Press Releases

30.07.2020

Dresden Music Festival want to reach global audience with new strategies

The Dresden Music Festival wants to open new perspectives to reach a global audience. In cooperation with the high-quality online streaming platform Dreamstage, they will broadcast concerts from Dresden and all over the world. Festival Director Jan Vogler is one of the founders of Dreamstage, a next-generation premium audio and video platform with ticket sales and, at the same time, a service provider for musicians of all genres. It enables artists to connect with their audience directly and to pursue their profession again.

»The Covid-19 crisis has shown us the need to use the technology of the 21st century in the field of live performances. I am looking forward to contributing to a new project that will benefit both my fellow musicians and our worldwide audience,« said Jan Vogler, Director of the Dresden Music Festival, Co-founder and Artistic Director of Dreamstage.

In cooperation with the Dresden Music Festival, the curtain in the virtual concert hall will first rise at www.dreamstage.live on August 22, 2020, for a concert with pianist Hélène Grimaud and cellist Jan Vogler. From then on, there will be a schedule of daily concerts with artists such as Senegalese musician Pape Diouf, singer Ute Lemper, and violinist Gil Shaham. In cooperation with the Dresden Music Festival as well is the Dresden Festival Orchestra under Josep Caballé Domenech, who will perform at Dreamstage on September 12, 2020. Furthermore, the audience will have the chance to experience the concerts of the 2021 Dresden Music Festival globally via Dreamstage in addition to the live experience. In the future, the magnificent scenery of the festivals more than 20 performance venues can be transported to listeners across the globe.

Dreamstage was born out of the collective vision of its three founders who committed to ensuring that musicians can offer their audience high-quality live performances. The co-founders are leaders of their respective fields, and meet at the interface of the performing arts, entertainment, technology, and entrepreneurship: Thomas Hesse, CEO, Jan Vogler, Artistic Director, and Scott Chasin, Chief Technology Officer. The design of Dreamstage simulates a traditional live event with virtual ticket offices, an entrance for the audience, artistic entrance, and lounge after the performance. The audience is welcomed to a diverse universe of virtual concert halls for various genres and events designed by excellent designers.

About the founders:

Thomas Hesse, CEO, is the former president of SONY MUSIC for Global Digital Business and US Sales/Distribution. He was committed to advancing the switch from physical mediums of recordings to streaming services. He brings three decades of management experience in the entertainment industry, which includes the co-founding of VEVO in addition to his position as CEO and Chief Digital Officer of Bertelsmann.

Jan Vogler, Artistic Director, tours the world’s major concert halls as an internationally leading cellist together with some of the most famous conductors and orchestras as well as artists like Eric Clapton and Bill Murray, and has been the director of the Dresden Music Festival since 2009.

Scott Chasin, CTO, is an engineer and entrepreneur who founded and sold several start-ups, most recently ProtectWise, a platform for online security, which was acquired by Verizon in 2019. MX Logic, an e-mail security service, was bought by McAfee in 2010 where he was CTO prior to Intel’s takeover.

For further information, please consult: www.dreamstage.live

13.05.2020

Virtual Award Ceremony: Barbara Hannigan will receive the 17th »Glashütte Original MusicFestivalAward« during the 24-hour-Livestream-Festival on the 16th of May.

The Dresden Music Festival announces a premiere within the 24-hour-Livestream-Festival »Music Never Sleeps DMF« on the 16th of May 2020: For the first time in its history, the Artistic Director of the Dresden Music Festival Jan Vogler will award via Video-Livestream the »Glashütte Original MusicFestivalAward« to Barbara Hannigan. After the ceremony, Barbara Hannigan will also be musically a part of the Online-Festival.

»It is a very important time to support our younger colleagues, to encourage them and to mentor them. This year, as the ›Glashütte Original MusicFestivalAward‹ happens, I am happy to say it goes directly to young artists in the first phase of their career. I think it is a sign of hope and a sign of encouragement for them. We are saying: We want to hear you, to hear your voices, your interpretations, we want to work with you and witness the development of your projects and your dreams. It is a time when we embrace our community, and we help each other. I am extremely grateful, and I am very hopeful,« says Barbara Hannigan.

