Meet the Musicians
Das Tastaturglockenspiel

Wolf Michael Storz und Claudio Estay González stellen geben einen historischen Abriss über die Entwicklung vom Carillon über das Tastaturglockenspiel bis hin zur Celesta. Sie bilden damit den Abschluss unseres Instrumenten-Spezials zum Jubiläumsjahr 500 Jahre Bayerisches Staatsorchester.

Ensembles
Monteverdi Continuo Ensemble

The Monteverdi Continuo Ensemble was founded in 1997 on the initiative of conductor Ivor Bolton. The aim was to perform the cycle of operatic works by Claudio Monteverdi in a historical style.

The ensemble has twice won the Munich Opera Festival Prize for this, including the members of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Barbara Burgdorf, Corinna Desch and Christiane Arnold, who have now been performing operas on baroque instruments as soloists for 20 years: La Calisto, L’incoronatione di Poppea, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and L’Orfeo.

In the 500th anniversary year of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester in 2023, Il ritorno / The Year of Magical Thinking was added to the programme, in the always sold-out Cuvilliés Theatre.

The three musicians have also gained an enthusiastic regular audience in annual baroque chamber concerts, including with gambist Friederike Heumann.


Photo credit: Corinna Desch

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 1
https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-1



Photo credit: Alice Bloomfield

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The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-1



Photo credit: Alice Bloomfield

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 2
https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-2



Photo credit: Gage Lindsten

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The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-2



Photo credit: Gage Lindsten

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 3
https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-3



Photo credit: Jiahuan Wang

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The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-3



Photo credit: Jiahuan Wang

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 4
https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-4



Photo credit: Antoine Leisure

">

The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-4



Photo credit: Antoine Leisure

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 5
https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-5



Photo credit: Pete Sharp

">

The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-5



Photo credit: Pete Sharp

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 6
https://www.in-toon.com/de/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-6



Photo credit: Raman Djafari

">

The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/de/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-6



Photo credit: Raman Djafari

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 7
https://www.in-toon.com/de/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-7



Photo credit: Masanobu Hiraoka

">

The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/de/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-7



Photo credit: Masanobu Hiraoka

Meet the Musicians
Viola No. 1

Christiane Arnold, violist in the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, talks about the discovery of what is believed to be the first viola acquired by the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Violin maker Osamu Nambu goes into more detail about the elaborate restoration that brought the imitation Stradivari instrument back to life.

Meet the Musicians
Moritz Winker, bassoon (Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI53hNFGsLw&list=PLXtVSYTiDLYTFYEZmEQw4iwDsF5AdcmXK&index=4

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Find out from Moritz Winkler, bassoonist in the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, how he came to play his instrument and more about the concert in Carnegie Hall 2018.

Click here for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI53hNFGsLw&list=PLXtVSYTiDLYTFYEZmEQw4iwDsF5AdcmXK&index=4

Meet the Musicians
The Guarneri bass

Thomas Herbst, double bass player in the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, introduces the historic Guarneri bass.

Meet the Musicians
Giorgi Gvantseladze, oboe (Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF_5KDG-wVw&list=PLXtVSYTiDLYTFYEZmEQw4iwDsF5AdcmXK&index=9 

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The oboist of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester Giorgi Gvantseladze talks about his instrument and how he came to play it.

Click here for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF_5KDG-wVw&list=PLXtVSYTiDLYTFYEZmEQw4iwDsF5AdcmXK&index=9 

Meet the Musicians
Alexandra Hengstebeck, double bass (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=danUb7_QVsY&list=PLXtVSYTiDLYTFYEZmEQw4iwDsF5AdcmXK&index=3

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Find out more about her instrument and the acoustic challenges in the Elbphilharmonie, where the Bayerisches Staatsorchester played in 2018, from the double bass player Alexandra Hengstebeck.



Click here for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=danUb7_QVsY&list=PLXtVSYTiDLYTFYEZmEQw4iwDsF5AdcmXK&index=3

BSOrec
THE SNOW QUEEN
https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=1592&cents=2499


DVD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=1588&cents=2499


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

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The Snow Queen is Hans Abrahamsen’s first opera composed for the phenomenal soprano Barbara Hannigan, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale. Barbara Hannigan is joined by Rachael Wilson, Katarina Dalayman and Peter Rose, with Cornelius Meister as music director. Experience the recording of the English premiere at the Bavarian State Opera in a production by Andreas Kriegenburg.


Blu-ray: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=1592&cents=2499


DVD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=1588&cents=2499


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Percussion for Alice in Wonderland

Find out more about the special role of the percussion section in Joby Talbot’s ballet Alice in Wonderland in this video.

BSOrec
ELIAS
https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=717&cents=2500


Photo credit: © EVISCO

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This is the first historic recording from the archive on the Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings label: Felix Mendelssohn’s Elias under the musical direction of Wolfgang Sawallisch from 1984. This concert recording brings together a top-class ensemble of singers such as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Margaret Price, Brigitte Fassbaender, Peter Schreier and Kurt Moll, all of whom have left their mark on the Bayerische Staatsoper – in some cases over decades.

The performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Elias opened the 1984 Munich Opera Festival and was also the opening event of the 88th German Catholic Day. The then State Opera Director and General Music Director Wolfgang Sawallisch set an example: With a sacred oratorio, he demonstrated the stylistic versatility of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, which is based at the National Theater, and with the work of a Protestant-baptized composer of Jewish origin in the context of a Catholic event, he sent out a widely noticed ecumenical signal.


CD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=717&cents=2500


Photo credit: © EVISCO

BSOrec
GUSTAV MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 7
https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=1539&cents=1900



Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

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This album is the first release from the Bayerische Staatsoper label -Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings. This live recording of Gustav Mahler's 7th Symphony from the National Theater in Munich reveals a dramatic interpretation of one of the summit works of the late Romantic orchestral repertoire. Here we witness an orchestra intimately familiar with its conductor telling an epic story beyond all symphonic power and brilliance: an unforgettable musical moment and a unique sonic experience. The recording under Kirill Petrenko received, among others, the Gramophone Award 2022 in the category Orchestral.


CD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=1539&cents=1900



Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

BSOrec
MAVRA/IOLANTA
https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=468&cents=2499

DVD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=475&cents=2499


Photo credit: © EVISCO

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The Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera on DVD for the first time! Together with the young singers of the Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera, director Axel Ranisch presents an unusual approach to two rarely performed works: In Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky’s last opera Iolanta, a blind princess searches for the reasons for her sadness and finds love. In Igor Stravinsky’s neoclassical buffa one-act Mavra, an inventive young woman has a risky idea and smuggles her lover into her mother’s house disguised as a cook. With great love for his characters and an impressive sense for the relationships between them, Ranisch weaves both works into an enchanting coming-of-age tale about family, love, realization and self-determination: Mavra and Iolanta becomes Mavra / Iolanta.


Blu-ray: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=468&cents=2499

DVD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=475&cents=2499


Photo credit: © EVISCO

Meet the Musicians
Marcus Schön, Clarinet (Solo)

The most beautiful opera moment for Marcus Schön was Suor Angelica’s transfigured death in Giacomo Puccini’s opera of the same name, embodied by Ermonela Jaho under the musical direction of Kirill Petrenko. His favorite conductor is the sadly departed Nikolaus Harnoncourt.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

BSOrec
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO. 2 / BRETT DEAN: TESTAMENT
Click here to buy the CD

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It was a special moment, the 1st Academy Concert of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester in the 2020/2021 season: one of the first public concerts after the closure of the concert halls in 2020 and only the second concert under the direction of Vladimir Jurowski as designated General Music Director. The program included Ludwig van Beethoven’s revolutionary Second Symphony and the corresponding contemporary work Testament by Australian composer Brett Dean. Experience the live recording of this concert on CD!


