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The Neue Hofkapelle München (= NHM) was founded in 1992 by young musicians, all specialists in historic performance practice. Unique in Bavaria, the orchestra aspires to establish itself as a firm part of the cultural landscape. It dedicates its efforts to researching, documenting and re-performing lost treasures of Bavarian residences, palaces and monasteries. One of its goals is to enable audiences to re-experience this music in its original setting: Bavaria’s historic rooms.
The NHM does not limit its activities to Munich, however, but is developing long-term regional cooperation among various Bavarian cities. The NHM will expand its musical palette with national and international projects. The NHM’s first opera production was in 1998. It subsequently continued in this area, concentrating primarily on works by composers active in Bavarian residences during the 18th century. As the festival orchestra of the 2003 Residenzwoche München, the NHM performed Munich’s first opera, L’arpa festante, on the occasion of the “350 Years of Opera” festivities held in that city. In a coproduction with the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, the NHM performed Giovanni Ferrandini’s Catone in Utica in Munich’s Cuvilliéstheater, the site of the work’s original premiere and one of the most beautiful rococo theaters still in existence, to celebrate both the theater’s opening and the opera’s premiere 250 years before. A recording of this work was released on OehmsClassics in 2004.
For the 2004 Residenzwoche München, the NHM presented Pietro Torri’s cantata Triomphe de la paix from 1714, which will appear on the ORF Alte Musik label. One of the orchestra’s projects for 2005 will be a production of Steffani’s opera Alarico.
Christoph Hammer is the artistic director of the orchestra; its concertmaster is Rüdiger Lotter. |
