Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich | |
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Orchestra | |
Official logo
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Founded | 1868 |
Location | Zürich, Switzerland |
Principal conductor | Lionel Bringuier |
Website | www |
Coordinates: 47°21′58″N 8°32′16″E / 47.366025°N 8.537650°E
The Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich (Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich) is a Swiss symphony orchestra based in Zürich. Its principal residence is the Neue Tonhalle.
Precursor music ensembles in Zürich have included the music societies Zum Chorherresaal (around 1600), Ab dem Musiksaal beim Kornhaus (1613), and Zum Fraumünster (1679). In 1812, these ensembles consolidated into a single organization with the name Allgemeinene Musik-gesellschaft (AMG), which included the formation of an orchestra who performed on an annual, seasonal and non-permanent basis. In the early history of the AMG orchestra, its first principal conductors were Casimir von Blumenthal (1821-1846) and Franz Abt (1846-1852). The impetus for the establishment of a permanent orchestra in Zürich came in 1861, with the Schweizerische Musikfest (Swiss Music Festival) scheduled in Zürich that year. Citizens in Zürich wished the musicians to remain after the festival, but the AMG did not have the financial resources to establish a permanent resident orchestra. Subsequently, a group of Zürich citizens founded the Orchesterverein in 1865 as the city's first permanent orchestra. The founding of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich followed several years later, in 1868. Both ensembles continue to perform in Zürich today.
The first principal conductor of the Tonhalle-Orchester was Friedrich Hegar, who served from its founding in 1868 through 1906. His successor, Volkmar Andreae, served an even longer tenure as chief conductor, from 1906 to 1949, the longest in the orchestra's history, directing around 1,300 concerts with the orchestra. Andreae's tenure featured the first family concerts by the orchestra, beginning in 1928. In 1947, the city of Zürich formalised performances of concerts for young people by the orchestra, as part of the agreements for city funding and subsidy of the orchestra. More recently, during the chief conductorship of David Zinman, the orchestra established its "tonhalleLATE" series of late-evening concerts that combine shorter-length symphonic concerts with socializing afterwards to electronic music.