Jan Vogler’s contract as director of the Dresden Music Festival extended to 2026 (January 2020)

Jan Vogler will remain director of the Dresden Music Festival for the upcoming years: The internationally acclaimed cellist has extended his contract with the state capital of Dresden to 2026. In 2009, he assumed the role of director of the festival, founded in 1978, and has since endeavored to establish it as one of the most important and successful classical music festivals in Europe. From 2009 to 2019, the Festival’s revenue from ticket sales and funds from sponsors has increased fivefold.

»I am pleased that the state capital of Dresden will continue its rewarding work with Jan Vogler. The Dresden Music Festival has seen remarkable progress that is closely linked to its director«, Dresden’s Mayor Dirk Hilbert explained. »Above all, it is encouraging how broad groups of the population are increasingly addressed and involved in the music festival. Dresden does not host the Dresden Music Festival for selected cultural elites but a festival offering a program with which many people can identify.

»I am delighted Jan Vogler’s career not only progresses as a world-renowned cellist but in Dresden as director of the Music Festival. Over the past decade, Jan Vogler has succeeded in promoting the Dresden Music Festival by incorporating international artistic relevance and networking with numerous institutions in the city.  Therefore, I am looking forward to new artistic impulses in the next years«, Secretary of Culture Annekatrin Klepsch said.

»The perception of classical music in Europe is changing rapidly; tradition and innovation are engaging in a stimulating dialogue. This is what defines our path to a modern Music Festival in the Music City Dresden. I am looking forward to continuing my work with my excellent team on the vision of the Dresden Music Festival as the most dynamic music festivals in Europe«, Jan Vogler said.

Under the direction of Jan Vogler, the Dresden Music Festival matured into one of the most modern classical music festivals in the world – in which he as director as well as an artist repeatedly challenges the limits of genre and form. Thus, the festival’s genre spectrum ranges from the New York Philharmonic to rock icon Sting. Moreover, in 2012, Jan Vogler successfully established the Dresden Festival Orchestra, an orchestra dedicated to spreading original sound and the festival’s message in the world.

Jan Vogler was born in East Berlin in 1964. Despite world-spanning concert engagements as a cello soloist, he has been closely connected to Dresden since 1985. For example, the performance with the New York Philharmonic under Lorin Maazel at the reopening of the Dresden Frauenkirche in 2005 is among the highlights of his career. In 2017, his literary-musical show »New Worlds« with Hollywood legend Bill Murray premiered at the Dresden Music Festival before going on a highly acclaimed tour across three continents. Together with his family, Jan Vogler lives in New York and Dresden.

 

The 43nd Dresden Music Festival takes place from May 12 to June 12, 2020.