The Bavarian State Orchestra.
Over 500 years of the Bavarian State Orchestra
The Bavarian State Orchestra can look back on a history of over 500 years, making it one of the oldest and most traditional ensembles in the world. Based in the Bavarian State Opera, the orchestra performs both in the orchestra pit and on the concert platform. In 2024, the orchestra was voted Orchestra of the Year for the tenth time in a row (and twelfth overall) in the critics' survey conducted by Opernwelt magazine, and in the previous year 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.
The Bavarian State Orchestra emerged from the Munich Court Orchestra, whose origins can be traced back to 1523. The ensemble's first famous conductor was Orlando di Lasso from 1563 onwards. While church music was initially the focus of artistic activity, more and more secular concerts and opera performances were added over the course of the 17th century. In the middle of the 18th century, regular opera performances began, which remain an essential task of the orchestra to this day. The premieres of Mozart's La finta giardiniera (1775) and Idomeneo (1781) soon became the first highlights.
In 1811, members of the court orchestra founded the Musikalische Akademie e.V. association, which launched Munich's first public concert series with the Academy Concerts and subsequently presented artists such as Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Edvard Grieg to Munich audiences. To this day, the Musikalische Akademie and its activities continue to shape the musical life of Munich and the Free State of Bavaria. In addition to the symphonic concerts in the National Theatre and various chamber music series, the association also supports the ATTACCA Youth Orchestra and the Hermann-Levi-Academy, which are dedicated to supporting and training instrumentalists at the beginning of their careers. As part of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester Konzert GmbH, the Musikalische Akademie also organizes and is responsible for its own orchestral tours and symphonic guest performances. These regularly take the orchestra to international music capitals such as Berlin, Vienna, Milan, Lucerne, Paris, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei and New York. There was also a big trip in the anniversary year - in September 2023, the Bavarian State Orchestra performed a total of eleven concerts in nine cities and seven countries: Merano, Lucerne, Hamburg, Berlin, Bucharest, London, Paris, Linz and Vienna.
Among the great composers with whom the orchestra was associated, Richard Wagner stands out. In 1865, Hans von Bülow conducted the world premiere of Tristan und Isolde at the Nationaltheater. Three of Wagner's other operas also premiered in Munich: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868), Das Rheingold (1869) and Die Walküre (1870). Many of the most important musical personalities of their time served as chief conductors of the orchestra: 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 had a close relationship with Carlos Kleiber. Vladimir Jurowski took over as Bavarian General Music Director of the Bavarian State Orchestra in the 2021/22 season.
In 1811, members of the court orchestra founded the Musikalische Akademie e.V. association, which launched Munich's first public concert series with the Academy Concerts and subsequently presented artists such as Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Edvard Grieg to Munich audiences. To this day, the Musikalische Akademie and its activities continue to shape the musical life of Munich and the Free State of Bavaria. In addition to the symphonic concerts in the National Theatre and various chamber music series, the association also supports the ATTACCA Youth Orchestra and the Hermann-Levi-Academy, which are dedicated to supporting and training instrumentalists at the beginning of their careers. As part of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester Konzert GmbH, the Musikalische Akademie also organizes and is responsible for its own orchestral tours and symphonic guest performances. These regularly take the orchestra to international music capitals such as Berlin, Vienna, Milan, Lucerne, Paris, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei and New York. There was also a big trip in the anniversary year - in September 2023, the Bavarian State Orchestra performed a total of eleven concerts in nine cities and seven countries: Merano, Lucerne, Hamburg, Berlin, Bucharest, London, Paris, Linz and Vienna.
Among the great composers with whom the orchestra was associated, Richard Wagner stands out. In 1865, Hans von Bülow conducted the world premiere of Tristan und Isolde at the Nationaltheater. Three of Wagner's other operas also premiered in Munich: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868), Das Rheingold (1869) and Die Walküre (1870). Many of the most important musical personalities of their time served as chief conductors of the orchestra: 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 had a close relationship with Carlos Kleiber. Vladimir Jurowski took over as Bavarian General Music Director of the Bavarian State Orchestra in the 2021/22 season.
The Bavarian State Opera Children's Choir, with around 90 girls and boys of various nationalities aged between 7 and 18, offers a wide-ranging opera and concert repertoire, which it demonstrates in many productions at the Bavarian State Opera. In the 2024/25 season, for example, he appeared on the stage of the Nationaltheater in performances of Il trittico and Das schlaue Füchslein and also took part in the new production of Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci. In 2023/24, he not only sang in the repertoire performances of Die tote Stadt, but was also involved in the new productions of Pique Dame and Tosca. In October 2012, the children's choir sang at a ceremony at the Bavarian State Opera to mark the Day of German Unity. In February 2013, it sang at a reception for the Federal President Joachim Gauck in the State Chancellery at the invitation of the Bavarian Minister President Horst Seehofer. The children's choir regularly sings at the Advent benefit concert, in 2014 together with Jonas Kaufmann and under the direction of Zubin Mehta and in 2018 under the direction of Kirill Petrenko.
