Camerata Zürich

Camerata Zürich ranks among Switzerland’s foremost chamber ensembles and has long prioritized the creation of fresh Swiss repertoire while also presenting established works from both domestic and international sources. Founded in 1957 by conductor Räto Tschupp together with his spouse Els Tschupp-van Gastel, the ensemble was conceived to secure a platform for new Swiss pieces; in the decades since, it has commissioned well over one hundred such compositions. Its core comprises sixteen to twenty professional string players, with additional strings or winds engaged as required by each program. Only four principal conductors have led the group across its history: Räto Tschupp held the post until his death in 2002, after which Marc Kissóczy served from 2002 to 2009, followed by Thomas Demenga from 2011 to 2018 and Igor Karsko from 2019 onward—the latter having earlier been the orchestra’s concertmaster. Each season the Camerata presents four concerts at Tonhalle Zürich, which are subsequently aired by Radio Zürich.

Its discography reaches back to the LP period, beginning with a recording of Othmar Schoeck’s Elegie, Op. 36. Several projects appeared on the Guild label, among them a 2003 anthology of twentieth-century concertos for flute and clarinet that marked Tschupp’s final session. The ensemble continues to champion twentieth- and twenty-first-century scores, commissioning new pieces through a biennial competition open to children and adolescents, and it also revives overlooked Swiss music from the Classical and Romantic periods. Certain programs integrate dance, jazz, or additional media. In 2021 the Camerata made its first appearance on the ECM New Series imprint with Igor Karsko conducting an orchestral version of Janáček’s On an Overgrown Path.