The »Glashütte Original MusicFestivalAward« honors contributions to the mediation and the youth development within the classical music scene. In 2020, the watchmaker company Glashütte Original is sponsoring this for the 17th time and awards it together with the Dresden Music Festival. The »Glashütte Original MusikFestspielPreis« is endowed with 25.000,00 EUR. The money is for a specific purpose.

Livestream-Festival with almost 60 artists on May 16th from 6 p.m. (CET)

The Dresden Music Festival will celebrate a 24-hour-Livestream-Festival under the motto »Music Never Sleeps DMF«. Next to Barbara Hannigan, almost 60 Festival Artists will stream short programs from their homes and rehearsal rooms all around the globe. Our audience also awaits various special surprises: the US-American Jazz singer China Moses composed a new song for the online version of the Dresden Music Festival and enriches the stream with a world premiere.

Start: 16th of May 2020, 6 p.m. (MET)

Hosts: Jan Vogler, Ute Lemper, Martin Brambach, and Katja Riemann

Artists: Fabio Luisi, Ute Lemper, Omer Meir Wellber, Mischa Maisky, James Ehnes, Martin Stadtfeld, Tiffany Poon, Boris Giltburg, Patricia Kopatchinska, Aoife O’Donavan, Pape Diouf, Jamie Cullum, Eldbjørg Hemsing & Sveinung Bjelland, Tan Dun, Santiago Canon Valencia, Anastasia Kobekina, Zlatomir Fung, New York Gypsy All-Stars, Simone Kermes & Gianluca Geremia, Avi Avital, José Cura, Nils Landgren & Thomas Steinfeld, Francesco Tristano, Duo Thomas Gansch & Georg Breinschmid, Lars Vogt, Valer Sabadus, Julian Pregardien, Omer Klein, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Martin Grubinger, Rufus Wainwright, Asya Fateyava & Stepan Simonian, Xavier Sabata & Dani Espasa, Robin Johanssen, Anneleen Lenaerts, Jarko Riihimäki, Ian Bostridge & Saskia Giorgini, China Moses, Renaud Capucon, Gautier Capucon, Francesco Piemontesi, Christina Pluhar, Hauschka, A. Tamestit, Julian Rachlin, Sir Bryn Terfel, Tamasz Palfalvi, Kimmo Pohjonen, Lise de la Salle, The Knights, Yaman Okur, L’Arpeggiata, The King’s Singers, The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and more.

Access: via the website and the Facebook channel of the Dresden Music Festival, the YouTube-page of MusicNeverSleepsNYC, the streaming platform Takt1.

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05.05.2020

The Dresden Music Festival takes place as a 24h Livestream Festival on May 16, 2020

This year, the Dresden Music Festival turns the internet into a concert hall. Director Jan Vogler invites the audience in Dresden and all over the world to join him on May 16, from 6 pm (CET) for »Music Never Sleeps DMF« - a 24h Livestream Festival. The online festival is presented in collaboration with Jan Vogler’s initiative »Music Never Sleeps NYC«. It became an international sensation in March and was described by the Süddeutsche Zeitung as »… currently the most impressive of the many signs of life which the classical world attempted to show in times of concert hall closures.«

16.04.2020

43rd Dresden Music Festival canceled due to COVID-19 - online program in preparation

It is with great regret that the Dresden Music Festival announces the 2020 festival cannot take place as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. According to the decision of the German Federal Government and the state governments of 15 April 2020, events may not take place until 31 August 2020. By this instruction, all planned live concerts from May 12 to June 12, 2020, are canceled to guarantee the safety of the artists and the audience.

»At this time it is crucial to look ahead. Dresden is a music and festival destination and culture is essential to all its inhabitants. The Dresden Music Festival will find creative and innovative ways to reach its audiences during these difficult times and will work hard to strengthen the reputation of Dresden as a cultural city in the world despite the Covid-19 crisis. Our core responsibility remains to enrich human communication and to make all of our lives more beautiful through music. We will also insure that some of the highlights of the 2020 festival, which were greatly anticipated by our audiences will be postponed to 2021,« said Jan Vogler, director of the Dresden Music Festival.

At the same time, Jan Vogler announces a premiere for the 1978-founded festival: To ensure the 43rd Dresden Music Festival is not canceled without replacement, the festival team is collaborating with Jan Vogler’s initiative »Music Never Sleeps NYC« to create a 24h Livestream Marathon. Together with festival artists from all over the world, the livestream will spread the unique festival atmosphere to living rooms across the globe. More information about dates and participating artists will be published using the hashtag #musicneversleepsDMF on the festival’s website and social media channels at the beginning of May.

