Great Berlin Christmas Concert: Anhalt Philharmonic Orchestra Dessau

About the Event

The Dessau Orchestra is one of the oldest and most traditional orchestras in the state of Saxony‐Anhalt. For decades, it has organized the 'Great Berlin Christmas Festival Concert', which has become a firm and beloved tradition for many Berlin concertgoers.
The festive concert features well‐known, festive orchestral works performed by a large orchestra, making Christmas Day a special experience. This year, the Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau will present Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E minor 'From the New World' and Peter Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme op. 33 for cello and orchestra.
The soloist is the multi‐award‐winning cellist Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, who was told by Mstislav Rostropovich at the age of eight: 'You will become a great cellist one day'. Schmidt was indeed able to attract attention and win prizes at numerous competitions during his studies with David Geringas and Aldo Parisot.
Since then, the cellist has conquered the concert stages of the world — with renowned orchestras in Europe, Russia and the USA, including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia Prague.
For his recording of Carl Maria von Weber's piano quartet with Isabelle Faust, Boris Faust and Alexander Melnikov, he was awarded the German Record Critics' Award and the Diapason d'Or in 2013.