H I S T O R Y With its approximately 80 concerts in Dresden, the DRESDEN PHILHARMONIC is the busiest Symphonie orchestra in Dresden and essentially characterizes the cultural life of the city. The orchestra plays in the festival hall of the Dresden Kulturpalast am Altmarkt - right in the heart of the city. The concerts of the orchestra have emerged as an attraction for thousands of Dresdeners and for visitors to Dresden, “the metropolis on the Elbe," offen called “Florence on the Elbe.” The Dresden Philharmonie Orchestra is sought after on concert stages worldwide and their tours have occurred throughout Europe, China, Japan, Israel, South America and the USA. The Dresden Philharmonie traces its formation back to the formal opening of the first concert hall in Dresden on November 29, 1870. This marked a social change in the city from concerts for the aristocracy to the concerts for the general public. From 1885 the then “Gewerbehausorchester” gave full seasons of Symphonie concerts in Dresden, which earned them the title, “Dresden Philharmonie Orchestra” in 1915. Historically the great composers such as Johannes Brahms, Piotr Tchaikovsky, Antonin Dvorak and Richard Strauss, have conducted and often premiered their works with the orchestra. Previous Music Directors have included Paul van Kempen, Carl Schriebt, Heinz Bongartz, Kurt Masur, Guenther Herbig, Joerg-Peter Weigle and Michael Plasson, nearly all of whom have recorded with the orchestra. From the beginning of the 2003 season until September 2004 Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos was First Guest Conductor and at the beginning of the 2004/05 season he was appointed Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Dresden Philharmonie Orchestra. Kurt Masur is the Dresden Philharmonic's Laureate Conductor. W H O ’ S WHO RAFAEL FRÜHBECK DE BURGOS was born in Burgos in 1933. He studied at the conservatories of Bilbao and Madrid, later at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik (State University of Music) in Munich. At the latter, the Hindemith scholar Harald Genzmer was his composition teacher. In 1950 Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos received the Richard Strauss Award. After his first engagement as Head Conductor with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos fronted the Spanish National Orchestra in Madrid from 1962 until 1978. He was Chief Musical Director of the City of Düsseldorf and Head Conductor of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra as well as with the Orchestre Symphonique in Montreal. As the First Guest Conductor he worked with the Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra of Tokyo and with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington. He is the newly named principal conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI in Turin. Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos so far has conducted more than one hundred symphony orchestras in Europe, America, Canada, Japan