The German-Scandinavian Youth Philharmonic
Since 1991, the German-Scandinavian Youth Philharmonic has staged yearly international orchestral courses
in Berlin for music students, young professional musicians and students with special instrumental skills
considering careers as orchestral musicians (at least age 16).
Andreas Peer Kähler the founder and permanent conductor of the orchestra is supported by an experienced team of lecturers,
that consists of international orchestra musicians and teachers.
"German-Scandinavian" stands for the formation of the orchestra as well as for the choice of repertoire.
For its concert program, the orchestra draws on selected subjects from the Nordic cultural area.
With its enthusiastic acclaimed concerts in the Berlin Philharmonic, its unconventional programs, workshop concerts and
portraits of composers, and not least for its numerous world and German premieres of Nordic orchestral works,
the orchestra has made its mark in Berlin's cultural world.
The 36th German-Scandinavian Orchestra Week
The 36th German-Scandinavian Orchestra Week takes place the 27th of December 2011 (arrival) to the 6th of January 2012 (departure)
and has a Swedish focal point: the main work of the concert program will be the famous 7th Symphony of Allan Pettersson.
Pettersson (1911-1980) is considered one of the most important composers of Swedish music history and one of the
most important and most idiosyncratic sinfonia of the 20th Century.
His 7th symphony (1965) has a prominent position among his 16 large-scale symphonies. 45 minutes long and composed in a sentence,
it guarantees musicians as well as concertgoers highly intense and very emotional moments, similar to the experiences in
Ingmar Bergman's films.
Pettersson's discovery in Germany took place in the eighties, with active assistance of the German-Scandinavian Youth
Philharmonic: during the third anf fifth orchestra weeks, the orchestra led three Symphonies of the by then completely unknown
Pettersson and brougt the 5th Symphony on disc for the Swedish label Blue Bell for the first time. The current performance
is a tribute to the composer on the occasion of his 100th Birthday and is held in cooperation with the international
Allan Pettersson Society.
According to the basic idea behind the "German-Scandinavian", the first part of the concert program includes two works by Richard Strauss: His popular symphonic poem Till Eulenspiegel's Funny Pranks and his Horn Concerto No. 1. Soloist is the young Swedish horn player Mats Johansson, who was one of the outstanding musicians of the last German-Scandinavian Orchestra Weeks and has qualified for solo tasks in this way.
The final piece of the concert will be Leonard Bernstein's Overture to Candide. The short and rousing work was already part of last year's "German-Scandinavian Orchestra" final concert. As the piece was so popular amongst musicians and the audience, we have taken it into this year's repertoire as well ...
As in previous years, for the 36th German-Scandinavian orchestra week we expect about 100 young musicians between 16 and 24 years from different countries worldwide, with a focus on Germany and the five Nordic countries. The teaching staff is as follows:
| Violins and Strings | Prof. Leon Spierer (formerly KZM the Berlin and Stockholm Philharmonic) |
| Viola and Assistant conductor | Christiane Silver (Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra) |
| Violoncello | Martin Seemann and Gabriella Strümpel, Berlin |
| Double bass | Martin Schaal (German Opera Berlin) |
| Woodwind | Andreas Schmidt, Munich |
| Brass | Rainer Auerbach (Staatskapelle Berlin, Academia en Sevilla, HfMT Rostock) |
| Drums | Reinhard Toriser (Komische Oper Berlin) |
The highlight of the 36th German-Scandinavian orchestra week is the gala concert in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall on 01/05/2012. Furthermore in planning are an adventure concert, a guest concert at the Hamburg Michel (planned 01/04/2012) and a chamber concert.
Patron of the 36th German-Scandinavian orchestras week is HE the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden, Staffan Carlsson (invited).