Ressort Presse

• by Arne Rensing | 26 January 2026

It was to be dazzling, overwhelming and unforgettable. And so it was. With their premiere at a new venue – the Duisburg-Essen University Orchestra performed at the Mercatorhalle in Duisburg for the first time – the musicians, conducted by Oliver Leo Schmidt, made a resounding success of their performance on 25 January.

The festive concert of the University of Duisburg-Essen regularly marks the start of a new year for the university, and not only in musical terms. A year in which the UDE, as Rector Prof. Dr. Barbara Albert emphasised in her welcome address, will continue to strongly advocate for education and (academic) freedom and uphold the value of democracy and peace in society.

In doing so, the university sees itself as well embedded in a strong network of friends and supporters in the immediate neighbourhood and far beyond. Among the nearly 1,200 guests, the Rector welcomed numerous representatives from cities in the region, from the political sphere – from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to the European Union – from ministries, foundations, support associations and neighbouring universities. The University Alliance Ruhr was also prominently represented, whose guiding principle, ‘Better together,’ according to Barbara Albert, will continue to be pursued with verve in 2026.

Under the title ‘Es tanzt’ (It dances), the university orchestra spanned a musical arc of around 130 years at the home of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra with works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Claude Debussy and Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff. ‘Highly diverse music, whose similarities are not always obvious,’ said Professor Emeritus Dr Eberhard Passarge in his introduction to the programme. The orchestra later dedicated the encore to him and his decades of commitment: the ‘Bacchanale’ from the opera Samson and Delilah by Camille Saint-Saëns, which earned a standing ovation in the sold-out hall after a rousing and moving concert. The university's music director recently celebrated his 90th birthday.

The programme focused on Debussy's Marche écossaise and Beethoven's Triple Concerto for Orchestra, Piano, Violin and Violoncello – works full of unusual choices: while Debussy develops astonishing lightness instead of strict order in the Scottish March, Beethoven's music deliberately defies the expectations of a classical solo concerto. It was magnificently interpreted by the Davidoff Trio, one of the most interesting up-and-coming piano trios on the European chamber music scene. The finale was Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, the composer's last orchestral work: an introspective summary of his oeuvre, with which the musicians of the UDE set an exclamation mark of great emotions and orchestral colours with dramatic force.

Impressions of the evening:
https://www.uni-due.de/aktuell/2026-01-28-bilderstrecke-festkonzert-2026

More about orchestra and programme:
https://uniorchester-duisburg-essen.de

(Image: UDE/eventfotograf.in)