Misplaced Pages

#594405

24-780: The orchestra was founded in 1952 as the Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester (Berlin Symphony Orchestra) in what was then East Berlin , as a rival ensemble to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra based in West Berlin . The first chief conductor was Hermann Hildebrandt. In 1974, the Berlin Sinfonietta was founded to serve as the sister chamber orchestra of the Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester . During its East German years it

48-479: A great deal of resentment toward the East Germans. Despite the large sums of economic aid poured into East Berlin, there still remain obvious differences between the former East and West Berlins. East Berlin has a distinct visual style; this is partly due to the greater survival of prewar façades and streetscapes, with some still showing signs of wartime damage. The unique look of Socialist Classicism that

72-493: A long process of review (so, for instance, Leninallee reverted to Landsberger Allee in 1991, and Dimitroffstraße reverted to Danziger Straße in 1995). Another symbolic icon of the former East Berlin (and of East Germany as a whole) is the Ampelmännchen (tr. "little traffic light men"), a stylized version of a fedora-wearing man crossing the street, which is found on traffic lights at many pedestrian crosswalks throughout

96-605: A way that was deemed cost-effective. Because of this, a massive amount of West German economic aid was poured into East Germany to revitalize it. This stimulus was part-funded through a 7.5% tax on income for individuals and companies (in addition to normal income tax or company tax) known as the Solidaritätszuschlaggesetz (SolZG) or "solidarity surcharge", which though only in effect for 1991–1992 (later reintroduced in 1995 at 7.5 and then dropped down to 5.5% in 1998 and continues to be levied to this day) led to

120-517: The Konzerthaus Kammerorchester . Kurt Sanderling was the longest-serving chief conductor of the orchestra, from 1960 to 1977. Subsequent chief conductors have been Günther Herbig , Claus Peter Flor , Michael Schønwandt (1992–1998), Eliahu Inbal (2001–2006), Lothar Zagrosek , and Iván Fischer . In November 2017, the orchestra announced the appointment of Christoph Eschenbach as its next chief conductor, effective with

144-465: The 2019–2020 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. In July 2021, the orchestra announced the extension of Eschenbach's contract through the 2022–2023 season. He stood down as chief conductor at the close of the 2022–2023 season. Principal guest conductors of the orchestra have included Dmitri Kitayenko . With the 2017–2018 season, Juraj Valčuha became principal guest conductor of the orchestra, following his initial guest-conducting appearance with

168-519: The GDR's authority to govern East Berlin. For most of its administrative existence, East Berlin was officially known as Berlin, capital of the GDR ( German : Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR ) by the GDR government. On 3 October 1990, the day Germany was officially reunified , East and West Berlin formally reunited as the city of Berlin. With the London Protocol of 1944 signed on 12 September 1944,

192-673: The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union decided to divide Germany into three occupation zones and to establish a special area of Berlin, which was occupied by the three Allied Forces together. In May 1945, the Soviet Union installed a city government for the whole city that was called "Magistrate of Greater Berlin", which existed until 1947. After the war, the Allied Forces initially administered

216-557: The authority of the East German government to govern East Berlin. Official Allied protocol recognized only the authority of the Soviet Union in East Berlin in accordance with the occupation status of Berlin as a whole. The United States Command Berlin, for example, published detailed instructions for U.S. military and civilian personnel wishing to visit East Berlin. In fact, the three Western commandants regularly protested against

240-670: The city together within the Allied Kommandatura , which served as the governing body of the city. However, in 1948 the Soviet representative left the Kommandatura and the common administration broke apart during the following months. In the Soviet sector, a separate city government was established, which continued to call itself the "Magistrate of Greater Berlin". When the German Democratic Republic

264-599: The existence of East Berlin. Citywide elections in December 1990 resulted in the first "all-Berlin" mayor being elected to take office in January 1991, with the separate offices of mayors in East and West Berlin expiring at the time, and Eberhard Diepgen (a former mayor of West Berlin) became the first elected mayor of a reunited Berlin. East Berlin reached its highest population in 1988 with 1.28 million. The lowest value

SECTION 10

#1732780095595

288-618: The first female conductor to be named chief conductor of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. The current Intendant (managing director) of the orchestra is Sebastian Nordmann. Nordmann is scheduled to stand down from the post in the summer of 2025. In May 2024, the orchestra announced the appointment of Tobias Rempe as its next Intendant , effective in 2025. East Berlin East Berlin ( German : Ost-Berlin ; pronounced [ˈɔstbɛʁˌliːn] )