Click here to buy the CD

Meet the Musicians
Casey Rippon, Horn

Casey Rippon würde sehr gerne irgendwo am Meer leben. In ihrem Kühlschrank dürfen Lao Gan Ma Erdnüsse in Chiliöl, Parmesan und Tiefkühl-Erbsen nie fehlen. Ihr Lieblingswort ist Vokuhila.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Thomas Klotz, Trombone

For Thomas Klotz, the best things about his job are the musical variety and the great colleagues. The last time he laughed tears was while reading Heinz Strunk’s Das Teemännchen. His favorite word is hammer!


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Andreas Öttl, Trumpet (Solo)

The most beautiful opera moment for Andreas Öttl was Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca under Zubin Mehta immediately after his winning audition. Maestro Mehta said at the time, “If he does well, I would like to hear him play Mahler’s 9th Symphony.” Thus, in his first two appearances with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, he got to play two of his favorite composers. In his spare time, he loves to be with his two daughters in their garden.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Pascal Deuber, Horn (Solo)

Pascal Deuber likes to go on vacation somewhere secluded in the mountains. His favorite food is Puschlaver Pizzoccheri and the best book he has read so far is Walden; or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Jürgen Key, Clarinet

In his spare time, Jürgen Key spent most of his first 20 professional years doing things related to music, including a lot of chamber music and teaching students. But now he uses much more of his time for extended bicycle tours in Germany or even Austria, mostly along rivers. That gives him a lot. To experience these beautiful things, he believes you don’t have to travel far …

In his now 32 years with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, he will always have special memories of the three concerts he was able to experience with Carlos Kleiber in Ingolstadt, Munich and Italy in 1996. These are among the most brilliant and intense musical experiences he has ever had. The hall in which, in his opinion, everything sounds good is the Berlin Philharmonie. But there are many good halls, it’s just that one hall is not always equally perfect for every instrumentation or musical orientation.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Andreas Riepl, Double Bass

For Andreas Riepl, the best part of his job is that, as a double bass player, you can listen to and watch the audience from the pit. The best hall he has ever played in is Carnegie Hall. There, even a less than perfectly produced note sounds beautiful. One thing that is better for him in his home country than in Munich is that in the Upper Palatinate it is not frowned upon to eat something on the road.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Johannes Moritz, Trumpet (Solo)

Apart from his own, Johannes Moritz’s favorite instrument is the cello. He loves to spend his vacations on the farm.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Alexandra Hengstebeck, Double Bass (Deputy Solo)

Alexandra Hengstebeck would love to visit the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus (Brazil). After visiting the opera house, she would also like to take a tour through the Amazon rainforest. The book that has touched her the most is Identity: A Novelby Milan Kundera. The best hall she has ever played in is the Musikverein in Vienna. The basses sound fantastic there and she has the feeling that the whole history of music resonates with every note. Also, playing the very low C in the orchestra at the right moment is an indescribable feeling for her. What’s more, this note sounds especially beautiful on her service bass.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Andreas Schablas, Clarinet (Solo)

Andreas Schablas’ main residence is in a small town about 30 kilometers north of Salzburg in Flachgau. Of course, due to his employment, he is much in Salzburg city and in Munich, where he also has a residence. He rides his bike a lot and knows the surrounding area very well by now. He has seen a lot of the world, but ultimately he lives and works in what he considers the most beautiful place in the world and is always amazed at the varied and beautiful landscapes he discovers on his rides. For him, there is nothing more beautiful. His favorite place in the opera outside the orchestra pit is the Bruno Walter Hall. His favorite place to be is there after a performance, when he is still full of adrenaline and then has the hall to himself to prepare and practice. The last time he laughed tears with his wife and two children (17 and 20) was when they played table tennis again after two years. Not because they were particularly bad, it was just a very special time.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Wolfram Sirotek, Horn

Wolfram Sirotek’s favorite composers are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Wagner. His favorite conductor is Carlos Kleiber, and if he were an opera character, he would choose his namesake Wolfram from Tannhäuser. For him, the worst opera he has had to play was Lear. He likes to spend his vacations in Tuscany.



Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Thomas März (drums)

Thomas März already had the wish to become a musician at the age of 4. His favorite conductor is Zubin Mehta, under whose direction a concert took place in the Suntory Hall Tokyo, which was very special for Thomas März. The 3rd symphony of Gustav Mahler was played. Together with Verdi, Strauss and Puccini, Mahler is one of his favorites among the composers. He likes to spend his free time with his family and in the garden.


Photo credit: Thomas März

BSOrec
Andrea Chénier
https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/shop?item=696

Blu-ray: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/shop?item=697


Photo credit: EVISCO

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The Revolutionary Tribunal has sentenced Andrea Chénier to death, and no one can avert his fate. Shortly before the execution, Chénier is visited by his lover Maddalena, who has decided to die at the poet’s side. “Our death is the triumph of love,” the lovers promise each other in their last words.

The French Revolution, demanded by the people at the beginning, turns out to be a machine of terror after 1789: spies of the regime pursue the citizens, show trials serve as a deterrent, and the guillotine ensures the execution of sentences. Although the wanted Chénier could flee Paris, he decides against it. He wants to know who is hiding behind the letters that are secretly delivered to him. Here, in the shadow of the reign of terror, love triumphs: Chénier and Maddalena find each other, swear eternal love and are faithful to each other until their last breath together.

Director Philipp Stölzl made his debut at the Bavarian State Opera with his production of Umberto Giordano’s verismo opera. Munich’s dream couple Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros appeared in the title role and as Maddalena, Marco Armiliato conducted the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Now the successful production is being released on Blu-ray and DVD on the company’s own label.



DVD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/shop?item=696

Blu-ray: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/shop?item=697


Photo credit: EVISCO

Meet the Musicians
Gaël Gandino (Harp)

A very special concert for Gaël Gandino was the 2nd Symphony of Gustav Mahler conducted by Claudio Abbado in Lisbon. She was an intern with the Berlin Philharmonic at the time. At the end of the piece, when the chorus began, Abbado put down his baton and just held his hands together. He sang along quietly; it was a magical atmosphere. She was moved to tears and will never forget that moment. Her favorite musician is her immediate neighbor in the orchestra pit, principal double bass Florian Gmelin. The harp and double bass very often share the same motifs or single notes, but they don’t need to look at each other. The two feel the music in the same way and are always in sync. After so many years of making music together, it is still overwhelming for her to experience it. Being half Italian, she would love to be fluent in Italian. She would also have a great chance of winning a gold medal for cooking.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Éva Lilla Fröschl, Horn

For Éva Lilla Fröschl, the best part of her job are the performances. From her seat in the orchestra pit, you can see a bit of the stage, and for most performances she would also pay to be there. Instead, she gets paid to play – what could be better? She would have loved to perform the opera Eugene Onegin with singer Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who died in 2017. If she could compete in any Olympic discipline, she would have the best chance of winning a gold medal in cleaning up.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Susanne von Hayn, bassoon

Susanne von Hayn already knew at the age of 6 that she wanted to become a musician. However, at that time she did not know how she could get into the orchestra with the recorder. If she hadn’t chosen music, she probably would have studied medicine, but she can’t say what would have become of her then. A concert in the Olympic Stadium or a concert in BMW’s wind tunnel were very special to her.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

