The Venue
Every year, around 400 concerts take place at the Kölner Philharmonie. We welcome around 650,000 visitors annually.
The hall of the Kölner Philharmonie was modelled on an amphitheatre in order to achieve the best possible acoustics. There are no parallel walls in the entire hall, which prevents unwanted echoes from occurring. The size and upholstery of the seats are designed to ensure that the sound absorption they provide is always constant, regardless of whether someone is sitting on them or not. The column-free interior can accommodate up to 2,000 people.
Looking back
In the 1970s, discussions began in Cologne about urban redevelopment of the area between Cologne Cathedral, the Hohenzollern Bridge and the Rhine. An international architectural competition was launched in 1975 for this area, which had previously served as a bus station. First prize was awarded to the Cologne-based architectural firm Busmann und Haberer. Initially, the plan was to build only a museum complex with a multi-purpose hall for happenings and events.
However, as Cologne did not have a concert hall that met modern requirements, many famous orchestras and soloists planned their tours to bypass Cologne. It was therefore soon decided to build a large concert hall instead of the multi-purpose hall. In 1980, preliminary work on securing the excavation pit began. The special location of the site in the groundwater area of the Rhine and in the immediate vicinity of the railway tracks of Cologne Central Station placed extremely high demands on the construction technology. Work on the shell took almost three years and was completed in October 1983. American red oak was chosen for the interior cladding. The interior work on the concert hall and foyer was completed in 1986.
On 14 September 1986, the Kölner Philharmonie was officially opened with a ceremony under its founding director Franz Xaver Ohnesorg, during which the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne performed works by Robert Schumann and Bernd Alois Zimmermann. Composer Mauricio Kagel gave the opening speech. On the evening of the same day, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne played Gustav Mahler's 8th Symphony again under the baton of Marek Janowski.
From 1983 to 1999, Franz Xaver Ohnesorg was first director and later artistic director of the Kölner Philharmonie. From 1999 until his death in 2004, Albin Hänseroth was his successor as artistic director of the Kölner Philharmonie. From 1 August 2005, Louwrens Langevoort was artistic director of the Kölner Philharmonie and managing director of KölnMusik GmbH.
Ewa Bogusz-Moore is the artistic director of the Kölner Philharmonie since 1 August 2025.