Bayerisches Staatsorchester

The Bayerische Staatsorchester celebrates its five hundredth anniversary this year, making it one of the oldest and most traditional ensembles in the world. The orchestra, which is based at the Bayerische Staatsoper, has 144 members and performs both in the orchestra pit and on the concert podium. In 2022, the orchestra was voted Orchestra of the Year for the eighth time in a row in the Opernwelt magazine critics' poll and was also honoured at the Gramophone Awards in London for its recordings on the Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings label as an opera and symphony orchestra (for Die tote Stadt and The Snow Queen as well as for Mahler's Symphony No. 7) - an unprecedented success in the history of the Gramophone Awards.

In 1811, the members of the then court orchestra founded the Musikalische Akademie e. V. (Musical Academy Association), which established Munich's first public concert series with the Academy Concerts. To this day, the activities of the Musikalische Akademie continue to shape the musical life of Munich and the Free State of Bavaria. The activities in Munich are complemented by numerous guest performances and concert tours that regularly take the orchestra to the world's most important music centres.

The Bayerische Staatsorchester has staged several world premieres, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Idomeneo and Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg as well as Das Rheingold and Die Walküre. Many of the most important musical personalities of their time presided over the orchestra as principal conductors: from Hermann Levi, Richard Strauss, Felix Mottl, Bruno Walter and Hans Knappertsbusch to Sir Georg Solti, Joseph Keilberth, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano and Kirill Petrenko. The orchestra also enjoyed a close relationship with Carlos Kleiber. With the 2021/22 season, Vladimir Jurowski has taken over as Bavarian General Music Director of the Bayerische Staatsorchester.

www.staatsorchester.de

As of June 2023