Since it was founded in 1946, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin has become recognized around the world. Famous music directors shaped the first seven decades of its history: Ferenc Fricsay, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Chailly, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kent Nagano, Ingo Metzmacher and Tugan Sokhiev. The association of many years with top-class guest conductors such as James Conlon, Manfred Honeck, Ton Koopman, Sir Roger Norrington, Sakari Oramo, Leonard Slatkin and David Zinman contributes to the orchestra’s renown.

An ‘orchestral think tank’ is how the Süddeutsche Zeitung once under- scored the DSO’s position among the capital city’s orchestras, alluding to the rich dramaturgy of the concert programmes, the commitment to contemporary music and a steady flow of repertoire discoveries – and to the courage to deploy unusual formats to convey and communicate music that continues to characterize the orchestra through the present day.

With its many guest performances, the DSO is present on the national and international music scene. The orchestra has performed in recent years in Brazil and Argentina, in Japan, China, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi and Eastern Europe, as well as at major festivals such as the Edinburgh International Festival, the Salzburg Festival and the BBC Proms. The DSO’s symphony concerts in Berlin’s Philharmonie are recorded by Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Deutschlandfunk and rbbKultur, and broadcast in Germany and beyond. A collaboration between ARTE Concert and rbb television for live broadcasts and TV broadcasts has existed since 2013. The DSO also has a global presence with numerous award-winning recordings. In 2011, it received the Grammy Award for the premiere recording of Kaija Saariaho’s opera L’amour de loin conducted by Kent Nagano.

The DSO Berlin is an ensemble of the Radio Orchestra and Choirs GmbH (ROC). The shareholders are Deutschlandradio, the Federal Republic of Germany, the State of Berlin and Radio Berlin-Brandenburg.