The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) is a German broadcast orchestra based in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

performs its concerts principally in the

Philharmonie Berlin The () is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany, and home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Philharmonie lies on the south edge of the city's Tiergarten and just west of the former Berlin Wall. The Philharmonie is on Herbert-von-Karajan- ...

. The orchestra is administratively based at the ''Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) Fernsehzentrum'' in Berlin.

History

The orchestra was founded in 1946 by American occupation forces as the ''RIAS Symphonie-Orchester'' (RIAS, ''

Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor RIAS (; ''Radio in the American Sector'') was a radio and television station in the American Sector of Berlin during the Cold War. It was founded by the US occupational authorities after World War II in 1946 to provide the German population in ...

'' / "Radio In the American Sector"). It was also known as the American Sector Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra's first principal conductor was

Ferenc Fricsay Ferenc Fricsay (; 9 August 1914 – 20 February 1963) was a Hungarian conductor. From 1960 until his death, he was an Austrian citizen. Biography Fricsay was born in Budapest in 1914 and studied music under Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Ern ...

. In 1956 it was renamed the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (''Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin''), and in 1993 took on its present name. Between the chief conductorships of

Lorin Maazel Lorin Varencove Maazel (; March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in t ...

and

Riccardo Chailly Riccardo Chailly (, ; born 20 February 1953) is an Italian conductor. He is currently music director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and of La Scala. Prior to this, he held chief conducting positions at the Gewandhausorchester (2005–20 ...

, the orchestra did not have a single chief conductor. The major conductors who worked with the orchestra during this period, from 1976 to 1982, were

Erich Leinsdorf Erich Leinsdorf (born Erich Landauer; February 4, 1912 – September 11, 1993) was an Austrian-born American conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a ...

Eugen Jochum Eugen Jochum (; 1 November 1902 – 26 March 1987) was a German conducting, conductor, best known for his interpretations of the music of Anton Bruckner, Carl Orff, and Johannes Brahms, among others. Biography Jochum was born to a Roman Catholic ...

Gerd Albrecht Gerd Albrecht (19 July 1935 – 2 February 2014) was a German conductor. Biography Albrecht was born in Essen, the son of the musicologist Hans Albrecht (1902–1961). He studied music in Kiel and in Hamburg, where his teachers included Wilhel ...

Gennady Rozhdestvensky Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky, CBE (; 4 May 1931 – 16 June 2018) was a Soviet and Russian conductor, pianist, composer, and pedagogue. Biography Gennady Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. His parents were the noted conductor and pedagog ...

and

Neville Marriner Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English conductor and violinist. Described as "one of the world's greatest conductors", Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ra ...

. The orchestra returned to having a single chief conductor in 1982 with

Ingo Metzmacher Ingo Metzmacher (born 10 November 1957) is a German conductor and artistic director of the festival KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen in Hanover. Life Metzmacher was born in Hanover, the son of the cellist Rudolf Metzmacher and the research biol ...

became principal conductor as of the 20072008 season, with an original initial contract until 2011. However, after reports of disputes over financing and a threatened reduction in the size of the orchestra, in March 2009, Metzmacher announced his early resignation from the DSO-Berlin principal conductorship as of the summer of 2010. His final concerts as the orchestra's principal conductor were in June 2010 in Berlin and in August 2010 at

The Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

. In September 2010, the DSO-Berlin announced the appointment of

Tugan Sokhiev Tugan Taymurazovich Sokhiev (; ; born 21 October 1977, Ordzhonikidze, North Ossetian ASSR) is a Russian conductor. Biography Sokhiev began piano studies at age 7. He first conducted at age 17, inspired by Anatoly Briskin, the conductor of the ...

as its Principal Conductor and Artistic Director, as of 2012, with a contract of 4 years. Sokhiev concluded his DSO-Berlin tenure after the 2015–2016 season. In October 2014,

Robin Ticciati Robin Ticciati (born 16 April 1983, in London) is a British conductor of Italian ancestry. Biography Ticciati's paternal grandfather, Niso Ticciati, was a composer, arranger, cellist, and keyboardist. His father is a barrister, and his mother ...

made his first guest-conducting appearance with the DSO-Berlin. In October 2015, the orchestra named Ticciati its next principal conductor, effective with the 20172018 season, with an initial contract of 5 years. In September 2020, the DSO Berlin announced the extension of Ticciati's contract through 2027. In March 2023, a news report indicated that Ticciati is to stand down as principal conductor of the orchestra in 2025, two years ahead of his previously announced contract extension. Ticciati formally concluded his DSO-Berlin tenure in December 2024, having conducted his final concert as its principal conductor in November 2024. In April 2024,

Kazuki Yamada Kazuki Yamada (山田和樹; born 26 January 1979) is a Japanese conductor. Biography Yamada was born in Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture. He studied music, with a focus on percussion, at the Tokyo University of the Arts, where his conducting teach ...

first guest-conducted the DSO-Berlin in April 2024. He returned for a second guest-conducting appearance as an emergency substitute conductor in September 2024. In April 2025, the orchestra announced the appointment of Yamada as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2026-2027 season, with an initial contract of three years. The DSO-Berlin has recorded commercially for such labels as Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical and Harmonia Mundi. In 2011, the orchestra won a Grammy Award for its recording of Kaija Saariaho's '' L'amour de loin'', conducted by Kent Nagano.

Principal conductors

(19481954, 19591963) *

(19641975) *

(19821989) *

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, ...

(19891999) *

Kent Nagano Kent George Nagano (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been ''Generalmusikdirektor'' (GMD) of the Hamburg State Opera (until 2025). Early life and education Nagano was born in Berkeley, ...

(20002006) *

(20072010) *

(20122016) *

(2017–2024) *

(designate, effective 2026)

Conductors laureate

Günter Wand Günter Wand (7 January 1912, in Elberfeld, Germany – 14 February 2002, in Ulmiz near Bern, Switzerland) was a German orchestra conductor and composer. Wand studied in Wuppertal, Allenstein and Detmold. At the Cologne Conservatory, he was a ...

* Kent Nagano

References

External links

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin official English-language website

{{Authority control German symphony orchestras Orchestras in Berlin Musical groups established in 1946 German radio orchestras 1946 establishments in Germany Deutschlandradio

History

Principal conductors

Conductors laureate

See also

References

External links