ÍøÆغÚÁÏ

The Bavarian Radio Chorus (German: Chor des bayerischen Rundfunks) is among the most versatile of Europe's major choirs, with a repertory that extends from historical performances of Baroque works, through major oratorios, choral symphonies, and operas, to contemporary music. Long associated with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the chorus also performs independently and collaborates with conductors beyond Bavaria and beyond Germany.

The Bavarian Radio Chorus was founded in 1946, actually predating its orchestral partner; the two groups began working together in 1950. The chorus was one of the first new groups to be constituted in post-World War II Germany. It has shared conductors with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, including Eugen Jochum (1949-1960), Rafael Kubelik (1961-1979), Colin Davis (1983-1992), Lorin Maazel (1993-2002), and Mariss Jansons, from 2003 until his death in 2019. The artistic director has sometimes been a separate figure; as of the early 2020s, the artistic director was Howard Arman. The chorus has also performed with guest conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, and historical-performance specialist Nikolaus Harnoncourt. In addition to major European symphony orchestras, it has collaborated with period instrument groups such as Il Giardino Armonico, Concerto Köln, and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Along with orchestral performances, the BR Chorus has presented a subscription concert series in Munich since 1998. The group offers contemporary music in a special "Musica Viva" series and invites amateurs to sing with the choir in a series called "cOHRwürmer" -- roughly, "choir earworms." Matching the mission of its radio network host, the BR Chorus aims some programming at young listeners and musicians.

The Bavarian Radio Chorus has a catalog of more than 50 recordings, made solo, with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, and with other ensembles. They cover a wide range of genres and music from various periods and national traditions. The BR Chorus has recorded for leading labels, including Oehms and Deutsche Grammophon; since the formation of Bavarian Radio's label, BR Klassik, in the late 2000s decade, it has recorded mostly for that label, issuing as many as six albums annually. In 2020, the BR Chorus under Arman released a recording of Mozart's Requiem in D minor, K. 626, with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. ~ James Manheim

Of the three major orchestras based in Munich, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra is probably the most prominent and arguably the finest. It has been the most heavily recorded of the three and one of the most often-recorded ensembles in the world, its recordings appearing on a variety of major and minor labels over the years. Moreover, all of its music directors have been internationally acclaimed as among the leading conductors of their time.

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra was established in 1949, and from that time to the present, has functioned under the financial and organizational auspices of the Bavarian Radio of Munich. Eugen Jochum was appointed the ensemble's first music director, and he immediately proceeded to build the orchestra into one of Germany's finest. Its initial recordings were made under his baton in 1950. The orchestra's reputation in concert developed even more quickly under Jochum. Several critically acclaimed tours of Europe throughout the '50s, reaching from Austria to Great Britain, established its prominence early on. Igor Stravinsky led the ensemble in performances of his own works in 1951, and four years later, Paul Hindemith conducted a program featuring his music. Other prominent artists and conductors also appeared in the '50s, including the orchestra's next music director, Rafael Kubelik, who succeeded Jochum in 1961. Kubelik's notable recordings with Bavarian Radio Symphony include several of the Mahler symphonies and Schoenberg's Gurrelieder. Kubelik was a conservative in matters of repertory, largely focusing on Classical and Romantic works. He also made a number of successful concert tours of Europe and North America with the Bavarian Radio Symphony in both the 1960s and '70s.

The Bavarian Radio Symphony continued to attract major artists and guest conductors, including Carlo Maria Giulini, Bernard Haitink, Zubin Mehta, and Leonard Bernstein, who made regular appearances with the ensemble beginning in 1976. Kubelik resigned in September 1979, and Kiril Kondrashin, a recent defector from the Soviet Union and one of the world's most respected conductors, was chosen to become his successor. He was never officially named music director, though he functioned in that capacity, and when he suddenly died of a heart attack in 1981, the orchestra was left without a director until 1983, when Sir Colin Davis took the podium. During his tenure, many successful tours were undertaken, including ones to Japan in 1984 and to the United States in 1986. Davis' critically acclaimed recordings with the Bavarian Radio Symphony include releases of the Mendelssohn symphonies and Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio. Lorin Maazel succeeded him in 1993 and continued the tradition of conducting and recording many choral and vocal works. The orchestra's releases under Maazel's direction include compelling performances of several Mahler works with Waltraud Meier.

