Berlin Phil biz chief becomes Berlin Symphony conductor
mainThe Berliner Symphoniker, which has been without a chief conductor since Lior Shambadal stepped down in 2019, has appointed a local successor.
He is Hansjörg Schellenberger, 73, former principal oboist of the Berlin Philharmonic and half of the Schelli-Gelli player duo that brokered at huge Sony recording deal in the rampant 1990s.
That’s quite a homecoming.
Good for him and for the orchestra. In his prime he was the best oboist in the world. That’s a good re-start for everyone concerned.
I never heard of a “Schelli-Gelli duo” before, and Google was not helpful. Can anyone explain?
I’m not sure and I’ve never heard of the name ” Schelli-Gelli ” but I think it’s probably the duo with Ms. Margit-Anne Süß(harp)(“süß” means “sweet” in English…so, gelli sweet? just my imagination). They played together in Tokyo at least in 2009 and I heard they were a couple.
Bernd Gellermann, violin…
In addition to his work as principal oboist of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Hansjörg Schellenberger managed the orchestra’s business in the area of phonographic and television productions from 1983 to 1997.
His “partner” was the violinist Bernd Gellermann, who from 1983 – 1995 was managing director of the Berliner Philharmoniker GbR, which represented the media rights of the members of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Following his membership of the Berlin Philharmonic, Gellermann became artistic director (Intendant) of the Munich Philharmonic from 1997 – 2004, and from 2006 – 2009 he was artistic director (Künstlerischer Leiter) of the Richard-Strauss-Tage in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Better the eighth orchestra of Berlin than none at all.
Eighth by what measure or in whose estimation?
Staatskapelle
BPO
Konzerthausorchester
RSB
DSO
DOB
KOB
and then…
[Repeats question]
mein Gott, keep up!
https://www.berlin.de/sen/kultur/en/funding/cultural-institutions/orchestras/
Thanks, I’d found that page (which lists nine Berlin orchestras, incidentally; you might also be interested in this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_symphony_orchestras_in_Europe, which gives eight, if I have correctly identified the Berlin ones among those in Germany). Apologies for the terseness of my last reply, but I am still wondering who ranks them in the order you gave, and on what criteria. If it is based on just your opinion, it would be good to know.
Well, his greatest claim to fame was (and will always be) as BPO principal oboe (him and Lothar Koch, quite a tandem). He retired when still pretty young and fit. I don’t think he ever left Berlin so probably not that big a homecoming.
What a succession of fine solo oboists the Berlin Philharmonic had: Schellenberger, Karl Steins, and I think Helmut Koch.
I think Macro has it right: it’s Lothar Koch, not Helmut as I wrote.