Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
Encyclopedia
The Bamberg Symphony is a German orchestra based in Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...

 and well known for its artistic excellence and frequent international touring. The orchestra was formed in 1946 mainly from German musicians expelled from Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 under the Beneš decrees
Beneš decrees
Decrees of the President of the Republic , more commonly known as the Beneš decrees, were a series of laws that were drafted by the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile in the absence of the Czechoslovak parliament during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in World War II and issued by President...

, who had previously been members of the German Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

. The orchestra received the title of Bayerische Staatsphilharmonie (Bavarian State Philharmonic) in 1993. The orchestra commemorated its 60th anniversary on 16 March 2006.

Since 1993, the home of the orchestra is the Konzert- und Kongresshalle (Concert and Congress Hall), which has the nickname Sinfonie an der Regnitz (Symphony on the Regnitz). Concerts before 1993 were given at the Dominikanerbau. The orchestra receives financial support from the Free State of Bavaria, the city of Bamberg, Oberfranken district and the district of Bamberg. The government of Bavaria retired the orchestra's financial debts in 2003.

Joseph Keilberth
Joseph Keilberth
Joseph Keilberth was a German conductor who specialized in opera.He started his career in the State Theatre of his native city, Karlsruhe. In 1940 he became director of the German Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague. Near the end of World War II he became principal conductor of the Dresden...

 was the orchestra's first principal conductor. Other principal conductors have included Eugen Jochum
Eugen Jochum
Eugen Jochum was an eminent German conductor.Born in Babenhausen, near Augsburg, Germany, Jochum studied the piano and organ in Augsburg until 1922. He then studied conducting in Munich...

, James Loughran
James Loughran
James Loughran CBE, DMus., FRNCM, FRSAMD is a Scottish conductor.-Early life:Educated at St Aloysius' College in Glasgow, Loughran conducted at school and afterwards, while studying economics and law...

 and Horst Stein
Horst Stein
Horst Walter Stein was a German conductor.- Biography :...

, both of whom also held the title of honorary conductor of the orchestra. Since January 2000, Jonathan Nott
Jonathan Nott
Jonathan Nott is an English conductor, the son of a priest at Worcester Cathedral. He was a music student and choral scholar at the University of Cambridge, and also studied singing and flute in Manchester at the Royal Northern College of Music. Nott was also a conducting student in London...

 has been principal conductor of the orchestra. Several years after his 2009 extension of his Bamberg contract to 2012, in August 2011, the orchestra further extended Nott's contract through the 2015-2016 season. Herbert Blomstedt
Herbert Blomstedt
Herbert Blomstedt is a Swedish conductor.Herbert Blomstedt was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and two years after his birth, his Swedish parents moved the family back to their country of origin...

 was named honorary conductor of the orchestra in March 2006. Robin Ticciati
Robin Ticciati
Robin Ticciati is a British conductor of Italian ancestry. His paternal grandfather was a composer and arranger. His father is a barrister, and his mother is a therapist...

 became the orchestra's principal guest conductor in the 2010-2011 season.

The orchestra is associated with the triennial Gustav Mahler Conducting Prize
Gustav Mahler Conducting Prize
The Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition is a music competition for young conductors in Bamberg, Germany.-History:The competition was founded by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, with the idea of helping young conductors during the start of their conducting careers...

, established during Nott's tenure, and the first prize laureate in 2004 was Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist. He is currently the principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony in Gothenburg, Sweden, and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles, California...

. The orchestra has made a number of recordings for Vox Records
Vox Records
VOX Records is a budget classical record label. The name is Latin for "voice."-History:Vox was founded in 1945, starting out with 78-rpm discs, specializing in licensed pressings of classical recordings made in Europe. It was one of the last major recording companies to adopt stereo recording,...

 with János Fürst
János Fürst
János Fürst was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.János Fürst originally studied the violin at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in his native Budapest. After the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, he continued studies at the conservatory in Brussels. He attended the Conservatoire de Paris...

, some of which have been reissued on CD. It also recorded music of Joaquin Turina
Joaquín Turina
Joaquín Turina was a Spanish composer of classical music.-Biography:Turina was born in Seville but his origins were in northern Italy . He studied in Seville as well as in Madrid...

 for RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...

 with conductor Antonio de Almeida
Antonio de Almeida (conductor)
Antonio de Almeida was a French conductor and musicologist of Portuguese-American descent.He was born Antonio Jacques de Almeida in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris....

.

Principal conductors

  • Joseph Keilberth
    Joseph Keilberth
    Joseph Keilberth was a German conductor who specialized in opera.He started his career in the State Theatre of his native city, Karlsruhe. In 1940 he became director of the German Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague. Near the end of World War II he became principal conductor of the Dresden...

     (1949-1968)
  • Eugen Jochum
    Eugen Jochum
    Eugen Jochum was an eminent German conductor.Born in Babenhausen, near Augsburg, Germany, Jochum studied the piano and organ in Augsburg until 1922. He then studied conducting in Munich...

