The Düsseldorf Symphony
They play in Düsseldorf and give guest performances in the metropolises of Europe and Asia, they excel in great symphonic music and with subtle ensemble sound, they make music for children and young people and are committed to promoting young musicians: The Düsseldorf Symphony is the musical heart of Düsseldorf and an ambassador for the regional capital throughout the world.
With around 250 performances a year in its home city, at the Tonhalle and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the orchestra underpins Düsseldorf's reputation as a city of music. The Düsseldorf Symphony is the musical centrepiece of Düsseldorf and represents a fascinating chapter in the city's living history, as the orchestral tradition in Düsseldorf goes back well over 400 years. A twelve-piece court orchestra played at the ‘Great Princely Juliet Wedding’ between Duke Johann Wilhelm and Jacobe von Baden in 1585. A good hundred years later, at the time of Jan Wellem, musical life in the city had reached European stature. In the 18th century, celebrated musicians such as Agostino Steffani, Arcangelo Corelli and Georg Friedrich Händel worked with the ‘Düsseldorfer Hofkapelle’. After the dissolution of the court, the orchestra experienced its second heyday in the 19th century. In 1818, with the founding of the Städtischer Musikverein, an orchestral culture was once again established in Düsseldorf, attracting musicians such as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Robert Schumann. During their tenure as music directors, both set standards that would shape generations to come. The orchestra became truly municipal in 1864, making Düsseldorf the second German city after Aachen to establish a municipal orchestra.
Subsequently, the Düsseldorf Symphony developed into one of Germany's leading and largest orchestras, whose leaders after the reconstruction in 1945 included Heinrich Hollreiser and subsequently conductors such as Eugen Szenkar, Jean Martinon, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Henryk Czyz, Willem van Otterloo, Bernhard Klee, David Shallon, Salvador Mas Conde, John Fiore and Andrey Boreyko. Since 2015, Adam Fischer holds the position of Principal Conductor of the Düsseldorf Symphony. Alexandre Bloch worked alongside him as Principal Guest Conductor for five years, with Alpesh Chauhan taking over this position in the 2021|22 season.
The Düsseldorf Symphony is also making a name for itself internationally. In the past 15 years alone, the orchestra has undertaken several major tours of Spain, performed in Tokyo, Moscow, Warsaw, Budapest, Amsterdam and Arnhem and made its debut at the Vienna Musikverein. In May 2025, the symphony orchestra will go on tour in China.
In March 2020, the recording of Gustav Mahler's complete symphonic oeuvre was completed under Adam Fischer's direction for the AVI label in cooperation with Deutschlandfunk radio. Two CDs from this cycle won awards in 2019: the recording of the First Symphony received the ‘BBC Music Award’ and the Third Symphony an ‘Opus Klassik’. The orchestra is currently recording all of Schubert's symphonies with Adam Fischer, also for AVI in cooperation with Deutschlandfunk.
At the International Classical Music Awards 2025, the Düsseldorf Symphony was honoured with a ‘Special Achievement Award’ for its ‘sustainable social and humanitarian commitment and its highly innovative concert series’ as well as for its most recent Schubert-Dvořák album, which, according to the jury, is characterised by ‘musical quality and an original programme’.
The Düsseldorf Symphony is an important partner on the Tonhalle´s road to becoming a ‘green concert hall”: as a member of the Germany-wide initiative ‘Orchestra of Change’ (‘Orchester des Wandels’), it is actively involved in climate and environmental protection and is committed to reducing climate-damaging emissions from the cultural sector. The ‘Green Monday’ pilot project, in which the Tonhalle and the Düsseldorf Symphony dedicated eleven symphony concerts in the 2023/24 season to one aspect of sustainability, was honoured with the Opus Klassik 2024 in the category ‘Innovation Award for Sustainability’.
The Düsseldorfer Symphoniker are the exclusive cultural partner of the medical aid organisation »action medeor«.
They are also part of the German theatre and orchestra landscape, which has been included in the list of intangible cultural heritage by the German UNESCO Commission.
The orchestra's project "An Orchestra of the Future" is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in cooperation with the NRW KULTURsekretariat as part of the "New Ways" programme.