About the Concert

Duration: approx. 1 hr 30 mins without intermission

On 28 April 2017, the time had come; after five years of construction and a comprehensive renovation, the Kulturpalast was reopened with a festive concert. The special thing was that while almost everything on the outside remained as it was at the opening of the building in 1969, a completely new concert hall had been created inside - with its excellent acoustics, warm colours, and vineyard-like construction, it was a stroke of luck for Dresden and the entire music world. We celebrate the tenth anniversary of the new hall in the resurrected Kulturpalast with a completely new work by the Scot Sir James MacMillan. By now, he is no stranger as Composer in Residence in Dresden, and in the international music world, his works have had an excellent reputation for decades. His compatriot and close artistic friend, as well as Chief Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic, Sir Donald Runnicles, will conduct the concert.

The 6th Symphony by Sir James MacMillan is a commissioned work from the Hallé Commissioning Circle for the Hallé Orchestra on the occasion of Sir James MacMillan's appointment as Featured Composer in the 2026/27 season, as well as for the Dresden Philharmonic to celebrate his residency in Dresden in the 2025/26 and 2026/27 seasons and the 10th anniversary of the new concert hall in the Kulturpalast.