Andreas Peer Kähler

studied conducting and composition at the Berlin University of Arts (UdK Berlin) and as a DAAD scholarship holder in Sweden and Finland with Jorma Panula and Eric Ericsson. His encounter with Sergiu Celibidache whose courses on conducting and lectures on musical phenomenology he attended greatly influenced his artistic career. Since his time as a student, Andreas Peer Kähler has been pursuing extensive self-employed activities as a conductor, composer, concert presenter and music teacher.

In 1980 he founded the "Deutsch-Skandinavische Jugend-Philharmonie", whose artistic director he has been to this day and in whose concerts he introduced a great number of major works of the Nordic orchestra repertoire, numerous world and German premieres among them. Most notably, he developed a considerable repertoire in the area of concerts for children, juveniles and families together with the "Kammerorchester Unter den Linden" (Unter den Linden Chamber Orchestra) which was founded in 1990 and he created two series of family concerts, i.e. "Tiere, Tango und Trompeten" (animals, Tango and trumpets, performed in the Chamber Music Hall at the Berliner Philharmonie) and "Familienkonzerte in Dahlem" (family concerts in Berlin-Dahlem). Guest performances took him to Sweden, Finland, Norway, France, Poland, Lithuania, Switzerland and Iceland, Mexico and Australia. Another focus of his work is the music by Arvo Pärt, with whom he has been connected throughout many years of cooperation and friendship.

In the field of teaching music, Andreas Peer Kähler works for Deutsche Oper Berlin as a freelancer in connection with the "Klassik is´ cool!" (classical music is cool) youth programme and as a narrator and actor in numerous children’s programmes created by him. The extremely popular concerts with explanations and background information by the conductor have also been created and presented by him.

In 2007, his "Cool School Symphony" was awarded a prize for the best joint project between a school and an orchestra in the competition "Kinder zum Olymp!" (children to Olympus).

Bigband

For 2003, the conductor Andreas Peer Kähler planned a concert to present the music of all composers who had worked on the subject of Peer Gynt. In this context, he wanted to take up the Peer Gynt Suite by Duke Ellington. Achim Rothe composed the relevant arrangements in the style of Duke Ellington for a big band made up of musicians from the German-Scandinavian Youth Philharmonic.

Since there are big differences in the way of playing jazz or classical music, the realisation of this completely different and much more percussive sound of jazz in a relatively short practice period was a great challenge for these musicians having been trained in classical music. Finally, the Peer Gynt project was so successful that it was decided to establish the big band under the direction of Achim Rothe as an inherent part of the German-Scandinavian Youth Philharmonic. In this project, his special interest is focussed on the conversion and reinterpretation of classical works into the style of jazz.

Achim Rothe

At the age of eight Achim Rothe began to play the trumpet and at the age of 16 he started to compose and arrange music. In 1984 he was invited to the Jugend Jazzorchester Baden-Württemberg, with whom he played and composed until 1990. Achim Rothe was awarded several first prizes in the competition Jugend Jazzt Baden-Württemberg..

In 1992 Achim Rothe started to study music at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart (Stuttgart Conservatoire). A scholarship took him to the renowned Berkeley College of Music Boston (USA) where he studied trumpet as well as jazz and film composition. Prior to the completion of his studies he was awarded the John Dankworth Award for extraordinary performance in the field of jazz composition and received the Clark Terry Award as an outstanding trumpeter. Another award followed when he received the Most Active Performer Award.

After having returned to Germany, Achim Rothe managed to establish himself there as a musician, arranger, conductor, composer and workshop leader. Numerous performances took him to Europe, Asia and America. Besides radio and tv recordings, Achim Rothe recorded more than twenty records/albums.

After two years of cooperation with Cirque du Soleil and Pomp, Duck & Circumstance he spends an increased amount of time with big ensembles and directs the Berlin Bigband, the Compass-Bigband and the Crocodile Princess Jazz Orchestra.

At present, Achim Rothe directs the big band of the German-Scandinavian Youth Philharmonic and works with Andrej Hermlin’s Swing Dance Orchestra as a soloist and arranger and also as a lecturer for the Jugend Jazzorchesters Baden-Württemberg (Baden-Württemberg Youth Jazz Orchestra).

Bisherige Konzertprogramme: 1982 bis 1989

Bisherige Konzertprogramme: 1990 bis 1999

Bisherige Konzertprogramme: 2000 bis 2009

Bisherige Konzertprogramme: 2012 bis 2010