The Akademisches Orchester Berlin (Academic Orchestra of Berlin or AOB)
About
The Orchestra,
founded in 1908, is a non-profit organization and enjoys a glorious
tradition and outstanding reputation with music lovers not only in Berlin.
The orchestra's appearances have included amongst others performing in the
Berliner Philharmonie, concert tours to Japan, Italy, Poland and France, and
numerous concerts with renowned soloists. The AOB presents three concerts
each season to an audience of 3,000 persons of all ages.
The AOB is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburgische-Liebhaberorchester e.V.
(www.llbv-ev.de and the Bund Deutscher Liebhaberorchster e.V. (www.bdlo.de).
Concerts
On 21 November 2010 the orchestra is going to perform in the Sendesaal
of RBB in Berlin: 1. Piano Concert by Chopin and 3. Symphony by
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.
For the first time in its 102 years of history, the AOB
will be performing Beethoven's IX. Symphony on 3 April 2011 in the
Berliner Philharmonie. This will
be performed together with two choirs from Japan and Collegium Vocale
from Berlin on the occasion of the ceremony "150 years of German-Japanese
Friendship".
For our next and/or previous concerts »see...
Rehearsels
The weekly rehearsal takes place every Wednesday (during school term)
between 7:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. at the Dunant-Grundschule in
Berlin-Steglitz (Gritznerstr.19-23, 12163 Berlin).
Public Transport: U3 Breitenbachplatz, U) Schloßstraße, Bus 282 (bus-stop
Gritznerstraße)
Rehearsel schedule »see...
Join us
Experienced violins and violas welcome. Players of woodwind and brass
instruments are welcome to enquire about membership at any time, but for
these instruments vacancies are more limited.
There are no formal auditions,
and potential new members attend a
few rehearsals during which their suitability rapidly becomes apparent.
Members of the AOB speak foreign languages e.g.: English,
French, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Portugese, Spanish etc.
Concert tours and guest appearances
The Akademisches Orchester Berlin has founded a tradition to travel abroad, to cooperate with other orchestras and choirs, and to have mutual guest appearances. One of the most outstanding events in the long history of important concerts was certainly the tour to Japan in the spring of 1998. The Machida Philharmonic Orchestra and the Komae Choir repaid the visit with a joint concert in March 2000 in the Berlin Philharmonic which represents one of the highlights in the history of the AOB. The same applies for the appearance of the AOB and the Hanns-Eisler-Choir in Sczeczin (Poland) in 2005, where excerpts of Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" were performed. During the summer of 2009 the AOB had a successful concert tour to Provence in France (attached photo is taken in Arles) with pieces of Weber, R. Strauß and Dvorák. »see...
Talent spotter
Many renowned artists have begun their professional career with the Akademisches Orchester Berlin. When the orchestra celebrated its 100 year anniversary in 2008, the soprano Annette Dasch gave an appearance with Mahler's Rückert-Lieder during the festive concert in the Berlin Philharmonic. AOB is very conscious about its responsibility for developing musical talents and engages young talented soloists to offer them an opportunity to perform publicly. Since 2010 the AOB has taken over a sponsorship for the string section of the Dunant Primary School in Berlin-Steglitz, and supports their work by donations and other mutual activities. This is a one-of-a-kind project by a non-professional German orchestra and is aimed at motivating young people to learn to play a musical instrument.
Influencing personalities
Professor Hans Hilsdorf, who was the conductor for 37 years (from 1962) left his indelible mark on the musical profile of the orchestra. Hilsdorf created various compositions as well as orchestrations for 'his' orchestra during these years. His successor from 1999 was Andreas Schüller, who again lifted the quality of performance and placed great demands on the orchestra. Since 2003 Peter Aderhold has been in charge of the artistic profile of the orchestra. As a conductor of various opera houses he has conducted more than 40 operas, and as a composer he caused some sensation with his opera "Luther" for the new opera house in Erfurt. For many years, Heinz Ortleb, who used to play professionally in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, has been the orchestra's leader.
Repertoire
The repertoire of the orchestra consists of classical and modern pieces,
and the audience honours and respects the high level of professionalism
of its performances. Continuous further development is the foundation
for being able to work on new and challenging concert programmes.
For our repertoire since 1989 »see...