The Basel Sinfonietta is a Swiss orchestra, based in

Basel Basel ( , ), also known as Basle ( ),french: Bâle ; it, Basilea ; rm, label= Sutsilvan, Basileia; other rm, Basilea . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine. Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city (after Zürich a ...

History

The Basel Sinfonietta was founded in 1980, as a self-governing ensemble, by a group of young musicians with a focus on

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seri ...

. The orchestra has presented more than 50 world premieres, many of them commissioned by the orchestra itself, such as ''Siegel'' (2008) and ''Viaggiatori'' (2011) by Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini. The Sinfonietta is the only Swiss orchestra to have been invited four times to participate in the famous Austrian

Salzburger Festspiele The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...

. The orchestra has performed at festivals such as the '' Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik'', the

Lucerne Festival Lucerne Festival is one of the leading international festivals in the world of classical music and presents a series of classical music festivals based in Lucerne, Switzerland. Founded in 1938 by Ernest Ansermet and Walter Schulthess, it curre ...

, the '' Biennale di Venezia'', Musica Strasbourg, the ''Festival d'Automne Paris'' and ''Kunstfest Weimar''. Baldur Brönnimann became the first-ever principal conductor of the orchestra in 2016. Brönnimann is scheduled to stand down as principal conductor at the close of the 2022-2023 season. In December 2021, the orchestra announced the appointment of Titus Engel as its next principal conductor, effective with the 2023-2024 season.

Principal conductors

* Baldur Brönnimann (2016–present)

References

External links

* Swiss orchestras Musical groups established in 1980 Sinfoniettas (orchestras) 1980 establishments in Switzerland {{Orchestra-stub