Ten years ago, on June 6, 2014, we performed our premiere concert in Lecture Hall 1 at RWTH Aachen. That is why this summer semester was dedicated to celebrating our tenth anniversary!
We opened the anniversary semester as early as February with a chamber concert at St. Adalbert’s Church, during which ensembles from the orchestra performed in various configurations. At the end of March, orchestra rehearsals began under the direction of our conductor Senne La Mela. We had the opportunity to perform his program, assembled around the theme of “Colors,” at three concerts, as in addition to our semester concerts in Aachen, we were invited by the Royal Harmonie of Thorn to perform a joint concert in the Netherlands.
After the opening piece Godspeed! (Stephen Melillo), which had already served as the opening piece at our premiere concert in 2014, came Lux Aurumque (Eric Whitacre), which delights with gentle and warm sounds. In Bert Appermont’s Colors for Trombone, Belgian trombonist Bram Fournier shone as soloist. The second half of the concert opened with the Jubilee Overture (Philip Sparke), before John Mackey’s grand Wine-Dark Sea Symphony, based on the wanderings of Odysseus, brought the colorful program to a close. During our concerts in Aachen, we looked back together with our audience and our host Jan van den Hurk on ten years of rewarding and proud orchestral history. We now look forward with anticipation to what lies ahead — so join us in looking forward to the next ten years and many more concerts!
