Hamburger Camerata

© Matthias Mramor

From the beginning of the 2012-2013 season the Hamburger Camerata has managed to secure the services of the young, high- profile conductor Simon Gaudenz as its new Principal Conductor. Under his leadership the chamber orchestra will make an important contribution to the reawakening of the musical city of Hamburg and will act as an ambassador for Hamburg well beyond the limits of the city.

The Hamburger Camerata was founded in 1986 and has since made a name for itself with notable and well-conceived programs and interpretations. The ensemble is characterized as much by its confident technical precision and unconventional liveliness, as by its faithfulness to style, its flexible chamber music sound and its vibrantly joyful playing. With its concert series in Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle, which has existed since 1990, the orchestra created an unmistakable niche in the Hamburg music scene under the baton of Max Pommer, Claus Bantzer and Ralf Gothóni. A wide- ranging program of chamber music symphonies and symphonic chamber music, as well as a commitment to modern music, typify this concert series.

In 2001 Max Pommer assumed overall artistic control of the Hamburger Camerata. With great success the ensemble gave concerts under his conductorship in numerous cities throughout Germany and at international music festivals. On the occasion of his 75th birthday in February 2011, Max Pommer took his leave as artistic director of the Hamburger Camerata after ten successful years. At the same time it was possible to acquire Gustav Frielinghaus, leader of the Amaryllis Quartet, for the demanding position of first violin. In June 2011 Simon Gaudenz presented himself in the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg as a prize- winning guest conductor with the “Hungarian Serenade”. The overwhelming enthusiasm of the audience and the musicians formed the basis for the decision to embark on a new artistic cooperation in the great concert hall of the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg. The modern, flexible ensemble also displays a wide range of activities outside of the subscription concert series, with around 45 concerts annually in the leading churches in Hamburg and northern Germany, as well

as at important festivals and on national and international concert stages.

For example, the Hamburger Camerata has been invited to the eighth cultural event “East Meets West” (Japanese-German Friendship Concert) at Gut Haseldorf, to Finland for the 2013 Spring Light Festival, under the baton of Ralf Gothóni in Helsinki Music Centre, which opened in 2011, and to the Mecklenburg- Vorpommern Festival, under the baton of Principal Conductor Simon Gaudenz. Furthermore, the chamber orchestra will participate in a project in the framework of the German Evangelical Church Congress in Hamburg in 2013 (DEKT), and will record a CD for Naxos Ondine in 2012 with pianist Anastasia Injushina, and with Ralf Gothóni.

The Hamburger Camerata is committed to a long-term and sustainable communication of music, also and especially to children from socially-disadvantaged backgrounds, with its family concerts, “Elbwichtel” concerts, performances for schools and nurseries, sponsorship, visits to schools and nurseries, orchestral experience practices and workshops. By these means it reaches over 10,000 children and young people each year. Such fruitful and successful artistic work would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors and patrons: the Thomas J.C. and Angelika Matzen Foundation, Leseberg Automobile GmbH, the Cultural Authorities of Hamburg, Otto GmbH & Co. KG, Nofear- Thebook.com, Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, Funk Internationale Insurance and Risk

Consultants, J.J. Darboven GmbH & Co. KG, the children’s’ charities Kinder helfen Kindern e.V. and the Kinderjahre Foundation, and the Hamburger Camerata Förderverein e.V. Furthermore, a valuable contribution is also made by numerous cooperative partners, friends and patrons, as well as the board of trustees under the chairmanship of Rolf Seelmann-Eggebert, to ensure that the Hamburger Camerata can continue to achieve its artistic objectives well into the future.