     (1969-1973)
  • James Loughran
    James Loughran
    James Loughran CBE, DMus., FRNCM, FRSAMD is a Scottish conductor.-Early life:Educated at St Aloysius' College in Glasgow, Loughran conducted at school and afterwards, while studying economics and law...

     (1979-1983)
  • Witold Rowicki
    Witold Rowicki
    Witold Rowicki was a Polish conductor. He held principal conducting positions with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.His recordings include:...

     (1983-1985)
  • Horst Stein
    Horst Stein
    Horst Walter Stein was a German conductor.- Biography :...

     (1985-1996)
  • Jonathan Nott
    Jonathan Nott
    Jonathan Nott is an English conductor, the son of a priest at Worcester Cathedral. He was a music student and choral scholar at the University of Cambridge, and also studied singing and flute in Manchester at the Royal Northern College of Music. Nott was also a conducting student in London...

     (2000-present)

World premieres

  • Hans-Jürgen von Bose
    Hans-Jürgen von Bose
    Hans-Jürgen von Bose is a German Composer.-Life:After an unsettled adolescence, Bose entered the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt in 1969, where he received instruction in piano and music theory...

    : Werther-Szenen. Ballett (1989)
  • Moritz Eggert
    Moritz Eggert
    Moritz Eggert is a German composer and pianist.- Life :Moritz Eggert began his studies in piano and composition in 1975 at Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium in Frankfurt , at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München...

    : Adagio – An Answered Question (1996, conductor: Horst Stein
    Horst Stein
    Horst Walter Stein was a German conductor.- Biography :...

    )
  • Gottfried von Einem
    Gottfried von Einem
    Gottfried von Einem was an Austrian composer. He is known chiefly for his operas influenced by the music of Stravinsky and Prokofiev, as well as by jazz. He also composed pieces for piano, violin and organ.-Biography:...

    : Nachtstück (op. 29, 1962, conductor: Joseph Keilberth
    Joseph Keilberth
    Joseph Keilberth was a German conductor who specialized in opera.He started his career in the State Theatre of his native city, Karlsruhe. In 1940 he became director of the German Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague. Near the end of World War II he became principal conductor of the Dresden...

    )
  • York Höller
    York Höller
    York Höller is a German composer and Professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik Köln.-Biography:Between 1963 and 1970 Höller studied at the Cologne Musikhochschule: composition with Joachim Blume and Bernd Alois Zimmermann, piano with Else Schmitz-Gohrand Alfons Kontarsky, and orchestral...

    : Aufbruch (1989, conductor: Hans Zender
    Hans Zender
    Johannes Wolfgang Zender is a German conductor and composer.-Life:From 1956 to 1959 Zender studied piano, conducting, and composition at the Hochschule für Musik Frankfurt and at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg.From 1959 to 1963 he was Kapellmeister of the Municipal Theatres in Freiburg im...

    )
  • Rudolf Kelterborn
    Rudolf Kelterborn
    Rudolf Kelterborn is a Swiss musician and composer.-Life:Kelterborn studied in Basel, Detmold, Salzburg, and Zürich, among other places, with the composers Walther Geiser, Willy Burkhard, Boris Blacher, Günter Bialas, and Wolfgang Fortner...

    : Sinfonie Nr. 4 (1987, conductor: Horst Stein)
  • Horst Lohse: Bamberg Symphony (1986, conductor: Horst Stein); Die vier letzten Dinge (Quasi una Sinfonia da Requiem) (1997, conductor: Aldo Brizzi)
  • Bruno Mantovani
    Bruno Mantovani
    Bruno Mantovani is a French composer. He has been awarded first prizes from the Paris Conservatory which he joined in 1993...

    : Mit Ausdruck (2003, conductor: Jonathan Nott
    Jonathan Nott
    Jonathan Nott is an English conductor, the son of a priest at Worcester Cathedral. He was a music student and choral scholar at the University of Cambridge, and also studied singing and flute in Manchester at the Royal Northern College of Music. Nott was also a conducting student in London...

    ); Time stretch (on Gesualdo) (2006, conductor: Jonathan Nott)
  • Wolfgang Rihm
    Wolfgang Rihm
    Wolfgang Rihm is a German composer.Rihm is Head of the Institute of Modern Music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival...

    : Verwandlung 4 (2008, conductor: Jonathan Nott)
  • Mark-Anthony Turnage
    Mark-Anthony Turnage
    Mark-Anthony Turnage is a prolific English composer of classical music. His initial musical studies were with Oliver Knussen, John Lambert, and later with Gunther Schuller...

    : Juno and The Torino Scale (from: Asteroids for Orchestra) (2007, conductor: Jonathan Nott)
  • Jörg Widmann
    Jörg Widmann
    Jörg Widmann is a German composer and clarinetist. He lives and works in Munich and Freiburg.- Education and career :...

    : Lichtstudie I (2001, conductor: Christoph Poppen
    Christoph Poppen
    Christoph Poppen is a German conductor, violinist and academic teacher.-Professional career:As a violinist, Poppen was awarded first prize in the Kocian Violin Competition age 14...

    ), Lied für Orchester (2003, conductor: Jonathan Nott)

External links

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