Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra Enters Major Partnership with Michael Otto Foundation
By David Salazar(Credti: Maximilian Probst)
The Michael Otto Foundation and the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra have entered a three year partnership marking the orchestra’s 200th anniversary, with the foundation committing a total of one million euros to support the ensemble’s artistic development.
The funding will span the 2026-27 through 2028-29 seasons and will support preparation and realization of the orchestra’s anniversary celebrations. The partnership will be publicly launched with the First Philharmonic Concert, titled “ZeitenLos,” on August 30 and 31 at the Elbphilharmonie’s Grand Hall.
“Our first meeting was entirely by chance. We happened to be seated next to each other at a dinner. That coincidence immediately led to long conversations about culture, history, and vision,” said Michael Otto and Omer Meir Wellber in a joint statement, per an official press release. “This partnership is a powerful expression of Hamburg’s long tradition of active civic participation in the cultural life and artistic development of the city.”
The new season, themed “ZeitenLos,” will also mark the bicentennial of Ludwig van Beethoven’s death in 2027 under general music director Omer Meir Wellber, who has led the orchestra and Hamburg State Opera since the 2025-26 season. Wellber’s cycle will reconceive the 37 movements of Beethoven’s nine symphonies into newly connected musical sequences across 10 Philharmonic concerts.
The opening program will feature selections from Beethoven’s Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh symphonies alongside Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s symphonic poem “Fatum” and Fazıl Say’s piano concerto “Silence of Anatolia,” performed by the composer as soloist. The season will additionally include a second edition of “The Blue Week” and further anniversary concerts.
The Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra traces its origins to the Philharmonic Society, founded in 1828, and has served as resident orchestra of Hamburg State Opera and orchestra of the Philharmonic Concert Series for nearly two centuries.
The Michael Otto Foundation, which safeguards the Otto family’s majority shareholding in the Otto Group, supports selected charitable initiatives alongside its core mission of securing Hamburg as a business location. Michael Otto led the Otto Group as chief executive from 1981 until October 2007 and has since founded several philanthropic organizations, including the Michael Otto Foundation for Environmental Protection and the Aid by Trade Foundation, which launched the Cotton Made in Africa initiative.
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