Theatre Nordhausen / Loh-Orchester Sondershausen

Whoever steps through the portico of the Nordhausen theatre and takes a seat on the thick red velvet seats is quickly captivated by the charming historical flair of the stage house. More than 100 years ago - in 1917, in the middle of the First World War - the people of Nordhausen opened their civic theatre, and even after the severe destruction of the building in the Second World War, the inhabitants quickly started to rebuild it. As early as 1949, the red curtain rose again for the first time, and to this day it continues to delight audiences with its varied programme of plays at the highest level. The heart of the theatre is the music: the 50 or so musicians of the Loh Orchestra Sondershausen, one of the oldest orchestras in Germany with a four-hundred-year history, play with great passion. In 1619, the court chapel was founded in the princely palace of Sondershausen, from which the Loh Orchestra emerged. Initially, the musicians played for the noble residents and their guests. In 1805, the then Prince Günther Friedrich Carl I of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen had a good idea that still characterises the ensemble today. The prince organised public concerts on Loh Square in Sondershausen - free of charge for everyone. The Loh Orchestra brought this traditional concert culture with it to the Nordhausen Theatre when the two houses merged in 1991. First-class musical theatre quickly became the flagship of the theatre - with classical and modern operas, operettas, musicals and dance pieces by the theatre's own ballet company and, of course, concerts by the Loh Orchestra.