The Vienna Chamber Orchestra (Wiener Kammer Orchester, or WKO) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n chamber orchestra based at the

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Konzerthaus.

History

The WKO was founded in 1946, and its first artistic directors were Franz Litschauer, Heinrich Hollreiser, Paul Angerer, and Carlo Zecchi. When he took over the position from 1976 to 1991,

Philippe Entremont Philippe Entremont (born 7 June 1934) is a French classical pianist and conductor. His recordings as a pianist include concertos by Tchaikovsky, Maurice Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saëns and others. Early life Philippe Entremont was born in ...

started a tradition of conductors playing a dual rôle, appearing as both conductor and soloist. Entremont has continued as the Orchestra's lifetime honorary conductor, leading it on tour and in its

matinée In the performing arts, film exhibition, and other forms of entertainment, a matinée is a performance or exhibition in the afternoon (or occasionally earlier), as distinguished from the evening Evening is the period of a day that starts at t ...

subscription series at the Konzerthaus. In addition, the WKO has continued to invite dual-role artists, including

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...

, Heinz Holliger,

Heinrich Schiff Heinrich Schiff (18 November 1951 – 23 December 2016) was an Austrian cellist and conductor. Early life Heinrich Schiff was born on 18 November 1951 in Gmunden, Austria. His parents, Helga (née Riemann) and Helmut Schiff, were composers. H ...

, and Ola Rudner.

was chief conductor of the WKO from 2005 to 2008, when he stepped down from the post for health reasons. Stefan Vladar was the most recent chief conductor of the WKO, from 2008 to 2018. Since 2018, the WKO's principal guest conductor is Joji Hattori. The commercial recordings of the WKO include the first complete recording of the symphonies of Joseph Haydn, conducted by Ernst Märzendorfer. This set received a very limited release and was little known at the time.

Chief conductors

* Franz Litschauer * Heinrich Hollreiser * Paul Angerer (1956–1963) * Carlo Zecchi (1966–1976) *

(1976–1991) * Ernst Kovacic (artistic leader, 1996–1998) * Christoph Eberle (1999–2004) *

(2005–2008) * Stefan Vladar (2008–2018)

References

External links

Official home page of the Wiener Kammerorchester

— Bach Cantatas Website

History

Chief conductors

References

External links

See also