Bamberg Symphony

The Bamberg Symphony was founded in the spring of 1946, when former members of the German Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague met again in the historic city on the Regnitz River and constituted a new orchestra. The first Principal Conductor until his death in 1968 was Joseph Keilberth; he was followed by Eugen Jochum, James Loughran, Horst Stein, and Jonathan Nott before Jakub Hrůša took over in 2016. Alongside him, Herbert Blomstedt and Christoph Eschenbach hold prominent positions as Honorary Conductors. The orchestra, to whose concert series in Bamberg 10% of the local population subscribes, is among the most traveled of ensembles: with almost 7,500 concerts in more than 500 cities and 63 countries, it has become the cultural ambassador for Bavaria and the whole of Germany as the Bavarian State Philharmonic Orchestra and regularly tours Europe, the USA, South America, and Asia. Jakub Hrůša develops a broad repertoire with the musicians that takes account of the orchestra’s historical roots and accentuates the Czech repertoire, while also including works of the present. The German Music Publishers Association has awarded the orchestra a prize for best concert program. And the “Bambergers” have also received numerous awards for their multiple CD recordings: For example, their 2021 recording of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony received the German Record Critics’ Award, and their 2022 project presenting Anton Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony in all three of its versions won the International Classical Music Award (ICMA). In 2020 they were awarded the Bavarian State Prize for Music.

Lucerne Festival debut in the summer of 2007, when “artiste étoile” Jonathan Nott conducted his orchestra in three concerts; the Bambergers performed here most recently on 26 August 2015 in Verdi’s Falstaff, again under Nott.

Further information: www.bambergsymphony.com

August 2022