Vladimir Jurowski, born in Moscow, began his musical training at the Moscow Conservatory and continued it at the conservatories in Berlin and Dresden. He made his international debut at the Wexford Festival in 1995. Since then, he has conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Opéra national de Paris, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, the Semperoper in Dresden and the Salzburg Festival, among others. He was Music Director of the Glyndebourne Festival from 2001 to 2013 and Chief Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 2007 to 2021. He has also been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) since 2017. He is also Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and was Artistic Director of the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra until 2021. He has made guest appearances with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, among others. He has been General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera since 2021/22. In 2024 he was appointed Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by His Majesty King Charles III.
Diana Damrau studied singing at the Würzburg University of Music. She regularly performs at venues such as the Berlin State Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, the Semperoper in Dresden, the Zurich Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Opéra national de Paris, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as well as at the Salzburg Festival. In 2007, she was named a Bavarian Kammersängerin and received the Federal Cross of Merit and the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art. Her repertoire includes roles such as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Contessa di Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Amina (La sonnambula), Gilda (Rigoletto), Elvira (I puritani) and Leïla (Les Pêcheurs de perles), as well as the title roles in Maria Stuarda, Anna Bolena, Roméo et Juliette, La fille du régiment, and Lucia di Lammermoor. She was the first singer in the history of the Metropolitan Opera to sing Pamina and the Queen of the Night in different performances of the same production. Since her debut at the Bavarian State Opera in 1999/2000 as Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), she has sung the Queen of the Night, Marzelline (Fidelio), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Gilda (Rigoletto), Susanna and Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Countess (Capriccio) and gave several recitals. In 2023/24 she made her role debut here as Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), and in 2024/25 she appeared as the Field Marshal (Der Rosenkavalier).
Jonas Kaufmann was born in Munich and studied singing at the local University of Music. After engagements in Saarbrücken, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Milan, he joined the Zurich Opera House in 2001. This was followed by appearances at the Vienna State Opera, the Deutsche Oper and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Opéra national de Paris, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London and the Salzburg and Bayreuth Festivals, among others. He is a Bavarian and Austrian Kammersänger and was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit in 2016. In 2018, he was honoured with the Bavarian Maximilian Order and appointed Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, followed by admission to the Ordre de la Légion d'honneur in 2024. His awards also include the Bambi in the classical music category and the Premio Puccini. Since 2024, he has been artistic director of the Tyrolean Festival Erl. At the Bavarian State Opera, he has sung roles such as Manrico (Il trovatore), Des Grieux (Manon Lescaut), Florestan (Fidelio), Siegmund (Die Walküre), Walther von Stolzing (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Paul (Die tote Stadt), Dick Johnson (La fanciulla del West), Radamès (Aida), Mario Cavaradossi (Tosca) and the title roles in Lohengrin, Andrea Chénier, Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal and Peter Grimes. In 2024/25, he will sing Canio in the new production of Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci and will also give a festival recital at the Munich Opera Festival in 2025.
José Carreras was born in Barcelona and studied music in his hometown. In 1970, he began his professional career at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona as Ismaele in Nabucco and as Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia. This was followed by countless performances on the world's major opera stages. He has played the leading roles in several opera films for television, cinema, and video. In addition to his opera activities, he has given concerts in the world's most famous concert halls. His extensive concert repertoire includes over 600 titles in a wide variety of styles, from baroque to contemporary music. He has received numerous prizes and awards, including a Grammy, a Brit Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, a Crystal Award, and the Golden Ring of the Vienna State Opera. Always connected to his hometown of Barcelona, he was hired as musical director for the Olympic Games there in 1992. The concerts of the “Three Tenors,” which he gave together with his colleagues Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti—the first two in 1990 and 1994 under the musical direction of Zubin Mehta—are still legendary today. Since 1995, he has been passionately committed to running the José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation in Barcelona and the José Carreras Leukemia Foundation in Germany, which are currently among his top priorities. He made his debut at the Bavarian State Opera in 1974 as Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca. Since then, he has sung many other performances here, in this role as well as Rodolfo (La bohème), Gustavo III (Un ballo in maschera), and in the title roles of Don Carlos and Werther.
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