Video: Celebrating 90 Years of the Ford Symphonic Orchestra

COLOGNE, Germany – If you like classical music, you’ll love this video featuring the Ford Symphonic Orchestra in concert at the Philharmonic Hall in Cologne.

Make sure to watch the video to meet the passionate musicians – all Ford employees – who are united by a shared love of performing. Their repertoire is diverse and demanding, spanning symphonies, operas, operettas, contemporary works, and film music.

Professional musical director Steffen Müller-Gabriel has been conducting the orchestra since 2013. He explains: “If you’re playing in an orchestra and you see what your voice does with the other voices, it’s a great feeling of togetherness.”

Ludger Petermeyer, chair of the Orchestra and French Horn player, told @Ford: “Oh, it’s all about teamwork. Everybody has its duties. Everybody has its part to play.”

This year the Ford Symphonic Orchestra celebrates its 90^th anniversary. It performs two concerts every year at the Philharmonic Hall in Cologne in front of an audience of around 2,000 people.

Steffen adds: “While our journey began in 1936 with just 15 Ford employees, today we are open to all passionate musicians and are proud to count around 75 active members in our ranks."

If you like the video, let us know in the comments section below.

Ford Symphonic Orchestra Timeline

• 1936 – The Birth of the Orchestra: Two music-loving Ford employees and school friends (Jakob Breuer and Karl Fey) cross paths by chance at the Cologne plant. The idea to set up their own ensemble with other music-playing Ford colleagues quickly grows. Fifteen music-loving friends gather for the first rehearsal and found the company ensemble. Their repertoire includes entertainment and salon music, waltzes, potpourris, and Christmas carols, primarily performed at internal company events.
• 1945 – A New Beginning: After the war, the orchestra quickly grows to over 40 members. The recipe for success: Ford specifically recruits former professional musicians as well – a combination that harmonizes perfectly.
• From the 1950s – Professionalization & A New Name: The first professional conductors take the podium. The ensemble opens its doors to external musicians and officially renames itself the "Ford Symphony Orchestra."
• 1987 – Leap to the Big Stage: The orchestra debuts with Joseph Haydn's The Creation in front of an audience of over 2,000 at the newly opened Cologne Philharmonic Hall (Kölner Philharmonie). To this day, the Philharmonic Hall remains the permanent home for their two major annual concerts.
• 2013 – Under New Direction: Steffen Müller-Gabriel, First Kapellmeister at the Theater Hagen, takes over as the conductor of the orchestra.