Bochum Symphony Orchestra
Honorary Conductor for Life (present)
General Music Director and Intendant of the Anneliese Brost Musikforum Ruhr (1994-2021)
The Journey to the Bochum Symphony Orchestra
Steven Sloane came to Germany in 1989, where he started out as First Kapellmeister at the Frankfurt Opera until 1994. He then went on to become the General Music Director of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra.
In 27 years as General Music Director of the City of Bochum, Steven Sloane succeeded in raising the local, regional and international profile of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, built up a devoted audience in and around the post-industrial Ruhr city of 365,000, toured with the Orchestra through Europe and to the United States and spearheaded the drive to build the Orchestra’s first-ever concert hall home.
In response to a mixture of traditional programs with contemporary forms and interesting themed programs, Bochum Symphony Orchestra audiences increased dramatically and subscriptions rose by over 400% in Sloane’s first three seasons. Multiple themed projects are presented each season, linked to activities at the city’s schools and cultural institutions. The German Association of Music Editors gave the Bochum Symphony Orchestra under Steven Sloane their annual award for Best Concert Program in 1996/1997 and again in 2004/2005.
The Bochum Symphony Orchestra was at the heart of two Ruhr regional celebrations of the arts: the Ruhrtriennale, an arts festival held in industrial venues in the Ruhr area and characterized by world premieres; and the European Capital of Culture which, in 2010, was assigned to the Ruhr region.
Steven Sloane and the Bochum Symphony Orchestra performed throughout Germany and Europe, Israel and the United States. Increasingly recognized for their Mahler interpretations, the Orchestra were invited to perform at many festivals including the Gustav Mahler Musikwochen Toblach. Versatile in repertoire and musical styles, they also made a tour of Germany and Switzerland with Sting, including a date at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
A milestone in the history of the Orchestra, their performances of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s opera Die Soldaten in 2006 as part of the Ruhrtriennale attracted national and international critical praise. The production was repeated the following year and opened the 2008 Lincoln Center Festival in New York City. Alex Ross of The New Yorker chose it as one of the “10 Best Performances of 2008”.
Throughout 2010, Steven Sloane and the Bochum Symphony Orchestra honored the composer Hans Werner Henze with a year-long series of performances of his orchestral works and a recording of his Requiem for the Cybele label. They also gave the world premiere of a new opera, Gisela or The Strange and Memorable Ways of Good Fortune, commissioned by the European Capital of Culture RUHR 2010 and the Semperoper in Dresden. Gisela proved to be Henze’s last work.
In addition to Hans Werner Henze’s Requiem, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra’s discography with Steven Sloane includes recordings of Orchestral songs by Gustav Mahler and Wolfgang Rihm with Christoph Pregardien, George Antheil’s opera The Brothers, French Cello Concertos with Niklas Eppinger and a four-disc traversal of the complete orchestral works of Joseph Marx, one of which was nominated for a Grammy award. The DVD of their Ruhrtriennale production of Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten directed by David Poutney was on the list of the best DVDs of the German Record Critics list in 2007. The most recording project of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra and Steven Sloane was Franz Schreker’s complete orchestral works.
The Bochum Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1919. Since its inception, it has been a travelling orchestra without a home concert hall, performing in recent years in as many as 14 different locations in and around Bochum, including the theater (Schauspielhaus Bochum) and the Audimax, a lecture hall at the Ruhr University Bochum, neither of which has acoustics suited to music performance.
Following years of networking, fundraising and negotiations, Steven Sloane and the Bochum Symphony Orchestra succeeded in setting in motion the building of a permanent home for the Orchestra, where they both rehearsed and performed. The Anneliese Brost Musikforum Ruhr was opened in October 2016 at Bochum's Marienplatz, adjacent to the 19th century Marienkirche.
From 1994 to 2021, Steven Sloane was general music director of the Bochum Symphony and Intendant of the Anneliese Brost Musikforum Ruhr. He will remain associated with the Bochum Symphony as honorary conductor.
Related Discography:
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October
Bosy Meisterstücke: Tchaikovsky & Bartók 2
Bochum Symphony Orchestra
© Photo: Christoph Fein