BSOrec
Munich Opera Horns: Voyager
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Photo credit: EVISCO

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This year, in which the Bayerisches Staatorchester celebrates 500 years since its inception, the Munich Opera Horns have put together a very special birthday present, their album Voyager. The title is particularly apt. Since the horn symbolises the music of the German Romantic and Postromantic eras, it’s firstly a journey into the past. Let’s not forget that the Bayerisches Staatsorchester has always had renowned hornists in its ranks; I’d just like to mention one of them by name: Franz Strauss, Richard Strauss’s father, principal horn during the earliest Bayreuth Festivals and so esteemed that even Richard Wagner, never quick to extol anyone’s virtues, said of him, “When he plays, one can forgive him anything.” The Munich Opera Horns continue the long and wonderful tradition of performing compositions for their instrument as well as interpretations of repertoire classics. However, they are also firmly rooted in the present, showcasing new pieces composed especially for them. Alongside their magnificent performances in the Nationaltheater, the Munich Opera Horns have been playing together for fifteen years. Their aim is always to demonstrate, through their sublime musicianship, how both radiance and tenderness can be teased out of their instruments. We should really call them the Munich Opera Wunderhorns! The recording you’re listening to is ample proof.

Serge Dorny General Director, Bayerische Staatsoper


Click here to buy the CD


Photo credit: EVISCO

Meet the Musicians
Paolo Taballione, Flute (Solo)

If you should ever look for Paolo Taballione at the opera, you are most likely to find him in the rehearsal room. His favorite instrument, apart from his own in the orchestra, is the guitar, and his favorite month is August. He prefers to spend his free time with his children.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Frank Bloedhorn, trumpet

Trumpet player Frank Bloedhorn introduces himself and talks about the 2017 Asia Tour.

Meet the Musicians
Heike Steinbrecher, Oboe

When Heike Steinbrecher is not making music, she is busy with her young dog and enjoys the walks through forest and nature together. She would like to live in northern Greece and learn the local language to get to know the country and its people even better.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Eindrücke
6th Academy Concert 2022/23 (Jurowski)

On May 22 and 23, Vladimir Jurowski conducted the Bayerisches Staatsorchester in the 6th Academy Concert, featuring music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Robert Schumann and Gustav Mahler. Gerhard Oppitz was the soloist in Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, and Louise Alder took the vocal part in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Eindrücke
Aida

On May 15, the new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida premiered. Daniele Rustioni conducted the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, and Damiano Michieletto directed. Elena Stikhina was featured in the title role.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Eindrücke
Il ritorno / Das Jahr des magischen Denkens

On May 7, the production Il ritorno / Das Jahr des magischen Denkens premiered as part of the Ja, Mai festival. Christopher Moulds conducted the opera by Claudio Monteverdi, which was combined with a play by Joan Didion. The production was directed by Christopher Rüping.



Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Eindrücke
5th Academy Concert 2022/23 (Jindra)

On April 17 and 18, Robert Jindra conducted the Bayerisches Staatsorchester at the 5th Academy Concert. During the Mozart program, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller also took the stage for the concert aria “Bella mia fiamma” – “Resta, o cara”.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Moritz Winker Bassoon, (solo)

Moritz Winker would have become a pilot if he had taken a different career path. Now his favorite place at the opera is outside the orchestra pit with the stage manager: “What they do every night is just brilliant!”. The movie that always makes him laugh out loud is Welcome to the Sticks.



Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

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The Bayerisches Staatsorchester as a guest at the Isarphilharmonie (Jurowski)

The Bayerisches Staatsorchester, together with its General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski, was a guest at the Isarphilharmonie on March 25. Renaud Capuçon joined the orchestra on stage for Alban Berg’s violin concerto Dem Andenken eines Engels, before Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 was heard.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

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Felix Weingartner: Malawika

“To be modern means to admit that in a short time one will no longer be modern.” – This saying comes from the text Modernity, published in 1918, whose author Felix Weingartner spoke out against a linear development of music history that was constantly outdone by new forms and modes of expression. Thus, in his notes on his life, he sometimes self-deprecatingly referred to himself as a “Wagnerian” and a “Lisztian” and at another point proclaimed the paradoxical thrust “forward to Mozart!”. Weingartner, whose death anniversary was on May 7, 2022, the 80th time, completed 10 operas, 7 symphonies, several songs and chamber music and participated with numerous books and essays in the music-aesthetic as well as theoretical and performance-practical discourse of his time. His success was based on his activity as a conductor. In his letters to his “dearest friend,” as he usually addressed Weingartner, Gustav Mahler did not hold back with praise: “I know of no one to whom I would hand over my work with such confidence and joyful courage as to you.” Weingartner succeeded Mahler as opera director of the Vienna Court Opera, having previously been Kapellmeister of several opera houses as well as chief conductor of the Munich Kaim Orchestra – today’s Munich Philharmonic. During his 19-year association with the Vienna Philharmonic, Weingartner made a decisive contribution to its worldwide fame. As a subscription conductor, he led all concerts, including the first Beethoven cycle in 1918 and the first South American tour in the orchestra’s history in 1922. His opera Malawika, a “Comedy in Three Acts,” premiered at the Munich National Theatre on June 3, 1886, when the composer was just 23 years old. He wrote the libretto himself, based on a drama by the Indian poet Kalidasa.


Photo Credit: Archiv Bayerische Staatsoper

Meet the Musicians
Anna-Maija Hirvonen, 2nd violin

In her free time Anna-Maija Hirvonen is interested in philosophy, psychology, mysticism and spirituality. She especially enjoys vacationing in the Peruvian Amazon. There she has been able to make many discoveries concerning the greatest questions of humanity.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

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Celebrate! Tuba trio: A tuba rarely comes alone

On April 29th Stefan Ambrosius, Steffen Schmid and Simon Unseld played at the event “Tube-Trio: A tuba rarely comes alone” at KulturBunt Neuperlach as part of the event series “Celebrate!”

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Encounters: A Midsummer Night’s Dream on 1.4.

After the performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on April 1 at the National Theatre, the fifth event of the series “Encounters” took place. The audience met musicians of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester in the Rheingoldbar.

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4th Chamber Concert 2022/23 (Music around Richard Strauss)

On March 12, the 4th chamber concert of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester took place in the Allerheiligen Hofkirche. Markus Wolf, So-Young Kim, Adrian Mustea, Emanuel Graf, Carlos Vera Larrucea and Julian Riem played music by Richard Strauss, Karl Amadeus Hartmann as well as Hans Pfitzner. The photos show impressions from the rehearsals.

Meet the Musicians
AIDA TRUMPET

Frank Bloedhorn, trumpeter of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, about the Aida trumpets, which are used in our new production Aida. Here you can find out why this instrument has such a special and long history.

Meet the Musicians
Verena Kurz, 2nd violin

In her free time, Verena Kurz likes to go running or ride her road bike towards the mountains. For Verena Kurz, the best part of her job is experiencing everything live. The variety and spontaneity in the evening and the unbridled emotions on stage and in the pit are simply fun for her.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Markus Kern, 2nd violin

Markus Kern likes boating in his spare time and his favorite musician is Jessy Norman. If he hadn’t become a musician, Markus Kern would be working for the criminal police today.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

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Encounters: Die Teufel von Loudun on March 11.

After the performance of Die Teufel von Loudun on March 11 at the National Theatre, the fourth event of the series “Encounters” took place. The audience met musicians of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester in the Rheingoldbar.

