Alte Reithalle Aarau: The orchestra on the edge of its seat

"Soon", rejoices the visitor as she catches sight of the Alte Reithalle in Aarau. "Soon" promises orchestral bliss in the new multi-disciplinary venue for music, theater, dance and modern circus. The Argovia Philharmonic will move in here 58 years after it was founded as a resident orchestra - and share the 2,000 square meters of flexibly usable space with the Aarau stage. This location lives from its past as a riding hall for the dragoon regiment of the Aarau army garrison, which the architects Barão-Hutter allude to by leaving the unadorned walls and roof beams as they are. The visitor has already heard a lot of good things about the acoustics designed by Martin Lachmann, so she is all the more eagerly awaiting the opening concert: the first program promises "New Paths" and offers Ludwig van Beethoven's 1st Piano Concerto with Aargau pianist Oliver Schnyder, Johannes Brahms' 1st Symphony and Daniel Schnyder's Argovia. Symphony No. 5 "Pastorale"a composition commissioned by the orchestra, which will be premiered in the Alte Reithalle.

With all this in mind, the visitor heads for the office of the Argovia Philharmonic on. This is the home of the new Artistic Director Simon Müller, who, after an eventful 2020/21 season, is planning the orchestra's artistic future with the Principal Conductor Rune Bergmann designed. The Norwegian made his debut in the middle of the pandemic, in the fall of 2020. After that, nothing worked for a while.

Because it did not want to lose contact with the audience, the Argovia Philharmonic streamed three concerts for the first time during this period - with success. "This addition to normal orchestral operations needs to be well planned in the future," says Simon Müller and mentions what is being considered: streaming concerts in Asia. "Rune Bergmann has a vision: he wants to take the Argovia Philharmonic out into the world because he sees a lot of potential in this orchestra. Marketing will play an important role in this context. But of course we primarily want to position ourselves even more strongly in Switzerland than before," emphasizes the artistic director: "We have also recently become a member of the orchestra association, even though we are a project orchestra." Simon Müller sums it up as follows: "For me, the Argovia Philharmonic is the orchestra on the edge of its seat", meaning: "Unlike symphony orchestras with annual contracts, even Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is not routine for the Argovia Philharmonic."

With the move to the Alte Reithalle, the orchestra now has an acoustically excellent home, where 40 days a year are scheduled for five subscription cycles, plus special events and chamber concerts. In contrast to the symphony concerts with their rectangular auditorium and rising stands, the audience sits on the sides of a small arena for these intimate events. "Once again, it's the overall experience that counts - the immediate proximity to the audience," says Müller. The orchestra also seeks this closeness on its side trips to Beinwil am See, Villmergen, Zofingen, Rheinfelden and Baden.

Baden is the orchestra's second home, so to speak. For 20 years, the Argovia Philharmonic played in the Trafo-Saal - in the vicinity of large cinemas. Now it will move to the Kurtheater, which has become a jewel thanks to a renovation and extension that is as expert as it is sensitive. The theater is not a genuine concert hall, but thanks to the new acoustic shell on the stage, the concert experience should be enjoyable. In any case, previous events by other orchestras in this pretty theater have shown that it is a great place to be: On both sides of the ramp, there is that crackling tension that belongs to a concert. The Argovia Philharmonic has big plans for the 2021/22 season, at the end of which it will release recordings on CD. Which ones? "The four Brahms symphonies that we previously recorded in our concerts," says Simon Müller. The opening concert will be broadcast by Radio SRF2 on December 9.

Then the time has come: the visitor sits in the new concert hall in the Alte Reithalle for the first time. It is separated from the theater by a slate-grey wall, has many rows of stalls and a grandstand that guarantees the best view. But how does the hall sound? Wonderful! As the first bars of Daniel Schnyder's alphorn and orchestra wittily mix many musical styles Argovia-There is no blurring in the reverberation; the sound is warm and has a transparency that has nothing to do with the analytical sharpness of other modern concert halls. Of course, chief conductor Rune Bergmann and the Aargau ensemble will still have to make some adjustments, but the opening shows what is meant by the "orchestra on the edge of its seat". The Argovia Philharmonic takes nothing for granted. That is why it unpacks everything it has always been able to do, but which can now really shine: String brilliance, excellent wind solos and a very unique, attentive listening to each other. It comes as no surprise that Oliver Schnyder is the icing on the cake of the opening. His interpretation of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 on a Bösendorfer literally bounces in the fast, finely balanced outer movements and has an intimacy in the Largo that one would love to preserve. In short: with its debut in the Alte Reithalle Aarau, the Argovia Philharmonic has made an emphatic statement in the Swiss orchestral landscape.