Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra

Among major Western ensembles, few have generated more uncertainty about their identity than this one, largely on account of three successive names. Established in 1946 within Berlin’s American sector, the group came together as the city and most of Germany began to recover from wartime devastation. At its inception it was called the RIAS Symphony Orchestra, with the initials denoting “Radio in the American Sector.” By 1956 it had taken the title Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the designation still familiar to many concertgoers and collectors.

Renaming occurred again in 1993, when the orchestra became the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. The move helped distinguish it from a separate Berlin ensemble, the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin, frequently identified in German as Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. That ensemble, in turn, is often mislabeled on websites, in reference works, and in discographies as the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra—an English rendering that would otherwise be unobjectionable.

Under the new name, Vladimir Ashkenazy served as music director while Günter Wand held the post of principal guest conductor. Ashkenazy had assumed the music directorship in 1989, replacing Riccardo Chailly. The orchestra presents its subscription series at the Philharmonie in Berlin and at the Konzerthaus in the former East Berlin. Eliahu Inbal, Gerd Albrecht, Lothar Zagrosek, and other noted conductors have appeared regularly with the ensemble. Zagrosek produced several important recordings for Decca with the Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, which has also recorded for Denon, Orfeo, Capriccio, and CPO. After Ingo Metzmacher’s tenure from 2007 to 2010, Tugan Sokhiev was appointed principal conductor and artistic director, with his contract commencing in 2012. Robin Ticciati succeeded Sokhiev in the principal conductor role in 2017. The Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin ranks as the city’s second-most prominent orchestra after the Berlin Philharmonic.