»The cancellation of the Dresden Music Festival saddens all of us, but it is one in a long list of festivals in Germany and Europe that have been cancelled. Faced with the worldwide pandemic, giving up cherished traditions and consideration for others take precedence, and the official regulations leave us no choice at the moment. Therefore, I would like to thank the Dresden Music Festival’s audience and artists for their understanding and hope they will remain faithful friends to the festival. In the meantime, we do not have to forego musical treats entirely, as director Jan Vogler and his team have prepared an online program entitled #musicneversleepsDMF which will help us pass the time until the next festival in 2021, increasing our appetite for live concerts,« says Annekatrin Klepsch, Deputy Mayor & Councillor for Culture and Tourism, State Capital of Dresden.

Tickets already purchased can now be converted into vouchers, donated to benefit the Music Festival or refunded. For further information, please consult www.musikfestspiele.com

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10.03.2020

Barbara Hannigan will receive the 2020 »Glashütte Original MusicFestivalAward«

Soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan is amongst the most charismatic musical personalities of our time. It is with a passion that she dedicates her life not only to her stage projects but also to passing on her own experiences to young musicians at the beginning of their professional careers with her mentoring program »Equilibrium Young Artists«, which she founded in 2017.

08.10.2019

In 2020 the Dresden Music Festival makes a bold statement under the motto »Inspiration Nature«

Diversity is the magic word – in nature and at the 2020 Dresden Music Festival. Director Jan Vogler has chosen the motto »INSPIRATION NATURE« for the festival, which runs from May 12 to June 12, 2020, presenting a richly varied programme in 63 concerts at 25 performance venues, effortlessly combining the New York Philharmonic with the Senegalese world musician Pape Diouf and the rock legend Sting. Another focus of the 43rd Dresden Music Festival in 2020 is also on Ludwig van Beethoven’s oeuvre: 19 concerts are dedicated to that great revolutionary of the classical era, reflecting the entire breadth of his work in many different facets.

One highlight of the Beethoven celebrations is the world premiere of the Triple Concerto »Alisma« for Violin, Cello and Clarinet by the Swiss composer William Blank. A homage to Beethoven’s famous Triple Concerto, it will receive its first performance in Dresden on May 21, 2020 by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Fabio Luisi, with soloists Mira Wang (violin), Jan Vogler (cello) and Daniel Ottensamer (clarinet).

»Nature is at the heart of human interest. To the composers of epochs past, it provided boundless inspiration; to artists of today it is a yardstick and source of all vitality. Will future generations be able to experience the diversity and richness of nature in the same way? The 2020 programme of the Dresden Music Festival may be considered a contribution to this discussion, which is raging all over the world,« Jan Vogler, Director of the Dresden Music Festival, said today in Dresden.

As part of the »Beethoven Pastoral Project« initiated by the United Nations, the Dresden Festival Orchestra dedicates itself to the Ludwig van Beethoven anniversary on June 5, 2020 – well in keeping with this year’s festival motto. Under the baton of Ivor Bolton, the musicians explore the original sound of Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 on historical instruments. During the orchestra’s second working phase, René Jacobs makes his debut with the Festival Orchestra in Brahms’ »Ein deutsches Requiem«.
Artists such as Barbara Hannigan & the Munich Philharmonic, Murray Perahia & the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Philippe Jaroussky, Jamie Cullum, Aoife O’Donovan, Till Brönner and Martin Grubinger promise a plethora of inspiration at the 43rd Dresden Music Festival.
No less than two British orchestras appear in Dresden this Festival season: the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo with violinist Gil Shaham and the BBC Philharmonic under Omer Meir Wellber with Jan Vogler as soloist. The Avishai Cohen Trio makes a stop in Dresden for its only German appearance during its world tour of 50 countries, while Patricia Kopatchinskaja & the »Orchester des Wandels« perform a concert at the Festspielhaus Hellerau, sending a signal for environmental protection. The Folk Music Group of the National Gugak Center in Seoul brings traditional music from Korea to the Semper Opera, and with a concert of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic under Yuri Temirkanov and with violinist Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, the Festival celebrates the city partnership between Dresden and St. Petersburg. The group of artists »Bohème 2020« celebrates the finale of its project with a best-of selection from six inspiring years. The two open-air events »The City Resounds – Klingende Stadt« and »Dresden Sings & Makes Music« invite everyone in Dresden to share the enjoyment of making music together.