Maazel's tenure with the orchestra ended in 2002, and he was succeeded the following year by Mariss Jansons. In 2006, Jansons and Bavarian Radio Symphony won a Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance for its recording of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13 on the EMI Classics label. Since 2009, the orchestra has also recorded under its own BR Klassik label, where it released recordings of Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 as well as Schumann's Symphony No. 1 with Schubert's Symphony No. 3 in 2019. Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony enjoyed a fruitful collaboration, greatly expanding the orchestra's recordings while earning major prizes. Jansons' term as chief conductor ended with his death on December 1, 2019, shortly after leading his final concert with the group in early November. Sir Simon Rattle was named the orchestra's next chief conductor in 2021, with his term set to begin with the 2023-2024 season.

The orchestra, which has regularly broadcast concerts over Bavarian Radio throughout its existence, consists of 115 members and performs in the Philharmonie Munich am Gasteig and the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. Sometimes known outside Germany as the Munich Symphony, in addition to the full orchestra, several smaller ensembles, including the Koeckert-Quartet, the Bach Collegium Munich, and the Munich Brass Ensemble, have been established by members of the larger group. The popularity and critical acclaim given these smaller ensembles reflects the high standard of musicianship present within the full orchestra. ~ Robert Cummings & Keith Finke

Latvia's Mariss Jansons was one of the most important conductors to have emerged from the Soviet Union in the last years of its existence. He led major orchestras in Europe and the U.S. and amassed a large catalog of recordings.

Jansons was born January 14, 1943, in German-occupied Latvia; his mother, who was Jewish, had fled the capital to give birth. Both her father and her uncle were killed. After the war, Jansons studied violin with his father and then enrolled at the Leningrad Conservatory (now the St. Petersburg Conservatory), studying conducting and piano. He was able to travel to the West for further study in Austria with Hans Swarowsky and Herbert von Karajan. He won the International Herbert von Karajan Foundation Competition in Berlin. The impressed Karajan wanted to offer Jansons a position as his assistant at the Berlin Philharmonic, but the Soviet government did not transmit the offer to Jansons. He landed, however, with another influential conductor, Yevgeny Mravinsky, who appointed Jansons associate conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra in 1973. Jansons moved on to his first major Western position as music director of the Oslo Philharmonic in 1979, remaining in that post until 2000; he resigned after clashing with the city of Oslo over the acoustics of the Oslo Concert Hall. He added the post of principal conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic to his portfolio in 1985, leading that group on tours of Europe and the U.S. after it changed its name to the St. Petersburg Philharmonic following the fall of the Soviet Union. Those tours exposed Jansons to new audiences, leading to his appointment as principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic in 1992 and as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1997; he remained there until 2004, taking advantage of the city's skilled medical care infrastructure to have a defibrillator implanted after suffering a heart attack while conducting a performance of Puccini's La bohème. From 2002 to 2014, he was the chief conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, and in the 2003-2004 season, he began a long tenure as chief conductor of the Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra). He gained broad public visibility from conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's annual New Year's concert several times.

Jansons' discography is vast, including many albums on the EMI Classics label and on the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra's in-house BR Klassik label. Within the first two months of the year 2019, he had already been heard on four albums: recordings of Beethoven, Schumann, and Bruckner on BR Klassik and the collection Blue Hour with the Berlin Philharmonic on Deutsche Grammophon. Late in that same year, still having a heart condition, Jansons passed away at his home in St. Petersburg. Among his long list of honors was the Grand Merit Cross with Star of the Federal Republic of Germany. ~ James Manheim