ORF VIENNA RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra is a top orchestra of world renown; it defines itself in the Vienna orchestral tradition. Since September 2019, Marin Alsop has been principal conductor. The Vienna RSO is known for its exceptional, bold programming. By combining nineteenth-century repertoire with contemporary pieces and rarely performed works of other periods, the programming often places Romantic era classics in unexpected contexts.
All the orchestra’s performances are broadcast, especially on the radio station Österreich 1 but also in other countries. After the broadcast, all concerts are available for a week on the Ö1 media centre. Through its growing presence on European television, as well as its collaboration with the young people’s station FM4, the RSO is constantly reaching out to new music lovers. Many fans support the orchestra’s “Friends of the RSO” club.
The RSO is also entirely at home in the film music genre. Every year, the orchestra is conducted by composers who have won an Oscar for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures. In 2012, the RSO recorded the soundtrack to the film Die Vermessung der Welt (Measuring the World), with two more films following in 2016: Kater (Tomcat) and Die Geträumten. A highlight among the orchestra’s many CD releases is the three-CD box set Martinů: The Symphonies, which in 2018 won the coveted ICMA in the Symphonic Music category. In addition, the principal conductor at the time, Cornelius Meister, received the Opus Klassik award as conductor of the year for the recording.
The RSO regularly performs in two subscription series in Vienna, at the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus. In addition, it appears every year at major Austrian and international festivals. The orchestra has close ties with the Salzburg Festival, musikprotokoll im steirischen herbst and Wien Modern. Tours to Japan and China are a regular part of the Vienna RSO schedule, with further tours taking the orchestra to the USA, South America, Spain, Italy and Germany. Since 2007, the RSO has successfully collaborated with the Theater an der Wien, thereby gaining an excellent reputation as an opera orchestra.
WIENER SYMPHONIKER
The Wiener Symphoniker (Vienna Symphony Orchestra) is one of the world’s top orchestras. At the heart of its activities are the careful preservation, innovative development and widespread cultivation of the Viennese orchestral tradition that has evolved since its foundation over a hundred years ago. In recent decades, the Wiener Symphoniker’s memorable projects and programmes have earned it a reputation as one of Europe’s most forward-thinking ensembles.
The orchestra was founded in 1900 as the Wiener Concertverein, and over the following years its distinct orchestral identity was moulded by conducting greats such as Bruno Walter, Richard Strauss, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Georges Prêtre. Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber and Sergiu Celibidache are among the luminaries who have enjoyed notable success as regular guests on the podium of the Wiener Symphoniker.
The orchestra made musical history with its world premieres of works that are now considered staples of the repertoire, such as Anton Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony, Arnold Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder, Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand and Franz Schmidt's The Book with Seven Seals.
As Vienna’s concert orchestra with its own series at the city’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus, the Wiener Symphoniker performs at over 150 concerts and operas every year, thus forming the central pillar of symphonic performance within the musical life of the city. As Vienna’s official cultural ambassador, the orchestra appears at the world’s foremost centres of music. What is more, it regularly ventures away from its more familiar surroundings and into the districts of Vienna to give concerts for the people of the city themselves. Since the Bregenzer Festspiele were first staged in 1946, the Wiener Symphoniker has been orchestra in residence at the festival where it not only provides the music for the operas on the world’s largest floating stage on Lake Constance and in the Festspielhaus, but also contributes many concerts of orchestral music to the programme.
Swiss conductor Philippe Jordan filled the position of principal conductor from the 2014-2015 season, with Andrés Orozco-Estrada succeeding him in 2020.