THE Bayerische Staatsorchester
In 2023, the Bayerische Staatsorchester celebrated its five hundredth anniversary, making it one of the oldest and most traditional ensembles in the world. Based in the Bayerische Staatsoper, the orchestra and its 144 members perform both in the orchestra pit and on the concert platform. In 2024, the orchestra was voted Orchestra of the Year for the tenth time in a row and for the twelfth time overall in the critics' survey conducted by Opernwelt magazine and was also honored at the Grammophone Awards in London for its recordings on the Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings label as an opera and symphony orchestra (for Die tote Stadt and The Snow Queen as well as for Mahler's Symphony No. 7) - an unprecedented success in the history of the Grammophone Awards.
In 1811, members of the former court orchestra founded the Musikalische Akademie e. V. association, which established Munich's first public concert series with the Academy Concerts. To this day, the Musikalische Akademie and its activities continue to shape the musical life of Munich and the Free State of Bavaria. The activities in Munich are complemented by numerous guest performances and concert tours, which regularly take the orchestra to the world's most important music centers.
The Bayerische Staatsorchester staged several premieres, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Idomeneo and Richard Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg as well as Das Rheingold and Die Walküre. Many of the most important musical personalities of their time led the orchestra as chief conductors: from Hermann Levi, Richard Strauss, Felix Mottl, Bruno Walter and Hans Knappertsbusch to Sir Georg Solti, Joseph Keilberth, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano and Kirill Petrenko. The orchestra also had a close relationship with Carlos Kleiber. With the 2021/22 season, Vladimir Jurowski has taken over the management of the Bayerische Staatsorchester as Bavarian General Music Director.