 

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The Moon Bear
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The picture book by Rolf Fänger and Ulrike Möltgen tells of friendship, owning, sharing and letting go. The music spans from well-known repertoire of opera history to works by the contemporary composer Richard Whilds. At the same time, the world of opera is opened up to the youngest audience members through a touching story. The dramaturge of the Bavarian State Opera, Malte Krasting, created the concept based on the children’s book Der kleine Mondbär (“The Little Moon Bear”) together with Catherine Leiter, who has been responsible for the Kind & Co section since the 2021/22 season. On April 28, Der Mondbär was now released as a radio play with music for children.


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Encounters: Manon Lescaut on February 25

After the performance of Manon Lescaut on February 25 at the National Theatre, the third event of the series “Encounters” took place. The audience met musicians of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester in the Rheingoldbar.

 

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Encounters: Dido and Aeneas … Erwartung on february 4.

After the performance of Dido and Aeneas … Erwartung on February 4 at the National Theatre, the second event of the series “Encounters” took place. The audience met musicians of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester in the Rheingoldbar.

 

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Un:erhört – Chamber Concert of the Hermann Levi Academy

On March 20, the young talents of the Hermann Levi Academy presented themselves at a concert in the Alte Pinakothek.

Meet the Musicians
Bass clarinet

Martina Beck-Stegemann, clarinetist of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, talks about the bass clarinet in A. It was built around 170 years ago by Mr Johann Simon Stengel, a clarinet maker from Bayreuth, and was probably played for the premiere of Tristan und Isolde in the National Theatre Munich. It is on loan from the Robert Schumann University in Düsseldorf.

Meet the Musicians
Holztrompete

In this video, Andreas Öttl, solo trumpeter of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, and Martin Lechner, instrument maker from Bischofshofen, show the wooden trumpet that was developed exclusively for the opera Tristan und Isolde in 1890.

Meet the Musicians
Anja Fabricius, cello

For Anja Fabricius, the best thing about her job is the fact that she is allowed to create, and a special concert moment for her was the last Academy concert with Zubin Mehta. Everything about it was urgent. Anja Fabricius’ book recommendation is The German Lesson by Siegfried Lenz. Her childhood heroine is also from a book: Momo.



Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


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2. Theme Concert

The second Theme Concert concert took place on March 30, with members of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and the mezzo-soprano Salome Kammer under the musical direction of Armando Merino playing music by Toshio Hosokawa and Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. multi. Marie-Claire Foblets gave a lecture on: Is diversity a threat to our democracy?


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


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1. Theme Concert

On March 26, the first Theme Concert took place in the Freiraum in Munich Hoch5, with members of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester playing music by Toshio Hosokawa and Olivier Messiaen and Dr. Lisa Suckert gave a lecture on the topic: The future doesn’t wait? Temporality in capitalism.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


 

Meet the Musicians
Benedikt Don Strohmeier, cello (stv. solo)

Benedikt Don Strohmeier prefers to go on vacation where there is water, wind and, ideally, waves to be able to kitesurf well. He knew very early on that he wanted to be a musician, but at some point he had to decide whether it should be the cello or the piano. At that time he also made street music, for example on the final day of the 2002 World Cup. He sat down with his sister and friends in the old town in Regensburg and played the second movement of Haydn’s Kaiserquartett on a continuous loop. After about an hour and a half they had enough money to have a nice afternoon and evening.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


 

Meet the Musicians
So-Young Kim, violin (Pre-Player)
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Lead violinist So-Young Kim introduces herself and talks about the 2017 Asia Tour.

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Meet the Musicians
Rupert Buchner, cello
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Cellist Rupert Buchner introduces himself and talks about the 2017 Asia Tour.

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Meet the Musicians
Gaël Gandino, harp
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Harpenist Gaël Gandino introduces herself and talks about the 2017 Asia Tour.

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Meet the Musicians
Thomas März, drums
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Percussionist Thomas März introduces himself and talks about the 2017 Asia Tour.

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Meet the Musicians
Wiebke Heidemeier und Clemens Gordon, Viola
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In this video the viola players Wiebke Heidemeier und Clemens Gordon introduce themselves and talk about the 2017 Asia Tour.

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Die tote Stadt
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Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


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The boundary between dream and reality increasingly dissolves as Paul, mourning his dead wife Marie, meets the dancer Marietta. With her looks so similar to Marie’s, Marietta becomes the object of the projection of Paul’s erotic desires. His grief has the traits of a ritual: The carefully composed strands of his dead wife’s hair are guarded like a relic. Following a nerve-racking “vision” with cathartic effect, Paul is finally reeled back to reality. He can leave the Belgian city of Bruges as the place of his death cult. The original title of the piece, “Triumph des Lebens” (Triumph of Life), is symbolic of the main character’s personal development.

Just a few weeks before the immensely successful world premiere of Die tote Stadt, none other than Giacomo Puccini himself described Erich Wolfgang Korngold, only 23 at the time, as the “greatest hope of new German music”. Because of their melodic urgency, arias such as “Glück, das mir verblieb” (Marietta’s Lute Song) and “Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen” (Pierrot’s Song) have found a home among the concert repertoires of numerous opera singers and radiate far beyond the fame of Die tote Stadt.

The premiere of Korngold’s Die tote Stadt at the Bavarian State Opera in autumn 2019 was praised by press and audience alike. Experience the Bayerisches Staatsorchester under Kirill Petrenko as well as Marlis Petersen (Marie / Marietta) and Jonas Kaufmann (Paul) in the main roles of this intensive and stirring production by Simon Stone on DVD or Blu-ray. Winner of the Gramophone Music Awards in the categories Opera and Recordings of the Year:

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Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


 

 

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Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings
https://www.staatsoper.de/recordings


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


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Since May 2021, the Bayerische Staatsoper has been documenting its excellence, versatility and tradition with a new in-house label: Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings.

Discover selected opera productions and concert recordings as well as important archive recordings on CD or DVD/BD under the new label of the Bavarian State Opera: BSOrec. Productions from the children’s and youth program KIND & CO as well as chamber music editions, which are intended to provide a platform for first-class ensembles of the Bavarian State Orchestra, complete the label’s range.

Shortly after it was founded, the label was also able to look forward to special awards, for example at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2022: Kirill Petrenko and the Bayerisches Staatsorchester won the award in the category orchestral recordings with their recording of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, Hans Abrahamsen’s The Snow Queenwas honored in the Contemporary category, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt received two awards: the Opera category and the coveted award “Recording of the Year”. Most recently, our in-house label won the “Video: Opera” category at the 2023 International Classical Music Awards with the release The Snow Queen, directed by Kirill Petrenko.

More about the label and previous releases:https://www.staatsoper.de/recordings


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


 

 

Meet the Musicians
Milena Viotti, cornet
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Hornist Milena Viotti introduces herself and talks about the 2017 Asia Tour.

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Applause after the premiere of War and Peace

On March 5th, Sergei Prokofiev’s opera War and Peace premiered at the National Theatre in a production by Dmitri Tcherniakov. The general music director Vladimir Jurowski conducted the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, the Bayerische Staatsoper Chorus and the additional choir of the Bayerische Staatsoper. The opera also requires a huge ensemble of singers to embody the numerous roles.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


Meet the Musicians
Porth timpani

Miriam Noa from the Munich City Museum and the two solo drummers from the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Pieter Roijen and Ernst-Wilhelm Hilgers, will be showing an instrument that was used in Munich premieres of Richard Wagner’s operas.

