My music… My orchestra.

100 years of radio history in Berlin… a diary.

The unique Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, as the founding orchestra of German radio, is an integral part of radio culture and history in Germany. I would like to focus on showcasing the fascinating personalities and artistic developments here and…

“…that all great art, all great music belongs together across time.”

Federal President Walter Steinmeier at the Transformation Concert ‘100 Years of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin’, 2023.

In its home and place of work, the House of Broadcasting on Masurenallee in Berlin, the orchestra has become a meeting point for the best and most renowned conductors, composers, and soloists of their time, and continues to reflect the societal developments and upheavals to this day.

Since its inception, the RSB’s repertoire has covered the entire spectrum of music literature, from the pre-Baroque to the present, with a focus on the classical-romantic period. The Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin can be experienced equally in the great concert halls of Berlin, the Berlin Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus Berlin, as well as in the Grand Broadcast Hall of the Broadcasting House on Masurenallee.

As a media orchestra, international guest performances and tours, productions for all media, a diverse and wide-ranging offering in music education, innovative concert formats, new and experimental music, and its exceptional commitment to socially relevant issues are among its core competencies.

Chief conductors such as Bruno Seidler-Winkler, Eugen Jochum, Sergiu Celibidache, Artur Rother, Hermann Abendroth, Rolf Kleinert, Heinz Rögner, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Marek Janowski, and Vladimir Jurowski (since 2017) have shaped the distinctive sound of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin.

Renowned guest conductors and soloists, including Bruno Walter, Richard Strauss, Gregor Piatigorsky, Otto Klemperer, Ferenc Fricsay, David Oistrach, Karl Böhm, Franz Konwitschny, Kurt Sanderling, Yehudi Menuhin, Kurt Masur, Helene Grimaud, Pinchas Zukerman, and many others, have had a lasting influence on the RSB.

“…An orchestra does not come into existence through a wish or a command. An orchestra is something that grows over many years. The musicians still have in mind what Stravinsky did. They are grateful for what Richard Strauss, Bruno Walter, or Franz Konwitschny, what Hermann Abendroth or Marek Janowski gave them, and what Vladimir Jurowski has developed with the orchestra. Here is the result. It is wonderful and does not come by itself…

frei nach Herbert Blomstedt