For many years, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) has held an internationally recognised position in the front ranks of German radio orchestras and Berlin’s top orchestras. In autumn 2017, Vladimir Jurowski took over the role of chief conductor and artistic director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. At his side, Karina Canellakis has been acting as Principal Guest Conductor since 2019.
The history of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin goes back to the first musical hour of the German radio in October 1923. The former principal conductors, including Sergiu Celibidache, Eugen Jochum, Hermann Abendroth, Rolf Kleinert, Heinz Rögner, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and Marek Janowski, in tum shaped an ensemble that has endured the vicissitudes of German history in the 20th century in a unique way.
The RSB has become a top address for outstanding young conductors on the international music scene: Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Vasily Petrenko, Jakub Hrusa, Alain Altinoglu, Omer Meir Wellber, Lahav Shani, and Nicholas Carter. Many of them have made their respective Berlin debuts with the RSB and have been returning as regular guests.
Since 1923, important contemporary composers have appeared on the podium of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, or have performed their own works as soloists: Paul Hindemith, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Sergei Prokofiev, Richard Strauss, Arnold Schónberg, Igor Stravinsky, Vladimir Vogel, Kurt Weill and Alexander Zemlinsky, and more recently, Krzysztof Penderecki, Peter Maxwell Davies, Friedrich Goldmann, Berthold Goldschmidt, Siegfried Matthus, Matthias Pintscher, Peter Ruzicka, Heinz Holliger, Jorg Widmann, Thomas Adós and Brett Dean. The post for Composer in Residence at the RSB were occupied in recent years by Brett Dean and MarKo Nikodijević.
All of the RSB’s symphony concerts are broadcast on radio thanks to its close ties to Deutschlandfunk and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb). The cooperation with Deutschlandradio continues to yield fruitful results on disc. Three recordings under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski have opened a new chapter in production since 2015. For over 50 years, the RSB has been giving regular guest performances in Japan and Korea as well as at German and European festivals and in musical centres worldwide.
