes, including two »ICMA« (»International Classical Music Awards«, in 2017 and 2019). Her recent solo recording has been released in 2020: Tartini's concertos with Venice Baroque Orchestra and Andrea Marcon. Chouchane Siranossian is an exclusive artist of Alpha Classics.

In season 2020/21, she makes her appearance at the BBC Proms in London, the Festival de Radio France and the Philharmonie Berlin (Musikfest Berlin), while she is on tour as a soloist with Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth.

Chouchane plays on two violins, both made available by courtesy of Fabrice Girardin, luthier at La Chaux-de-Fonds: A Baroque violin by Giuseppe and Antonio Gagliano and a violin by Domenico Montagnana.

His distinguished career has brought him together with renowned conductors and internationally acclaimed orchestras around the world, such as New York Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and London Philharmonic Orchestra. Jan Vogler’s great ability allowed him to explore the sound boundaries of the cello and to establish an intensive dialogue with contemporary composers and artists. This includes regular world premieres, including works by Tigran Mansurian, John Harbison, Udo Zimmermann, Wolfgang Rihm, Jörg Widman’s Cello Concerto »Dunkle Saiten«, dedicated to Jan Vogler and Nico Muhly, Sven Helbig and Zhou-Long (»Three Continents – Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra«, composed for Jan Vogler). The »New York Times« praises his »soulful, richly hued playing« and the »Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung« grants him the ability »to make his cello speak like a singing voice«. In the 2019/20 season Jan Vogler performs with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski, the WDR Symphony Orchestra and Christian Măcelaru, the Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin under Alondra de la Parra and the newly founded Milan orchestra LaFil – Filarmonica di Milano under Daniele Gatti. With the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and its new Chief Conductor Omer Meir Wellber he will tour England and Germany. He will give solo concerts at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg with Bach‘s Suites for cello and play duo recitals at the Teatro Auditorium Manzoni in Bologna.
In addition to his classical concert activities, Jan Vogler has collaborated with actor Bill Murray for their joint musical-literary project »Bill Murray, Jan Vogler & Friends – New Worlds«. The innovative program drew international attention and brought together works by Twain, Hemingway, Whitman, Cooper, Bernstein, Bach, Piazzolla, Mancini, Gershwin and Foster for an unexpected and exciting exploration of the relationship between literature and music.
Jan Vogler has been working successfully with the Sony Classical label since 2003 and in the course of this cooperation around 20 CDs have been produced so far. The CD »Songbook« was his most recent collaboration with the Finnish guitarist Ismo Eskelinen. Previous recordings include a recording of double concertos for violin and violoncello by Rihm, Brahms and Harbison, together with violinist Mira Wang, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and conductor Peter Oundjian as well as Tchaikovsky’s »Rococo Variation« with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
Jan Vogler has been Director of the renowned Dresden Music Festival since October 2008 as well as Artistic Director of the Moritzburg Festival since 2001. In 2006, he received the »European Award for Culture« and in 2011 the »Erich-Kästner Award« for tolerance, humanity and international understanding. In 2018 he received the »European Culture Award TAURUS« as Director of the Dresden Music Festival. Jan Vogler plays the Stradivari 'Ex Castelbarco/Fau' 1707 cello.

There is perhaps no other musical ensemble more closely associated with the history and tradition of European classical music than the Vienna Philharmonic. In the course of the past 178 years, this orchestra has experienced and influenced the course of musical history around the world. Even to this day, prominent soloists and conductors refer to the unique »Viennese Sound« as the outstanding quality that sets it apart from other orchestras.

The fascination that the orchestra has held since its foundation by Otto Nicolai in 1842 for prominent composers and conductors, as well as for audiences all over the world, is based upon the conscious maintenance of a homogenous musical style which is carefully bequeathed from one generation to the next, as well as a unique history and organizational structure. The pillars of the »Philharmonic Idea«, which remain valid even today, are a democratic organization that places the entire artistic and organizational decision-making process in the hands of the musicians themselves, and a close symbiosis with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. Vienna Philharmonic statutes stipulate that only musicians from the opera orchestra can become members of the Vienna Philharmonic. Another unique feature of this democratic structure is that the orchestra itself is solely responsible for the organization of concerts and the selection of repertoire, as well as the engaging of conductors and soloists.

In 1860, the Subscription Concert series was introduced, for which one conductor was engaged for an entire season. These concerts formed a solid artistic and economic basis that remains in place to this day. Beginning in 1933, the orchestra adapted a system of guest conductors, which promotes a wide spectrum of artistic encounters with the most prominent conductors of each generation. The orchestra's touring activity commenced at the beginning of the 20th century and has since taken the orchestra to all continents on the globe. In recent years this has included regularly scheduled concerts in Germany, Japan, the USA and, in the future, China.

In 2018 the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Academy was founded. The academy students will be selected in accordance with a strict, internationally oriented audition process and trained at the highest level during a two-year course of study. On September 1st, 2019 the first 12 academists started their studies in Vienna. The Vienna Philharmonic has made it its mission to communicate the humanitarian message of music into the daily lives and consciousness of its listeners. From the beginning, the orchestra has displayed a strong social consciousness, characterized by a commitment to individuals in need and the fostering of young musicians. To this day, the orchestra performs numerous benefit concerts and develops initiatives for the disadvantaged.

The orchestra has been the recipient of numerous prizes and awards. Since 2008, it has been supported by its exclusive sponsor ROLEX. The Vienna Philharmonic performs approximately 40 concerts in Vienna annually, among them the New Year's Concert and the Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn, which are broadcast in numerous countries around the world. The orchestra also has an annual summer residency at the Salzburg Festival and performs more than 50 concerts a year on its international tours. All of these activities underscore the reputation of the Vienna Philharmonic as one of the world's finest orchestras.