Meet the Musicians
Strohfiedel

In this video, Claudio Estay informs about the Strohfiedel, a special xylophone that is still used during performances of Richard Strauss’ Salome by the Bayerisches Staatsorchester.

 

Ensembles
Schumann Quartet
http://www.schumann-quartett.de .

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Consisting of members of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, the Munich Schumann Quartet performed Béla Bartók’s early piano quintet and Arnold Schönberg’s 2nd string quartet with soprano in 1994, the year it was founded. Since then, invitations to concert tours and festivals in Europe, Japan and the USA have followed. The close cooperation with singers and composers enables the ensemble to perform rarely heard works as well as world premieres and experimental pieces in addition to the widely diversified common quartet repertoire, which combine video and language arts beyond pure tonal language. The first violinist Barbara Burgdorf is concert master of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Traudi Pauer has been playing here since 1996. Stephan Finkentey has been deputy principal violist since 1988, and one year later Oliver Göske joined the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. For the Schumann Year 2010, the quartet recorded two double CDs, which are available in stores or via http://www.schumann-quartett.de .

Meet the Musicians
Isolde Lehrmann, 2nd violin

In her free time, Isolde Lehrmann likes to photograph still lifes and portraits.


Photo credits: Wilfried Hösl


 

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4th Academy Concert 2022/23 (Mehta)

Great rejoicing after the 4th Academy Concert for the Bayerische Staatsorchester, its former general music director Zubin Mehta, the violinist Vilde Frang and the composer Minas Borboudakis.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


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Ceremony 500 years Bayerisches Staatsorchester

On January 8th, the anniversary year of the Bayerische Staatsorchester got off to a brilliant start with a concert in the Nationaltheater. General music director Vladimir Jurowski conducted. The invited guests included Ilse Aigner, President of the State Parliament, and Markus Blume, Bavarian Minister of State for Science and Art, who both gave speeches.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


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Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings: OPERcussion
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Unique in its kind, OPERcussion, the virtuoso percussion quintet, brings the art of percussion from the depths of the orchestra pit to the front row, realizing a new model of artistic creation while respecting history and championing innovation.

When we study the history of the Bayerische Staatsoper, we learn that the first timpanist with a contract began in 1600 in what was then the Court Orchestra. In more than 400 years of musical tradition, the greatest composers and conductors in history have influenced the members of this traditional orchestra and promoted chamber music activities. The members of the percussion group have not escaped this call and since 2008 have been organized in the formation OPERcussion. Thomas März, Pieter Roijen, Maxime Pidoux, Carlos Vera Larrucea and Claudio Estay bring to the ensemble their virtuosity, their knowledge, the traditions of their countries of origin and their peculiarities. This international ensemble has distinguished itself in the world of percussion and in the music scene in general for the innovation and diversity of its programs, which include collaborations and commissions with contemporary composer:s, as well as arrangements of music not originally written for percussion, from the eras: Baroque, Classical and Impressionist to the interpretation of Latin American music with grandiose improvisational ideas.

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Photo credit: © EVISCO


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4th Academy Concert 2022/23 (Mehta)

Here the former General Music Director Zubin Mehta rehearses together with the violinist Vilde Frang and the Bayerische Staatsorchester for the 4th Academy Concert. The composer of the specially commissioned world premiere, Minas Borboudakis, was also present.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


Meet the Musicians
David Schultheiss, 1st violin (1st concertmaster)

Among his childhood heroes there were sporting heroes such as Karl Allgöwer (his direct free-kick goals – awesome!), Lothar Matthäus and Boris Becker and of course also violinist-musical ones like Henryk Szeryng, David Oistrach and especially Gidon Kremer. The best hall in which David Schultheiss has played so far is the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. He also has a special memory of a concert in the aforementioned Suntory Hall: David Schultheiss has never experienced such a tense and expectant silence from the audience between the applause for the conductor and the first sound of the concert.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


Meet the Musicians
Christian Loferer, horn

In addition to Munich, Christian Loferer feels very comfortable in Sydney and San Francisco. He has busked in Edinburgh before, and if he could make any activity an Olympic event, time telling would give him the best chance of winning a medal.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


Meet the Musicians
Julia Pfister, 2nd violin

Her childhood heroes are The Three Investigators: She heard Paganini for the first time in these radio plays and then absolutely wanted to play it. A special concert for Julia Pfister was the concert with Kirill Petrenko as part of the 2016 European tour at La Scala in Milan. Everyone was in the flow and the atmosphere was unforgettable!


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


Meet the Musicians
Barbara Burgdorf, 1st violin (concertmaster)

For Barbara Burgdorf, the best thing about her job is the beauty it offers for the soul, for herself and for others. If she hadn’t become a musician, she would probably have been a biologist.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


Meet the Musicians
Florian Gmelin, double bass (solo)

His favorite book is Trials and Tribulations by Theodor Fontane and Carlos Kleiber is his favorite conductor. Florian Gmelin would have loved to work with him one day.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


Meet the Musicians
Johannes Dengler, horn (solo)

Johannes Dengler decided at the age of 10 that he wanted to be a musician after realizing that he couldn’t become an astronaut due to travel sickness. His best medicine for stage fright is practice, practice, practice …


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


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Applause after the premiere of Dido and Aeneas … Expectation

On January 29th, the Munich audience celebrated the new production Dido and Aeneas … Expectation and its protagonists: the conductor Andrew Manze, the production team around the director Krzysztof Warlikowski and the singer ensemble (Ausrine Stundyte, Günter Papendell, Victoria Randem, Rinat Shaham, Key’mon W. Murrah, Elmira Karakhanova).


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


Meet the Musicians
Verena-Maria Fitz, 1st Violin

Verena-Maria Fitz likes to take a vacation in South Africa because her husband was born and raised there, and in South Tyrol. May is her favorite month because it is fresh and colorful and summer is still ahead.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


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OPERcussion: Original Grooves

On January 20, 2023, OPERcussion performed in the Muffathalle and presented their new CD “Original Grooves”.

Ensembles
OPERcussion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oiPF874mZk


Photo credit: Dominik Gigler


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Unique in its kind, OPERcussion, the virtuoso percussion quintet, brings the art of percussion from the depths of the orchestra pit to the front row, realizing a new model of artistic creation while respecting history and championing innovation.

When we study the history of the Bayerische Staatsoper, we learn that the first timpanist with a contract began in 1600 in what was then the Court Orchestra. In more than 400 years of musical tradition, the greatest composers and conductors in history have influenced the members of this traditional orchestra and promoted chamber music activities. The members of the percussion group have not escaped this call and since 2008 have been organized in the formation OPERcussion. Thomas März, Pieter Roijen, Maxime Pidoux, Carlos Vera Larrucea and Claudio Estay bring to the ensemble their virtuosity, their knowledge, the traditions of their countries of origin and their peculiarities. This international ensemble has distinguished itself in the world of percussion and in the music scene in general for the innovation and diversity of its programs, which include collaborations and commissions with contemporary composer:s, as well as arrangements of music not originally written for percussion, from the eras: Baroque, Classical and Impressionist to the interpretation of Latin American music with grandiose improvisational ideas.

