Neue Philharmonie München
About us
Neue Philharmonie München is a symphony orchestra of music students. Twice a year, young musicians from all over Europe and beyond come together, prepare a major symphonic programme in about ten days and take it to the stage.
Two projects a year
Every project starts with a call for applications. If you would like to play, you apply with an audition video. This is followed by around ten days of rehearsals, both sectionals and tutti. The project ends with several concerts, with up to 100 musicians on stage, depending on the programme.
Many come back: anyone who has taken part in one of the last two projects counts as a member of the orchestra. With every project, the orchestra grows into an ensemble whose players know each other and listen to each other.
Learning from professionals
Fuad Ibrahimov has been chief conductor since 2014, and we also invite guest conductors. The sectionals are led by experienced orchestral musicians, from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian State Orchestra among others, and by teachers from renowned European music universities. For many players, a project is also preparation for auditions and a career in music.
Great halls, long journeys
Neue Philharmonie München performs regularly in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz, the Loisachhalle in Wolfratshausen, the Stadtsaal in Fürstenfeldbruck and the Kultursaal in Sillian (Austria). In 2020 it celebrated its 15th anniversary with three anniversary concerts, and in 2025 it turned 20 with Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony.
Concert tours have taken the orchestra to Italy, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Azerbaijan and China, including Baku, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing.
Run by a non‑profit association
Neue Philharmonie München is run by Musikwerkstatt Jugend e.V., a non‑profit association that brings young people who love music together with experienced teachers and professional musicians. The projects are largely organised by volunteers and funded by donations, supporting members and sponsors.
- founded
- 2005
- projects a year
- 2
- days of rehearsals
- 10
- musicians per project
- up to 100
Chief conductor
Fuad Ibrahimov
Fuad Ibrahimov has been chief conductor of Neue Philharmonie München since November 2014. He is also music director of the Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra and the Baku Chamber Orchestra.
As a guest conductor he has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (London), the Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse, the North Czech Philharmonic, the MDR Symphony Orchestra (Leipzig), the Staatskapelle Halle, the Göttingen and Nuremberg Symphony Orchestras, the Philharmonie Südwestfalen, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Kritisches Orchester® Berlin, whose members play in the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Staatskapelle Dresden. In 2012 he conducted his first opera production as a guest with the Gürzenich Orchestra at Cologne Opera, where he was invited back repeatedly between 2013 and 2015. In June 2011 Fabio Luisi invited him to the Pacific Music Festival in Japan.
Fuad Ibrahimov was born in Shusha, Azerbaijan, in 1982. At just 15 he took up his first position as a violist in the Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra while beginning his viola studies at the music academy there. After graduating, he continued his studies from 2002 at the Cologne University of Music with Prof. Rainer Moog. Following his soloist diploma, he studied conducting with Prof. Michael Luig from 2006 and graduated with top marks in 2011.
During this time he held scholarships from the Friends of Azerbaijani Culture Foundation and the Werner Richard – Dr. Carl Dörken Foundation, and gave concerts in many German cities under the patronage of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation. In 2010 he received the DAAD Prize for outstanding international students. Since childhood he has performed in Germany and abroad as a soloist and as a member of chamber ensembles and orchestras.
Strongly influenced by masterclasses with Mstislav Rostropovich, among others, he focused early in his conducting career on working with highly gifted young musicians. In 2008 he brought the Azerbaijan Youth Philharmonic, a state orchestra founded on his initiative, to the Young Euro Classic festival in Berlin for the first time. In 2010 he led a joint project of German music schools with Venezuela’s El Sistema and worked in Venezuela with, among others, the Sinfónica of the state of Guárico.
He has held the Presidential Scholarship of the Republic of Azerbaijan since 2013, and in March 2017 the President of Azerbaijan awarded him an Order of Merit for his cultural work. In 2018 he won the Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition in Paris.
Play with us
Join the orchestra.
Are you a music student and would like to take part in the next project? Find out how to apply.