312-507: The former East. Following a civic debate about whether the Ampelmännchen should be abolished or disseminated more widely (due to concerns of consistency), several crosswalks in some parts of the former West Berlin began to employ the Ampelmännchen . Twenty-five years after the two cities were reunified, the people of East and West Berlin still had noticeable differences between them, and these differences became more apparent among

336-517: The older generations. The two groups also had sometimes-derogatory slang terms to refer to each other. A former East Berliner (or East German) was known as an " Ossi " (from the German word for east, Ost ), and a former West Berliner (or West German) was known as a " Wessi " (from the German word for west, West ). Both sides also engaged in stereotyping the other. A stereotypical Ossi had little ambition or poor work ethic and

360-401: The orchestra in the 2014–2015 season, and his subsequent return guest-conducting engagement 2 years later. Joana Mallwitz first guest-conducted the orchestra during the 2020–2021 season. In August 2021, the orchestra announced the appointment of Mallwitz as its next chief conductor and artistic director, effective with the 2023–2024 season, with an initial contract of five seasons. Mallwitz is

384-535: The presence of the East German National People's Army in East Berlin, particularly on the occasion of military parades. Nevertheless, the three Western Allies eventually established embassies in East Berlin in the 1970s, although they never recognized it as the capital of East Germany. Treaties instead used terms such as "seat of government". On 3 October 1990, East and West Germany and East and West Berlin were reunited , thus formally ending

408-591: The standard established in West Berlin. After reunification, the East German economy suffered significantly. Under the adopted policy of privatization of state-owned firms under the auspices of the Treuhandanstalt , many East German factories were shut down—which also led to mass unemployment—due to gaps in productivity with and investment compared to West German companies, as well as an inability to comply with West German pollution and safety standards in

432-628: The strains on the East German economy from war reparations owed to the Soviet Union, massive destruction of industry, and lack of assistance from the Marshall Plan . In August 1961, the East German Government tried to stop the population exodus by separating West Berlin by the Berlin Wall . It was very dangerous for fleeing residents to cross because armed soldiers were trained to shoot illegal emigrants . East Germany

456-538: Was a socialist republic . Eventually, Christian churches were allowed to operate without restraint after years of harassment by authorities. In the 1970s, the wages of East Berliners rose and working hours fell. The Soviet Union and the Communist Bloc recognized East Berlin as the GDR's capital. However, Western Allies (the United States , United Kingdom , and France ) never formally acknowledged

480-562: Was established in 1949, it immediately claimed East Berlin as its capital—a claim that was recognized by all communist countries . Nevertheless, East Berlin's representatives to the Volkskammer were not directly elected and did not have full voting rights until 1981. In June 1948, all railways and roads leading to West Berlin were blocked , and East Berliners were not allowed to emigrate. Nevertheless, more than 1,000 East Germans were escaping to West Berlin each day by 1960, caused by

504-474: Was in 1961, the year the Berlin Wall was built, with under 1.06 million registered. The figures in the following table, unless otherwise indicated, are from the official central statistical office of East Germany. Since reunification, the German government has spent vast amounts of money on reintegrating the two halves of the city and bringing services and infrastructure in the former East Berlin up to

SECTION 20

#1732780095595

528-491: Was recorded by the state classical recording company Eterna Records . After German reunification in 1989, the orchestra was threatened with dissolution, but subscriber action maintained the ensemble. The orchestra acquired its current name in 2006. (This orchestra is separate from the West-Berlin based Berliner Symphoniker , founded in 1967.) The Konzerthausorchester Berlin currently has, as its sister chamber orchestra,

552-456: Was the partially recognised capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Soviet occupation sector of Berlin . The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin . From 13 August 1961 until 9 November 1989, East Berlin was separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall . The Western Allied powers did not recognize East Berlin as the GDR's capital, nor

576-535: Was used in East Berlin (along with the rest of the former GDR) also contrasts markedly with the urban development styles employed in the former West Berlin. Additionally, the former East Berlin (along with the rest of the former GDR) retains a small number of its GDR-era street and place names commemorating German socialist heroes, such as Karl-Marx-Allee , Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz , and Karl-Liebknecht-Straße . Many such names, however, were deemed inappropriate (for various reasons) and, through decommunization , changed after

#594405