On January 20th, the drum quintet OPERcussion performed in the Muffathalle and presented their new CD on the in-house label BSOrec. Here you can experience the ensemble in a recording of the 10th Monday Concert 2020 with a varied program from Mozart to Claude Debussy to Astor Piazzolla in their own arrangements together with the violinist Julia Pfister, who also performed in the Muffathalle with OPERcussion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oiPF874mZk


Photo credit: Dominik Gigler


Ensembles
OperaBrass

OperaBrass is one of the chamber music ensembles of the Bavarian State Orchestra. Although the formation also exists in the classic brass quintet formation, it is preferable to enter the stage with four trumpets and trombones, a horn, tuba and, in some cases, drums.

In 1996 the eleven musicians made their debut with two concerts in the Cuvilliés Theater in the Munich Residenz with a program made up of works from a wide variety of stylistic periods. Since all ensemble members are not only at home in classical music, but have also gained a wide range of experience from jazz to pop, this type of music also plays a major role in the formation’s repertoire. Arrangements of opera highlights, jazz standards and big band evergreens specially designed for OperaBrass were commissioned. In addition, the trumpeters Andreas Öttl and Frank Bloedhorn have also contributed their own arrangements to the repertoire. The two musicians are particularly attracted by the fact that they can use all their instruments in the ensemble – from the piccolo trumpet to the flugelhorn.

A tour with the cabaret artist Bruno Jonas and the program “Full Pipe - Hot Air” took them off the beaten track: a satirical tin, so to speak, the content of which dealt with no less than 400 years of love and death in the opera.

The musical collaboration with two former General Music Directors of the Bavarian State Opera, Zubin Mehta and Kent Nagano, and other renowned conductors such as the baroque specialist Ivor Bolton played an important role in the artistic development of the ensemble.

In 2006, OperaBrass organized a concert together with the world-famous King’s Singers in the Prinzregententheater. Under the title “In Perfect Harmony”, both ensembles spanned the musical arc over the centuries. With Wagner & Friends, the musicians from OperaBrass 2012 ventured directly from the orchestra pit onto the stage of the National Theatre with a real crossover programme. Every summer OperaBrass are also involved in the Unicredit Festival Night at the beginning of the Munich Opera Festival.

Apart from that, you can experience the ensemble at the chamber concerts of the Bavarian State Opera and on tours. More recently, after the European tour in 2016 with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and a guest performance in Asia in 2017, they went to Mallorca in September 2018, where the Munich brass band were guests in Palma Cathedral for the second time.


Photo credits: Wilfried Hösl


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Festakt: 500 Jahre Bayerisches Staatsorchester

Photo creddit: Wilfried Hösl


Meet the Musicians
Franz-Strauss-Horn

Franz Strauss (1822-1905) was not only the father of the composer Richard Strauss, but also one of the most renowned horn players of his time, who worked in the Royal Bavarian Court Orchestra, today’s Bavarian State Orchestra, and had a significant influence on its sound. The two horn players Milena Viotti and Johannes Dengler provide insights into the special features of the instrument once played by Franz Strauss.

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Musical Publics

Armin Nassehi


Prof. Dr. Armin Nassehi has held the chair at the Institute of Sociology at the Ludwig Maximilian Uni-versity of Munich since 1998, specialising in the sociology of culture, political sociology, sociology of religion, sociology of knowledge and sociology of science. His latest book publications: Das große Nein. Eigendynamik und Tragik des gesellschaftlichen Protests (Hamburg 2020) and Unbehagen. Theorie der überforderten Gesellschaft (München 2021). A passionate musician himself, he has often written es-says for the Bayerische Staatsoper and participated in many events.

Anyone wanting to gain a comprehensive overview of an orchestra’s working me-thods will do so exclusively by glancing up at the stage or down into the pit. Only when we look closely will it become clear very quickly that as institutions orchest-ras are based on the principle of the division of labour and made up of many spe-cialists, male and female, each of whose fields of competence and praxis must be expressed symphonically. As such, an orchestra is a preeminent symbol of the way in which a group of specialized individuals, all of whom are simultaneously doing something different in real time and whose activities need to be coordina-ted, can produce something unified. In turn, however, this unity can be achieved only through the carefully preordained coordination of its members’ individual actions. The result is something that can hardly be attributed to a single individual any longer. The powerful figure of the conductor – in the twentieth century, above all, an almost heroic figure and generally a man – ensures that the musici-ans’ individual activities and abilities are subsumed within a greater, universal whole, with the result that it is the conductor, above all, who is credited with the orchestra’s capacity for working as a collective in the symphonic repertory. In his sociological study of music Adorno wrote mockingly about the conductor who, craving recognition, has to conceal the fact that he (or she) is not working at all but merely cultivating a cult that is centred around his (or her) own person. Closer to the truth is no doubt the view that an orchestra is such an intricate entity that it requires a third party to weld together its complex individual sections and create a single whole.
This glance up at the stage and down into the pit reveals the institution of the orchestra, with all of its structural complexities and historical development, to be the performative reflection of complex musical forms that would not exist wit-hout a body of players based on the principle of the division of labour. This prin-ciple is taken to extreme lengths here and, as such, it is a radically modern inven-tion. Long before this principle was introduced into industrial production, into the structures of state administration and into organizational logistics, it was above all the orchestra that had to subsume within itself the concepts of specialization and coordination, functioning as a single pillar and as the totality of society and reconciling individuality and collectivity, differentiation and integration. Anyone who is surprised that such an orchestral form, which is already five hundred years old, has survived for so long may care to bear in mind that this form of social or-ganization was already in advance of ist time, the harbinger of a society whose inner differences and complex variety may not be symphonically integrated but which is all the more conscious in consequence of the problem of coordinating its actions. One could even go further and describe the symphony orchestra, with its particular, timeless form, as a parable of a social model that is capable of reconci-ling individual abilities, specialisms and characteristics with the need for those actions to be coordinated.
We can also redirect our gaze from the stage or pit to the concert hall or to the opera house. In research into the emergence of “publics” that has been conduc-ted in the fields of both history and the social sciences, concerts, opera perfor-mances and chamber recitals are regarded as early settings in which such “publics” have evolved – the same is true of salons and the theatre. In music es-pecially it can be shown that the change from the sort of performance practices associated with the court and with the Church to the practices bound up with the middle classes not only altered the way in which music as an art form saw itself but also led to its increasing independence and, more especially, to the reason for giving concerts in the first place. Courtly praxis had been geared to providing an introduction to the refinements and distinctive lifestyle of the aristocracy, but the middle-class types of performance that opened up in towns and cities brought with them a completely new kind of public. Music migrated from its court-ly setting to concert halls and opera houses, whose sole function was to mount performances and where Baroque and Classical elements survived only as deco-rative adjuncts.
Only once this last-named type of praxis was established did the audience ac-quire a decisive significance. Unlike performances at court and in church, those that took place in public concert halls brought together strangers who may have remained strangers in terms of most of the aspects of their personality but who were held together by a common focus that allowed them to engage in conversa-tion about the success or otherwise of the performance, about the character of the music, about the more notable features of the conductor, about the critical reviews and about the latest political and economic news and all that was happe-ning in society at large. As a result the middle-class concert hall also represents a way of preparing for public life. In the past, middle-class audiences were also a reading public that could create the sense of a public in these encounters preci-sely because their reading matter was similar and the store of their knowledge was calculable. This knowledge could be communicated in a way that was impar-tial but committed, it could be disinterested or interested, and it could be contro-versial while allowing the participants to agree to disagree. It is also possible that the journey to the concert hall, the breaks between the pieces and the gossip about absent members of the audience first lent the concert experience the cha-racter of a social whole. Concerts were an opportunity for middle-class society to discover itself, even if this was true of only a small carrier group. Here it was no classless society that discovered itself but a class with distinctive features. The result may not have been a democratic agora but there was still the ability to face up to controversies and to encounter other people. There was no attempt to reach a consensus but these conditions still provided a chance to acquire the ability to deal with differences of opinion.
The practices associated with these middle-class performances may be said, therefore, to constitute an exercise in public life inasmuch as the forms of social distance that were cultivated here in ways found in few other places could be practised despite all of the points in common – and this is true even of those pe-riods when expressions of public life involved a high degree of political confor-mism. There is some disagreement as to whether we should regard the concert, the middle-class salon or the theatre as a blueprint for political forms of public life under later (nation-)states, but what is undisputed is that symphonic practices presuppose a public that submits itself to public observation and cultivates cor-responding forms of coordinating actions among strangers. Full-time orchestras – or at least the ones in Germany that are supported or even run by central or local government – continue to be seen as a regular part of our cultural lives. his, too, represents a reminiscence of this model of public life as part of a public spectacle. Here the complexity of the orchestra is merely the corresponding equivalent of a significant and persistent praxis – and in a pluralistic, de-mocratized, egalitarian and, last but not least, globalized culture, it is no longer the exclusive place on whose reflection it continues to feed. Yet it is very much this circumstance that makes it all the more significant and remarkable that it has retained such a stable form, a form which, despite its chronic structure, does not appear to be becoming anachronistic. Perhaps the reason for this state of affairs lies in the fact that both were ahead of their times when they came into exis-tence: the orchestra as an untypically complex example of the principle of the distribution or labour and its audience as a community of strangers engaged in conversation. Ad multos annos!