Tickets for the 43rd Dresden Music Festival go on sale on October 30, 2019.

A high-carat program such as that of the 43rd Dresden Music Festival could not be presented without supporters and sponsors. Therefore, our special thanks are due to the State Capital of Dresden, the Free State of Saxony and our premium partners: the Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden, Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft and Glashütte Original.

»We are extraordinarily pleased to be a premium partner of the 43rd Dresden Music Festival once again. The entire city will be on its feet again and spring will resound throughout the town – literally. Our guests from far and near will experience outstanding music and performances before the backdrop of this city’s breath-taking urban architecture. We look forward to being inspired by world-famous artists and to meeting their enthusiastic, music-loving audience,« says Andreas Rieger, spokesman of the Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden.

The Dresden Music Festival is an institution of the State Capital of Dresden and is co-financed by tax funding on the basis of the budget passed by the members of the Parliament of Saxony.

Ticket Sales begin on October 30, 2019:

By mail: Dresdner Musikfestspiele/Besucherservice, PO Box 10 04 53, 01074 Dresden, Germany
By email: besucherservice@musikfestspiele.com
On the internet: www.musikfestspiele.com
By phone: +49 (0)351/656 06 700
By fax: +49 (0)351/478 56 17
Or visit the Ticket Service Desk at Dresden’s Kulturpalast, Schloßstraße 2, 01067 Dresden, Germany

Current information on the Dresden Music Festival can be found

on our website: www.musikfestspiele.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DresdnerMusikfestspiele/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dresdenfestival
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dresdnermusikfestspiele/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DresdenMusicFestival

#DMF2020

The 43rd Dresden Music Festival takes place from May 12 to June 12, 2020.

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10.06.2019

Dresden Music Festival Celebrates Brilliant Finale and Sets Revenue Record

For the Dresden Music Festival, the most diverse and successful season in its history draws to a close today. The legendary guitarist Eric Clapton performs the last concert, bringing 26 vivid festival days under the motto »Visions« to a rousing finale. Over the course of three and a half weeks, a multi-faceted program featuring 56 concerts of different genres – from classical to jazz, world music and blues rock – curated by Artistic Director Jan Vogler proved once again that the Dresden Music Festival, founded in 1978, has long risen to the top of the European festival landscape.

Approximately 58,000 visitors came to be enchanted by about 1,500 artists at the 22 performance venues in and around Dresden. With 93 percent of seats filled, the Festival’s ticket revenue grew to 2 million Euros for the first time. That is an increase of 29 percent compared to the previous year.

»The Festival city of Dresden has come into its own. An enthusiastic audience – a felicitous mixture of local visitors and fans of classical music from elsewhere – celebrated Dresden as one of Europe’s cultural capitals,« thus Jan Vogler, Artistic Director of the Dresden Music Festival, summarized the event.

Among the highlights of the 42nd Dresden Music Festival were guest performances by the Staatskapelle Berlin under the baton of Daniel Barenboim, the Vienna Philharmonic under Tugan Sokhiev and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre under Valery Gergiev. The Dresden Festival Orchestra with Jan Vogler as the cello soloist and the conductor Constantinos Caridys offered a veritable fireworks of French romanticism in historically informed sound. The performance of the American violinist Joshua Bell and the Camerata Salzburg under Andrew Manze at the Frauenkirche was no less passionate; on the same occasion, Bell was honoured with the 16th »Glashütte Original MusicFestivalAward«. Standing ovations greeted violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and cellist Yo-Yo Ma at the sold-out Kulturpalast. During the world premiere of the cello concerto »Three Continents« written by Nico Muhly, Sven Helbig and Zhou Long, the WDR Symphony Orchestra and Jan Vogler impressively demonstrated how sound colours from three continents can blend in one harmonious whole – the performance was conducted by Cristian Măcelaru. The performances of the interdisciplinary group of artists »Bohème 2020« stood out for their originality.

The 43rd Dresden Music Festival takes place from May 12 to June 12, 2020.

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