The SWR Symphonieorchester (Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra) is a

radio orchestra A radio orchestra (or broadcast orchestra) is an orchestra employed by a radio network (and sometimes television networks) in order to provide programming as well as sometimes perform incidental or theme music for various shows on the network. In ...

affiliated with the ''

Südwestrundfunk Südwestrundfunk (SWR; ''Southwest Broadcasting'') is a regional public broadcasting corporation serving the southwest of Germany , specifically the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The corporation has main offices ...

'' (Southwest German Radio) public broadcasting network. Formed in 2016, the orchestra is administratively based in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. The artistic director of the orchestra is Johannes Bultmann, and the current managing director is Felix Fischer. The orchestra's chief conductor is

Teodor Currentzis Teodor Currentzis ( el, Θεόδωρος Κουρεντζής ; born 24 February 1972) is a Greek-Russian conductor, musician and actor. Biography Currentzis was born in Athens, and at age 4 began to take piano lessons. At age 7, he began vio ...

Venues

The SWR Symphonieorchester gives concerts in several German cities and concert halls. Its principal cities and concert venues are as follows: *

(Liederhalle; Theaterhaus; Wilhelmatheater) *

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...

(Konzerthaus, E-Werk) *

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

(Rosengarten) The orchestra also performs in other German cities and venues, including the following: *

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

(Konzerthaus; Hochschule fur Gestaltung) *

Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

(Congress Centrum) *

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

(Konzerthaus) *

Donaueschingen Donaueschingen (; Low Alemannic: ''Eschinge'') is a German town in the Black Forest in the southwest of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar '' Kreis''. It stands near the confluence of the two sources of the river Da ...

(Baarsporthalle)

History

The two precursor ensembles to the SWR Symphonieorchester were the

Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra The Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (German: ''Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR'') was a German radio orchestra based in Stuttgart in Germany. History The ensemble was founded in 1945 by American occupation authorities as the orchest ...

and the

Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra The Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra (also known in English as the SWR Baden-Baden Freiburg Symphony Orchestra and in German as the Sinfonieorchester des Südwestrundfunks) was a German radio orchestra located in the German cities of Bad ...

, the latter based in Baden-Baden and Freiburg. The Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra, in particular, had a specific reputation for its performances of contemporary music. In June 2012, the SWR Broadcasting Council voted to approve a measure proposed by SWR ''Intendant'' Peter Boudgoust to merge the two orchestras, for ostensible reasons of budgetary limitations for two separate orchestras affiliated with the SWR. The SWR Broadcasting Council formally passed the measure in September 2012, with the merger of the two orchestras scheduled for 2016. The formation of the new orchestra, under the new name of the ''SWR Symphonieorchester'', produced an ensemble in 2016 with a complement of 175 musicians drawn from the two previous orchestras. The eventual goal is to attain a roster of 119 musicians. The new orchestra gave its first concert on 22 September 2016 in Stuttgart at the Liederhalle, under the direction of

Péter Eötvös Péter Eötvös ( hu, Eötvös Péter, ; born 2 January 1944) is a Hungarian composer, conductor and teacher. Eötvös was born in Székelyudvarhely, Transylvania, then part of Hungary, now Romania. He studied composition in Budapest and Colog ...

. The orchestra did not have a chief conductor at the time of its founding.

Sylvain Cambreling Sylvain Cambreling (born 2 July 1948 in Amiens, France) is a French conductor. Biography Trained as a trombone player, Cambreling studied at the Paris Conservatoire. He joined l' Orchestre Symphonique de Lyon (OSL) as a trombonist in 1971. In 19 ...

had been offered the post of chief conductor of the new orchestra, but declined on principle, in protest at the merger of the two precursor orchestras into the new ensemble. In April 2017, the SWR announced the appointment of

as the first chief conductor of the orchestra, effective with the 2018–2019 season. In September 2021, the SWR announced a 3-year extension to Currentzis' contract as chief conductor of the orchestra. Currentzis is scheduled to stand down as the orchestra's chief conductor at the close of the 2024-2025 season. In July 2020,

François-Xavier Roth François-Xavier Paul Roth (born 6 November 1971) is a French conductor, who founded Les Siècles, an orchestra which performs on instruments appropriate to the period of composition of each piece, from the late Baroque and Classical eras to 20t ...

first guest-conducted the orchestra. He returned to the orchestra for a subsequent guest-conducting engagement in June 2021. In September 2022, the SWR announced the appointment of Roth as the orchestra's next chief conductor, effective with the 2025-2026 season, with an initial contract of 5 years.

Chief conductors

(2018–present)

References

External links

Official website of the SWR Symphonieorchester

{{authority control Südwestrundfunk Musical groups established in 2016 Musical groups from Stuttgart German symphony orchestras Radio and television orchestras 2016 establishments in Germany