Lesestücke
1523
Why 1523?

The year 1523 marks the beginning of institutionalized music-making in the instrumental association at the Bavarian court; This was the nucleus of today’s Bavarian State Orchestra, which can now look back on five hundred years of history.

In 1523, probably in the spring, the musician Ludwig Senfl, who was known throughout Europe and had worked for Emperor Maximilian I until his death in 1519, entered the service of Duke Wilhelm IV of Wittelsbach “Expansion of court music” (Dr. Stefan Gasch), in two respects. On the one hand, the music required at court and in the ducal church service was placed on a new basis with a tribe of permanent members. For example, Senfl hired Johannes Steudel, trombonist, about whom it is noted: “Receives 100 Gld. rhein. per year, for 1 horse fodder, 2 court clothes and 3 bushels of grain”, “Steudel shall be the leader among the trombonists”. On the other hand, a pool of written works that were composed for specific occasions was gradually formed. This also made it necessary for all participants to be able to read music (rather than improvising in three parts, as was the case in earlier practice); both aspects are therefore directly related. In addition to the services in the liturgical area, the instrumentalists of the court orchestra also denied festivities such as balls and state visits, contributed table music at banquets and provided the accentuation of important moments at state events with fanfares.

In 1523, therefore, two major developments began: on the one hand, the professionalization of the musicians’ staff, on the other hand, the development of a lasting repertoire - both of which are claims that the Bavarian State Orchestra still makes its own today.


Photo credit: Hans Wertinger, Herzog Wilhelm IV. von Bayern Rückseite: Wappen Bayern-Baden und Devise, 1526, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen – Alte Pinakothek München


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Why 1523?

The year 1523 marks the beginning of institutionalized music-making in the instrumental association at the Bavarian court; This was the nucleus of today’s Bavarian State Orchestra, which can now look back on five hundred years of history.

In 1523, probably in the spring, the musician Ludwig Senfl, who was known throughout Europe and had worked for Emperor Maximilian I until his death in 1519, entered the service of Duke Wilhelm IV of Wittelsbach “Expansion of court music” (Dr. Stefan Gasch), in two respects. On the one hand, the music required at court and in the ducal church service was placed on a new basis with a tribe of permanent members. For example, Senfl hired Johannes Steudel, trombonist, about whom it is noted: “Receives 100 Gld. rhein. per year, for 1 horse fodder, 2 court clothes and 3 bushels of grain”, “Steudel shall be the leader among the trombonists”. On the other hand, a pool of written works that were composed for specific occasions was gradually formed. This also made it necessary for all participants to be able to read music (rather than improvising in three parts, as was the case in earlier practice); both aspects are therefore directly related. In addition to the services in the liturgical area, the instrumentalists of the court orchestra also denied festivities such as balls and state visits, contributed table music at banquets and provided the accentuation of important moments at state events with fanfares.

In 1523, therefore, two major developments began: on the one hand, the professionalization of the musicians’ staff, on the other hand, the development of a lasting repertoire - both of which are claims that the Bavarian State Orchestra still makes its own today.


Photo credit: Hans Wertinger, Herzog Wilhelm IV. von Bayern Rückseite: Wappen Bayern-Baden und Devise, 1526, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen – Alte Pinakothek München


Lesestücke
One for all und all for one
We should not forget that with music-making, too, the truth is to be found “on the field”. The individuals who make up the team must learn to submit to a single figu-re. At least for as long as the music is still playing.

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A brief look back at the rich history of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester reveals an orchestra that is more than the sum of its parts.


Holger Noltze


The slogan “One for all and all for one” may initially remind us of football but it is in fact taken from Alexandre Dumas’ timeless novel The Three Musketeers, which was written before the invention of football as a sport. These words express the individual’s unconditional commitment to the collective and his (or her) willingness to subordinate the particular to the general. This beautiful idea can be applied with arguably even greater justification to music-making as part of an ensemble. In football it is ultimately only the goals that count, so everything depends on the player who scores those goals. Fencing, too, could be said to be first and fore-most a solo discipline. But making music together involves a deeper truth: indivi-dual excellence must be acknowledged as part of a greater whole. Players must be able to listen and, where necessary, step back from the limelight. It is this abili-ty that marks out the true artist within the collective. Indeed, it is this that decides the quality of a body of musicians – not that this precludes either the appeal or the principle of contrapuntal polyphony. This principle has always been a promi-nent feature of the long and glorious history of what is now the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, formerly known as the Munich Hofkapelle and, five hundred years ago, as the Munich Kantorei. The appointment of that brilliant master of polyphony, Ludwig Senfl, as musicus intonator in 1523 marks the beginning of one of the world’s longest orchestral histories. Although Duke Albrecht V may have had a reputation as a man who suffered from melancholia, it was his artistic un-derstanding and farsightedness that inspired him to appoint the cosmopolitan Flemish composer Roland de Lassus – known in Italian as Orlando di Lasso – as tenor secundus at his court in 1556. By 1563 Lasso was the maestro della musica di camera and the Kantorei’s principal composer. As the master of a new vocal and instrumental style of composition, he opened up the prospect of a new sym-phonic approach to music that still lay far in the future. In short, there is a long line linking this period with Wagner’s ideal of the sort of sonorities that are found in his later music dramas. The Munich Hofkapelle has had the honour of premiering not only Mozart’s Idomeneo but also Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde – a work that changed the course of musical history – and his Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
But the orchestra was also instrumental in bringing about a shift in attitudes to middle-class culture. The Academy Concerts that were established to promote symphonic music date back to 1811. Over two centuries later, the orchestra is still organizing these concerts. After all, the players are able to perform not only ope-ras. They began with a symphony in D major by an as yet relatively little-known composer by the name of Beethoven. The list of the conductors – some of them among the greatest practitioners of their art – who have headed this special and long-standing artists’ collective, which since 1918 has been known as the Bayeri-sches Staatsorchester, is a lengthy one and extends from Franz Lachner, Hans von Bülow, Hermann Levi and Richard Strauss to Bruno Walter, Hans Knapperts-busch, Georg Solti, Rudolf Kempe, Joseph Keilberth, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Kirill Petrenko and, most recently, Vladimir Jurowski: an almost intimidating roll of honour stretching back over five centuries and starting out with Orlando di Lasso.
A further long-standing aspect of the orchestra’s activities has been its travels in the form of extended tours across Europe and to Asia. Its special interplay of venerable tradition and its desire to embrace the new may be heard in the world’s great centres of music, including Carnegie Hall, the Elbphilharmonie and Lucer-ne’s Culture and Congress Centre. For the eighth year in a row and the tenth time in all, the Bayerisches Staatsorchester has recently been named "Orchestra of the Year“ in a poll conducted among fifty international music critics for Opernwelt magazine. It is no surprise, therefore, that the orchestra has sought to document its successful performances on its own label, Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings. Its very first releases were showered with prestigious prizes, including no fewer than four Gramophone Awards. Its work in preserving the past through the medi-um of recordings has met with an entirely positive response.
We should not forget that with music-making, too, the truth is to be found “on the field”. The individuals who make up the team must learn to submit to a single figu-re. At least for as long as the music is still playing.

