Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
The first “Funk-Stunde Berlin” in October 1923 marked the birth of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB). Since then, radio pioneers such as Otto Urack, Bruno Seidler-Winkler, Kurt Weill and Paul Hindemith as well as chief conductors such as Eugen Jochum, Sergiu Celibidache, Hermann Abendroth, Rolf Kleinert, Heinz Rögner and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos have formed an orchestra that has experienced the highs and lows of German history in the 20th century like almost no other German orchestra.
From 2002 to 2016, Marek Janowski was at the helm of the RSB as chief conductor and worked with the orchestra on the great symphonic repertoire of the Classical and Romantic periods in the German and French-speaking world. His standard-setting concert Wagner cycle (2010-2013) attracted worldwide attention, not least due to the live recording of the ten operas for the PENTATONE label. Vladimir Jurowski succeeded him and has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) since 2017. His concerts, tours and recordings were the highlights of the “RSB100” anniversary season in 2023/24.
Renowned composers of the 20th and 21st centuries appeared as guests on the podium of the RSB or performed their own works as soloists: Paul Hindemith, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Hans Pfitzner, Sergei Prokofiev, Richard Strauss, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Vladimir Vogel, Kurt Weill and Alexander Zemlinsky and, most recently, Krzysztof Penderecki, Berthold Goldschmidt, Peter Maxwell Davies, Friedrich Goldmann, Peter Ruzicka, Jörg Widmann, Daniel Schnyder, Matthias Pintscher, Siegfried Matthus, Heinz Holliger, Thomas Adès, Brett Dean and Marko Nikodijević. In the 2021/2022 season, Yelena Firssova was the orchestra's Composer in Residence.
In the 2024/2025 season, four composers conduct their own works with the RSB: Jörg Widmann, Matthias Pintscher, Thomas Adès and Martin Fröst.
Former chief conductors include names such as Sergiu Celibidache, Eugen Jochum, Hermann Abendroth, Rolf Kleinert, Heinz Rögner and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. Many successful conductors choose the RSB as a partner for their Berlin debut and remain closely associated with the orchestra, including Alain Altinoglu, Jakub Hrůša, Omer Meir Wellber, Lahav Shani, Thomas Søndergård, Ariane Matiakh and Edward Gardner.
In addition to the symphony concerts in the Philharmonie and Konzerthaus Berlin, the RSB performs chamber music at special venues in the capital. Numerous concert programs, some developed by the orchestra members themselves, are also dedicated to adolescents and the curious, including the successful “Rapauke macht Musik” series for children aged 3 and up.
In the inclusive format “Concert for All”, the RSB designs programs that enable people with disabilities to participate. With this project, the orchestra is opening the doors of classical music to people with hearing and cognitive impairments and sending a strong signal for greater accessibility and inclusion in classical concerts.
This commitment is supported by close cooperation with partners such as the Center for Culture and Visual Communication of the Deaf Berlin/Brandenburg, the Landesvereinigung Selbsthilfe Berlin e.V., Lebenshilfe e.V. and funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM). The RSB receives the Innovation Award of the German Orchestra Foundation for the “Concert for All”!
Under the direction of Frank Strobel, the RSB presents exemplary film music projects, including world premieres of reconstructed or newly composed silent film music. The orchestra fulfills its mission as a radio orchestra with numerous studio productions, which include often forgotten or suppressed repertoire rarities in addition to concert broadcasts by Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Deutschlandfunk, rbbKultur and the European Broadcasting Union. In 2025, guest performances will take the RSB to Japan and Korea as well as to renowned concert halls in Germany and Europe.