German String Philharmonic & Michael Sanderling
Biography German String Philharmonic & Michael Sanderling
German String Philharmonic
The string orchestra’s story began more than 30 years ago at the “10th World Youth and Student Festival 1973” held in what was then East Berlin, when the festival needed its own orchestra.
The national Youth String Orchestra of Music Schools of the GDR was contacted. This ensemble was founded by its conductor Helmut Koch, who also founded the Berlin Radio Orchestra (Rundfunkorchester) and was Music Director of the Berlin Singakademie. The elite ensemble was soon engaged by radio and television to perform in productions and broadcasts as the “Rundfunk-Musikschulorchester” (RMO) and performed to wide acclaim in Germany and abroad. The string orchestra has performed many times at events such as the Handel Festival in Halle, the international Bachfest in Leipzig, the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, the EXPO in Hanover, the Schauspielhaus in Berlin, at Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, in Cologne’s Philharmonie and at many other concert venues throughout Germany. The orchestra has completed highly successful international concert tours to Poland, Russia, France, Spain, Finland, Norway, China and Malaysia. Herbert Kegel (1974) and then Wolf-Dieter Hauschild (1976) succeeded Helmut Koch, who died in 1975, with Winfried Müller ultimately taking over leadership of the orchestra. In 1984—taking turns with Max Pommer (1986/87)—Jörg-Peter Weigle, Principal Conductor of the Dresdner Philharmonie, was engaged as the ensemble’s regular conductor. Until 1995, he molded the orchestra’s artistic development, giving it his own distinctive style. Hanns-Martin Schneidt served as Artistic Director of the ensemble from 1995 to 2002. In 2003 he handed leadership of the orchestra over to Michael Sanderling, who in 2002 had performed with the ensemble as soloist on their tour of Spain and had stepped in as conductor at short notice. From its inception, members of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchesters Berlin (RSB) have acted as teachers to the various players in the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie.
Michael Sanderling
After completing his studies, Berlin native Michael Sanderling launched a successful international career as a cellist and for many years performed as a solo cellist with many leading European and US orchestras.
Since the 2006/07 concert season, Michael Sanderling has been the Principal Conductor and, with Andrea Marcon, Artistic Director of the Kammerakademie Potsdam while also serving as Principal Conductor of the Kammerorchester Berlin and the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie. He made his debut as a conductor of the Kammerorchester Berlin in 2001.
Michael Sanderling regularly appears as guest conductor with the Dresden Philharmonic, the Berlin, Leipzig and Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra and the China Philharmonic Peking.
His conducting debut with the Staatskapelle Dresden in 2008 resulted in an immediate engagement to conduct at Dresden's Semperoper. He has also guest conducted the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Cologne Opera.
Numerous CD recordings and performances for radio and television document Michael Sanderling’s performance career.
