The Orchestra

Since Sebastian Weigle became General Music Director of the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester they were voted tops three years running by critics from "Opernwelt" magazine: 2008/09, 2009/10 and - when they were named "Orchestra of the Year" - 2010/11.

Oper Frankfurt's orchestra came into being towards the end of the 18th century. It received its unusual name because it was also the orchestra that gave concerts for the "Frankfurter Museum", an institution founded by culturally minded people in Frankfurt in 1808, when Louis Spohr was chief conductor of the, still young, orchestra.

Many famous conductors have been linked to the orchestra during the more than two hundred years since it came into existence. Music Directors included Willem Mengelberg, Hermann Scherchen, Clemens Krauss and, later on, Hans Rosbaud and Franz Konwitschny. In the late 19th Century guest conductors included Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Arthur Nikisch and Hans Pfitzner. Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann performed as soloists with the Frankfurter Opern- and Museumsorchester.

The Frankfurter Museumsgesellschaft still organises the renowned series of Museum Concerts. During the first half of the 20th Century Wilhelm Furtwängler, Hans Knappertsbusch, Hermann Abendroth, Erich Kleiber, Bruno Walter, Georges Szell and many other big names conducted here. Many new works, operatic and orchestral, including "Ein Heldenleben" and "Also sprach Zarathustra", received their world premieres in Frankfurt, played by the Frankfurter Opern- and Museumsorchester. Paul Hindemith was leader of the Frankfurter Opern- and Museumsorchester for a few years.

Since the second world war Oper Frankfurt's General Music Directors have included Georg Solti, Christoph von Dohnányi, Michael Gielen and Sylvain Cambreling, all nurturing and making their own mark on musical life in Frankfurt and the Frankfurter Opern- and Museumsorchester. Paolo Carignani was General Music Director from 1999-2007. Sebastian Weigle is now General Music Director.

The Frankfurter Opern- and Museumsorchester's huge repertoire encompasses almost all important operatic and symphonic works from the baroque to experimental contemporary music. Musicians from the orchestra also perform their own series of chamber music concerts, which take place in the opera house's Holz Foyer.

FRANKFURTER OPERN- AND MUSEUMSORCHESTER

General Music Director Sebastian Weigle
Assistant to the General Music Director Thomas Stollberger
Orchestra Director Andreas Finke
Orchestra Office and Music Library Kerstin Janitzek | Cornelia Grüneisen | Sabine von Fürstenberg 


1st violin
Ingo de Haas, Dimiter Ivanov, Gesine Kalbhenn-Rzepka, Artur Podlesniy, Vladislav Brunner, Arseni Kulakov-Tarasov, Susanne Callenberg-Bissinger, Sergio Katz, Hartmut Krause, Basma Abdelrahim, Kristin Reisbach, Karen von Trotha, Dorothee Plum, Christine Schwarzmayr, Freya Ritts-Kirby, Juliane Strienz, Almut Frenzel-Riehl, Jefimija Brajovic, Gisela Müller, Beatrice Kohllöffel, Stephanie Gierden, Yoriko Muto, Tsvetomir Tsankov

 2nd violin
Guntrun Hausmann, Jörg Hammann, Sabine Scheffel–Schaubach, Olga Yuchanan, Doris Drehwald, Lin Ye, Susanna Laubstein, Donata Wilken, Frank Plieninger, Nobuko Yamaguchi, Regine Schmitt, Lutz ter Voert, Sara Schulz, Guillaume Faraut, Emilia Gausse, Peter Szasz, Ludwig Schulze, Cornelia Ilg

viola
Thomas Rössel, Philipp Nickel, Wolf Attula, Ludwig Hampe, Martin Lauer, Robert Majoros, Miyuki Saito, Jean-Marc Vogt, Mathias Bild, Fred Günther, Ulla Tremuth, Susanna Hefele, Ariane Voigt, Elisabeth Friedrichs, Friederike Gutsch, Miho Kawai, Maria del Mar Mendivil Colom  

cello
Rüdiger Clauß, Sabine Krams, Kaamel Salaheldin, Johannes Oesterlee, Corinna Schmitz, Florian Fischer, Roland Horn, Nika Brnič, Mario Riemer, Bogdan Michael Kisch, Michael Polyzoides

double-bass
Bruno Suys, Hedwig Matros-Büsing, Peter Josiger, Yi-Rung Lai, Ulrich Goltz, Matthias Kuckuk, Philipp Enger, Jean Hommel

 flute
Sarah Louvion, Eduardo Belmar, Almuth Turré, Giovanni Gandolfo

 oboe
Nanako Kondo, Johannes Grosso, Márta Berger, Romain Curt, Oliver Gutsch

clarinet
Jens Bischof, Claudia Dresel, Diemut Schneider, Stephan Kronthaler, Matthias Höfer

bassoon
Lola Descours, Richard Morschel, Eberhard Beer, Stephan Köhr

horn
Mahir Kalmik, Kristian Katzenberger, Stef van Herten, Tuna Erten, Thomas Bernstein, Silke Schurack, Claude Tremuth, Genevieve Clifford, Canberk Yüksel

trumpet
Matthias Kowalczyk, Florian Pichler, Markus Bebek, Wolfgang Guggenberger, Dominik Ring

trombone
Jeroen Mentens, Miguel García Casas, Hartmut Friedrich, Manfred Keller, Rainer Hoffmann

 tuba
József Juhász-Aba

timpani
Tobias Kästle, Ulrich Weber

 percussion
Jürgen Friedel, Nicole Hartig, Steffen Uhrhan

harp
Françoise Friedrich, Barbara Mayr-Winkler

Assistant Orchestra Managers 
Torsten Frenzl, Gerhard Häusler (✝), Matthias Rumpf, Ivan Scaglione, Aaron Veil, Hanns Will