The Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne is a German symphony orchestra based in Cologne. On some recordings, the orchestra goes under the name "Gürzenich-Orchester Kölner Philharmoniker". Its name comes from its past principal concert venue, the Gürzenich concert hall in Cologne. Currently, its primary concert venue is the Kölner Philharmonie. The Gürzenich Orchestra traces its origins to 1827, when a group of Cologne Bürger sponsored the creation of the "Cölner Concert-Gesellschaft" to set up "Gesellschaftskonzerte" and "Abonnementskonzerte". The orchestra began to give concerts at the Gürzenich concert hall in 1857, from which it derived its current name. In 1986, the orchestra took up residence at the Kölner Philharmonie. The orchestra also plays in opera productions in the Cologne Opera. From 2003 until 2014, the Gürzenich-Kapellmeister, or chief conductor of the Gürzenich Orchestra, was Markus Stenz. He concluded his Gürzenich tenure in 2014. In February 2014, the city of Cologne announced the appointment of François-Xavier Roth as the next Generalmusikdirektor of the city of Cologne, which includes the post of Gürzenich-Kapellmeister. The appointment of Roth as the 13thGürzenich-Kapellmeister is effective on 1 September 2015, with an initial contract of 5 years. In October 2018, the orchestra extended Roth's contract to 2022.
Premieres
The worldpremieres performed by the Gürzenich Orchestra include the following works:
The orchestra's discography includes several CDs for EMI Classics of the music of Alexander von Zemlinsky, conducted by James Conlon. Under their Conductor Emeritus Dmitri Kitayenko the orchestra recorded a number of complete cycles by the composers Shostakovitch, Prokofiev, and Tchaikowski. In October 2005, the Gürzenich Orchestra began to produce their own commercial CD recordings under the "GO live!" label. One unique feature of these recordings is that these are recordings of the orchestra's performances that same evening, made available within 5 minutes of the end of the concert for purchase by audience members. The "Live CDs" were stopped after Stenz's tenure, in favour of live streaming from the orchestra's website.
