Gewandhausorchester Conducts at Teach First Deutschland

Nearing the end of their spring European Tour 2015, the Gewandhausorchester head to Cologne on February 19 for a special event.

Before an evening performance planned at the Kölner Philharmonie, two of the musicians agreed to arrive early to conduct an unconventional music class for over 20 students from the fifth and seventh grades from local junior high schools. The class, arranged by DHL as part of Deutsche Post DHL’s longstanding partnership with the non-profit organization Teach First Deutschland advocating greater educational equity, sees a flutist and cellist from the world-famous orchestra meeting with the young musicians-in-training to give them first-hand insight into the work and the beauty of being a member in an orchestra.

The students are members of the band class at "Dreikönigsgymnasium Köln” and “Joseph-Beuys-Gesamtschule Düsseldorf," schools which, as partners of Teach First Deutschland, have been provided with Fellows, outstanding university graduates from all disciplines who commit for two years to drive change and help children reach their future goals by working in the schools.

"We have been a main supporter of Teach First Deutschland from the very first moment, and I am now particularly pleased that we can combine both our social commitment as well as our logistics support for one of the best performing orchestras worldwide. The meeting of the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and pupils from TFD partner schools in Cologne and Düsseldorf will add to our overall aim to support these kids in their personal development as well as in their schooling," says Christof Ehrhart, Executive Vice President Corporate Communications and Responsibility at Deutsche Post DHL.

“We are very happy that DHL has been a reliable partner for ten years, managing the logistics planning and execution of our concert tours and enabling us to fully focus on our music. We look forward to the tour and cannot wait to bring Mendelssohn, Mahler, Rachmaninoff and Tschaikovsky to the music lovers in Europe,” said the orchestra's director Andreas Schulz. He added, “Social responsibility plays an important role for us and we are excited that we can leverage DPDHL’s partnership with Teach First Deutschland to give back to the community we live in.”

“I’d like to thank Deutsche Post DHL for its lasting and essential commitment to Teach First Deutschland. Our cooperation provides a wonderful opportunity enabling pupils to enjoy extraordinary events like this special music class with the Gewandhausorchester," said Teach First Deutschland’s CEO Ulf Matysiak.

DHL has been the Official Logistics Partner of the Gewandhausorchester since 2005. The partnership includes the logistic planning of the orchestra’s tours, transport of sensitive musical instruments and other essential equipment including music stands, stools, the conductor’s rostrum and wardrobe on concert tours across Europe, Asia and North America. After last year’s U.S. tour, this is the second occasion on which the symphony orchestra, DHL and a partner of the Teach For All network have collaborate to improve educational opportunity and employability of young people.