“That was the musical highlight of the year.” 

“Under the direction of Thomas Boger, the orchestra offered the audience a varied programme ideally suited to the church setting. The ensemble demonstrated not only the impressive breadth of its repertoire, but above all convinced through the quality of its musical performance, a wide range of expressive means, a high artistic standard, and a sound that effortlessly filled the nave even in the quietest passages.” 

Sulinger Kreiszeitung 

“A delight in on Bänkelsängern and Artie Shaw” 

“A sensational, outstanding concert of symphonic wind music was presented by the Lower Saxony Police Orchestra under the inspiring direction of Thomas Boger. One of the absolute highlights was Artie Shaw’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, written by the American jazz clarinettist, arranger, composer, bandleader and author. Yoshitaka Sumita performed the solo jazz part with virtuosic elegance and refined tone, while the Police Orchestra accompanied him with great assurance through the rhythmically demanding passages under Thomas Boger’s accomplished direction.” 

Peiner Zeitung 

“Powerful Sound with Sculpted Contours”

“Johann Sebastian Bach’s Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582, is already a work of great power in its original organ version. Thomas Boger arranged it for his orchestra, giving the music not only impressive sonic force but also clearly sculpted contours, as themes and motifs pass through the various orchestral sections in a kind of antiphonal interplay. In this interpretation, Bach’s work acquires an immense richness of colour and a lush, romantic expressiveness.” “Following a highly charged introduction, the musicians gave Edvard Grieg’s Norwegian Dance No. 4 exuberant wildness and, in the central section, a sense of natural poetry through the flutes and clarinets. In John Barnes Chance’s Variations on a Korean Folk Song, the Police Orchestra once again impressed with purity of tone, orchestral virtuosity, and the brilliance of its solo passages.”

…Nach einer spannungsgeladenen Introduktion gaben die Musiker dem „Norwegischen Tanz“ Nr. IV von Edvard Grieg ausgelassene Wildheit und – im Mittelteil – naturhafte Poesie von Flöten und Klarinetten. Auch in den „Variationen über ein koreanisches Volkslied“ von John Barnes Chance wusste das Polizeiorchester mit Klangfeinheit und Orchestervirtuosität und immer wieder auch mit der Virtuosität der Solopartien zu glänzen.

Delmenhorster Kurier

“A Sensitive Dialogue among the Winds”

“The acoustics of St. Trinitatis Church and the sound of the Lower Saxony Police Orchestra seem made for one another. This was already evident in the opening work, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, arranged for winds. In the fugue, the players demonstrated remarkable polyphonic transparency. Flutes, oboes and clarinets engaged in a sensitive dialogue with the brass, before the popular work concluded in a powerful tutti. The Peer Gynt Suite likewise offered striking contrasts of light and shade, delicate moments and almost brutal accumulations of sound. Conductor Thomas Boger consistently maintained the balance between the orchestral sections, allowing ‘Morning Mood’ to unfold like a tender Nordic dawn that gradually grew, through the dynamic expansion of the full orchestra, into the radiant beauty of a fresh natural landscape. After the mystical, solemn effects of ‘The Death of Åse’ and the graceful rhythm of ‘Anitra’s Dance’, the orchestra’s full force finally broke over the audience, supported by the virtuosity of the percussion section.”

Celler Zeitung 

“A Guarantee of Musical Quality”

“With an exceptional programme, the Lower Saxony Police Orchestra under the direction of Thomas Boger once again proved why it is so highly regarded in the town of Lessing. St. Trinitatis Church once more provided an ideal setting for the powerfully performing ensemble. Without the otherwise disruptive reverberation, the vast masses of sound were able to unfold throughout the sacred space, while even the quiet passages retained their intimacy.” “Composers such as Thiemo Kraas have woven this quality into their music. He calls his tone painting ‘Imagasy’, a coined word combining ‘imagination’ and ‘fantasy’. The musicians carried their audience into a dream world filled with shimmering colours of sound. The percussion pulses with a muted rhythm, the orchestra spreads into broad textures, searches for its theme, and then a hymn-like melody rises with fervour before ultimately expanding into tremendous climaxes.” “Boger resists the understandable temptation to impress his audience with sheer sonic force. Instead, he repeatedly creates atmospheric moments, as in the ‘Angel Trio’ from Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Above a spiritually charged soundscape shaped with great effect by trombones and trumpets, flutes and clarinets unite in an enchanting song-like line reminiscent of the human voice.”

Braunschweiger Zeitung 

“Police Orchestra in Symbiosis with Rainbirds and Planet Emily: Festival of Generations Gets Aegi Moving” 

“The second edition fully achieved its purpose. Older, middle-aged and younger audience members enjoyed it just as much as the artists on stage. Under the direction of Thomas Boger, the Police Orchestra impressed with sophisticated jazz arrangements as well as with an appropriately amplified performance of John Miles’ bombastic pop anthem ‘Music’. Boger consistently brought the abilities of his soloists to the fore. Together with the bands, the orchestra formed a compelling symbiosis. Singer Katharina Franck remarked that she had performed countless versions of the Rainbirds hit ‘Blueprint’, but that the version with the Police Orchestra was ‘the crowning achievement of them all’.” 

Neue Presse Hannover

“Under Thomas Boger’s energetic direction, the wind players delivered outstanding performances in both ‘The Hobbit’ movement from Johan de Meij’s Lord of the Rings Symphony and the brilliantly sweeping ‘Dance of the Hours’ from Amilcare Ponchielli’s opera La Gioconda.” “For the James Bond medley, Boger was able to draw on more than one secret weapon worthy of Her Majesty’s most famous agent. His superbly staffed orchestra includes more than one prizewinner from the ‘Jugend musiziert’ competition.”

Neue Westfälische Gütersloh

Through his professionalism on the podium, Thomas Boger inspired the orchestra to create vivid, colourful sonorities and dynamic interplay between woodwinds and brass.

Die Glocke Gütersloh