«Camerata Bern’s performances come across with fiery spirit.»
BBC Music Magazine, Februar 2021

CAMERATA BERN combines innovation and quality at the highest possible level. Full of curiosity and joy in playing, the ensemble forges new paths, tests limits, and delights audiences with daring programs.

Founded in 1962 with the goal of performing as a flexible formation without conductor, CAMERATA BERN is today a world-renowned chamber orchestra with 15 members, all outstanding soloists. Patricia Kopatchinskaja has been Artistic Partner of the ensemble since 2018.

CAMERATA BERN plays repertoire stretching from baroque to contemporary, performing standing up and without conductor. The ensemble’s innovative programming combines different periods and styles and ranges from classical concert programs to staged concerts, chamber music projects, and children’s concerts.

With its own concert series in Bern and strong ties to the city, the ensemble also appears regularly at international festivals and at leading concert halls in Switzerland, in Europe, in North and South America, and in Asia. CAMERATA BERN performs with high-profile artists such as Antje Weithaas, Sergio Azzolini, Steven Isserlis, Ilya Gringolts, Anna Prohaska, or Kristian Bezuidenhout. Each season the ensemble selects a composer in residence, in 2022/23 the German composer Jan Dvořák.

Recordings on CD and vinyl have won several international awards, such as the Grand Prix du Disque, the German Record Critics’ Award or the Echo Klassik. The two most recent CD releases, «Time and Eternity» with Patricia Kopatchinskaja and «Plaisirs illuminés» with Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Sol Gabetta and featuring a commissioned piece by Francisco Coll (Composer in Residence 2018/19), were both nominated for a Gramophone Award. «Plaisirs illuminés» was also awarded the BBC Music Magazine Award in 2022.

CAMERATA BERN carries out significant work in music education for children, performing regular school concert tours in the Canton of Bern. Since 2010, in more than 250 concerts, around 18 000 school children have been able to experience music of the highest level in an accessible way in their own classrooms.

The CAMERATA BERN foundation is subsidized by the city of Bern, the Canton of Bern and the regional conference Bern-Mittelland. The foundation receives support from the Burgergemeinde Bern, the Ursula Wirz Foundation as well as other foundations, partners and sponsors.

In the year 2022, CAMERATA BERN celebrates the 60th anniversary of its founding.