Orchestra

With a tradition of more than 450 years, Staatskapelle Berlin is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. Originally founded as a court orchestra by Prince-Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg in 1570, the ensemble found its artistic home with the founding of the Royal Court Opera Unter den Linden in 1742 by the Prussian king Frederick the Great. Ever since then, the orchestra has been housed at the opera house at the heart of Berlin. Many important musicians have conducted the operas as well as the regular concerts, which have been held since 1842. Conductors such as Gaspare Spontini, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Felix von Weingartner, Richard Strauss, Erich Kleiber, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Franz Konwitschny, and Otmar Suitner shaped the ensemble and its unique sound.

Daniel Barenboim was the orchestra’s general music director for more than thirty years, from 1992 until 2023. During this time, numerous guest appearances all across Europe, Israel, the Far East, Australia, as well as in North and South America, established the outstanding status of Staatskapelle Berlin. The performance of all of Beethoven’s symphonies and piano concertos in Vienna, Paris, London, New York and Tokyo, the ten-part cycle of all of Wagner’s important operas during the Staatsoper’s Festtage in 2002 were some of the most outstanding events, as well as performances of Wagner’s Ring cycle in Tokyo and at the London Proms. In addition, Staatskapelle Berlin performed large symphonic cycles (including Schumann, Brahms, Brucker, and Mahler) at music centers around the world, as well as works of high modernism and contemporary music. In 2024, Daniel Barenboim was awarded the title honorary principal conductor in recognition of his artistic achievements, joining the company of honorary conductors named during the past decades: Otmar Suitner, Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, and most recently Simon Rattle.

Numerous CD and DVD releases document the ensemble’s outstanding artistic excellence. Since 1990, these include recordings of all the symphonies of Beethoven, Bruckner, Brahms, and Schumann, the piano concertos of Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, and Brahms, and key works by Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Elgar, and Debussy. Studio productions were also recorded of Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer, Tannhäuser and Lohengrin, Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Strauss’ Elektra, all under the direction of Daniel Barenboim, as well as live performances of Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Parsifal and Tristan, Verdi’s Il trovatore and Falstaff, Berg’s Lulu, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Czar’s Bride, Schumann’s  Szenen aus Goethes Faust, Prokofiev’s The Gambler, and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (with Daniel Barenboim), Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (with Gustavo Dudamel), Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier (with Zubin Mehta), Janáček’s Jenůfa (with Simon Rattle) as well as Wagner’s Ring (with Christian Thielemann). A CD edition was released to mark the 450th anniversary of the ensemble’s founding in 2020; in addition, this anniversary was celebrated with a book publication and an exhibition.  

Staatskapelle Berlin’s relationship with Christian Thielemann began in 2022, with a symphony concert and new production of Wagner’s Ring – in both cases, the conductor had to take over at the very last minute. After a successful Asia tour with symphonies by Brahms and Bruckner, Thielemann was named general music director in 2023, and took his new position at the start of the 2024/25 season. During the first two seasons, he conducted numerous operas and concert performances, including Strauss’s Die schweigsame Frau (winner of the Oper! award in 2025) and Der Rosenkavalier, Berg’s Wozzeck and once again Wagner’s Ring, as well as orchestral pieces and songs by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Bruckner, and Strauss, Brahmsʼ A German Requiem and programs with music from operettas, film, and radio. After touring in Hamburg, Munich, and Vienna during the 2025/26 season, in the 2026/27 season, Staatskapelle Berlin and Christian Thielemann will be performing Straussʼ Der Rosenkavalier in Shanghai and a concert series that takes them to China, Japan, and Taiwan, as well as to Frankfurt am Main, Dresden, and Vienna’s Musikverein. In the series of symphony concerts held in Berlin, the Staatskapelle will be performing works by composers such as Mendelssohn, Liszt and Strauss, and as part of the Festtage 2027 Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as part of the bicentennial of the composer’s death. At the opera house Unter den Linden with Christian Thielemann at the podium, the Staatskapelle will be performing a new production of Humperdinck’s Königskinder as well as Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Tannhäuser.