Duisburger Philharmoniker (until 2001 Duisburg Symphony Orchestra or Duisburger Sinfoniker) is the city orchestra of the city of Duisburg and one of two orchestras of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein . It was founded in 1877 under the name "New Municipal Chapel" and under the direction of Hermann Brandt in Duisburg.

History : Walter Josephson , Music Director from 1899 to 1920, set the first major accents with the German premiere of Anton Bruckner's Ninth Symphony. Famous personalities such as Richard Strauss , Paul Hindemith , Carl Schuricht , Max Reger , Hans Pfitzner , Aram Chatschaturjan and Bruno Walter led the orchestra as guest conductor. The heyday of the orchestra was the 1920s . Under the direction of the music director Paul Scheinpflug (1920-1928) and the director Saladin Schmitt , the orchestra celebrated music festivals and there were numerous premieres and premieres . From 1930 to 1932 General Music Director Eugen Jochum took over the direction of the Duisburg Philharmonic. He was replaced by General Music Director Otto Volkmann in 1933. He accompanied the orchestra in difficult times during the war until the year 1944. In the post-war period, the construction work was done by Georg Ludwig Jochum (1948-1970). This was followed by Walter Weller (1971), Miltiades Caridis (1975-1981), Lawrence Foster (1982-1987), Alexander Lazarev (1988-1993) and Bruno Weil (1994-2002). At the beginning of the 2002/2003 season, the Briton Jonathan Darlington began his work as general music director and conductor of the symphony orchestra. At the end of the season 2010/2011 Darlington gave this post again. Successor as general music director is from the season 2012/2013 to 2016/2017 Giordano Bellincampi . Axel Kober , the longtime GMD the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, takes over the position of the principal conductor for the next two seasons (2017/2018 and 2018/2019). Since 2006 the musicologist Alfred Wendel has been director of the orchestra. Venues : Their main venue was in the Duisburg Mercatorhalle until the preparations for the demolition of the hall in 2003. Since then, the concerts have been held at the Duisburg Theater am Marientor . In April 2007, the new Mercatorhalle in the City Palacecompleted; Since then it has served as the new residence for the Duisburg Philharmonic. In August 2012, the Mercatorhalle was closed due to massive fire safety problems. From the beginning of the 2012/2013 season until the end of the 2015/2016 season, the Duisburg Philharmonic once again played at the Theater am Marientor. After extensive renovation work and resolution of the fire protection problems, the Duisburg Philharmonic has been welcoming its visitors to the Mercatorhalle since September 2016. Another venue is the Theater Duisburg, where the orchestra performs as an opera orchestra of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein . In addition, the orchestra occurs in other places, such. In the Haniel Academy , the Concert Theater Coesfeld , the Rheinhausen Hall and the Lehmbruck Museum .