The value of variety

The Bayerisches Staatsorchester is remarkable for its fascinatingly varied reper-tory, its multifarious forms of artistic expression and its multiple activities.

Ruth Renée Reif

“Fear! … a deep-seated sense of fear and, time and again, the question as to how the various orchestral departments will survive and what effect it will have on their nerves when the timpani launch an assault on the violas and double basses?” This was Gerd Albrecht’s anxious question when conducting Aribert Reimann’s Lear. But then came the surprising answer: the Bayerisches Staatsorchester accepted this music in a characteristic spirit of professionalism and impassioned commit-ment. It knows how to deal with the problem that arises when the flutes are asked to negotiate keenly strident intervals while accompanying a shimmering pianissi-mo in the violins and violas and a tintinnabulation of jingles, cymbals and a triangle and trumpets add their fanfares not only in the orchestra pit but also in the audi-torium. Always willing to confront the unfamiliar and the new, the orchestra casts its spell on its audiences with its mystical sounds and ecstatic highs, while also captivating them with ist subtle delicacy and lyric enchantment. It revels in Ro-mantic melodies but retains the ability to explore a world of rhythmic brutality and austerity, indulging in beautiful sounds, paying tribute to the spirit of virtuosity and to a universe of noise and inviting audiences to immerse themselves in worlds of sound that allow it to function as a psychological sounding board.
The operatic repertory of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester is characterized by its variety. Every evening there is a different work from a different period on its schedule. And the orchestra has the ability to bring every composition to life and to transform music that was written only yesterday – or several centuries ago – into joy, sadness and tragedy. It is with openness and inquisitiveness that it rises to the challenge of exchanging its modern instruments for their Baroque equiva-lent and following the conductor not on his or her podium but seated at a harpsi-chord. Its players study old scores and are happy to try out novel performance techniques. It is with sheer bravura that it returns to a period that it helped to shape centuries ago, when the singers onstage fought sea monsters or the enti-re stage, including its performers and dancers, was relocated to a raft on the River Isar so that a spectacular sea battle could be enacted there.
Past experiences live on, leaving their mark on the players and overwriting their history in the manner of a palimpsest, while leaving btraces of earlier layers. Nothing is ever completely forgotten. Just as something is invariably left over from every good relationship, so each experience leaves behind a residue that continues to exist in unseen ways, emerging only when it is required to do so. Their exploration of so many different musical landscapes creates a variety that pushes back the horizon even further. Just as the orchestra’s engagement with Classical and Romantic works makes it easier for its players to understand indivi-dual styles on the cusp of tonality and beyond, so their work on contemporary scores allows them to take a fresh look at the classics.
The variety of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester is also reflected in the range and depth of its programmes as well as in the manifold forms that its activities take, activities that it invariably pursues with passion. When Octavian presents a silver rose to Sophie, this scene is accompanied not only by radiant harmonies on a celesta, two harps and a glockenspiel, turning this moment into an event of the highest order, the score’s complex rhythms and kinetic textures extend beyond the performers’ voices and envelop the rose in an aura of elaborate intervals and ingenious turns of phrase. Dance theatre also represents a significant field of activity for the orchestra, and just as its operatic repertory extends from the Baroque to the great Romantic works and the present day, so it accompanies the entire range of choreographic works for the theatre, opening up a vast panorama that extends from dance episodes from the Baroque to the classical ballets of the nineteenth century, the works that were created in the twentieth century and projects involving the contemporary avant-garde.
The prospect of being able to work on projects that no other house can attempt draws international choreographers to Munich’s Nationaltheater. “Here we can play music that demands a great and outstanding orchestra,” says choreographer Jörg Mannes in the context of his adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. And so Ariel can chase the stranded seafarers over the stage as dogs, jackals and tigers, while jagged intervals rise up out of the crowded orchestra pit. The fact that the orchestra is an equal partner in ballet performances is underscored by the work of choreographers in which the dancers visualize the music. While the orchestra performs works from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centu-ries, the dancers respond by adopting the appropriate dance idioms. And so the enchantment associated with mystery is cast over the stage when the dancers respond to a musical explosion in the pit with expressive concentration.
Finally, whenever the Bayerisches Staatsorchester invites audiences to its Academy Concerts, the Nationaltheater is transformed into what Wolfgang Sa-wallisch is once called “Munich’s most beautiful concert hall”. On these occasions the orchestra is literally centre-stage. These concerts, which are now a local in-stitution, can be traced back to a time when a major concert was held every Wed-nesday at Nymphenburg. The symphonic repertory that has been performed throughout these years is correspondingly vast and varied. And new works are added each year, in many cases commissions by the Bayerische Staatsoper that are receiving their first performances.
But it is the chamber concerts that cover the greatest historical range, a circum-stance due in part to the fact that the Bayerisches Staatsorchester was originally a chamber ensemble and in part because its members explore the whole spect-rum of music at their chamber concerts, taking a particular interest in the period from the early twentieth century to the present day but also going back in time to the Baroque and the Renaissance. They also engage with remote corners of the repertory and enjoy experimentation. In this way they have sought to establish connections with other arts, including literature, and with other cultures, including Far Eastern sounds and African polyrhythms. Every department of the orchestra takes part in these activities, exploring traditional chamber formations such as the string quartet and the piano trio but also investigating other resources, inclu-ding flute, oboe, english horn, clarinet and bassoon or flute and percussion or oboe, bass clarinet and piano. Nor do they shy away from novel performance techniques, holding their string instruments as they would hold a guitar, for exa-mple.
This range culminates each year in the Munich Opera Festival, when the Bayeri-sches Staatsorchester is challenged in the whole range of its activities from an opera and ballet orchestra to concerts that are a part of its Academy Concert series, specially mounted Festival concerts and chamber recitals.
Yet the most valuable tool in this varied arsenal is the people who over the centu-ries have breathed life into this ensemble and who have allowed it to grow artisti-cally. Evening after evening the individual members of the orchestra contribute to its profile and to ist brilliant success with their own cultural background, their indi-vidual life stories, their abilities and their experience. The creativity, commitment and talents of the musicians in the pit and on the podium have resulted in the strength that has kept this wonderful orchestra alive through wars, political uphe-avals, fires and the repeated loss of its instruments. It is this strength that also guarantees the orchestra’s future.

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