[sold out] Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Convincing charisma, great experimental spirit and enthusiasm, as well as an uncompromising artistic seriousness – all of this makes the Liverpool-native Simon Rattle one of the most fascinating conducting personalities of our time. In 2010, with Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri, Sir Simon Rattle stood for the first time at the podium of the BR- Chor and BRSO. Since then, an intensive collaboration has developed, and his performances in Munich have always been highlights. In 2021, Simon Rattle and the BRSO solidified their deep mutual affection with the signing of a contract for Simon Rattle to take on the position of chief conductor starting in the 2023/2024 season. Thus, the 69-year-old Briton with a German passport assumed the leadership of the orchestra last September, an orchestra he has admired since his youth. As before his appointment, Simon Rattle presents a broad repertoire: from Rameau, Bach, Haydn, and Mozart to modern and contemporary music, from the classics of symphonic music to concertante opera. Under the label "hip – historically informed performance“, he will also establish the playing of early music on original instruments at the BRSO. Additionally, Simon Rattle is passionately dedicated to music education. Ambitious projects with the BRSO Academy or the Bavarian State Youth Orchestra are as much a priority for him as the "Symphonic Hoagascht," where he brings together brass ensembles from Bavaria with the BRSO.

Simon Rattle's steep career began at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Between 1980 and 1998, he led it to world renown. From 2002 to 2018 he was Chief Conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker, and from 2017 to 2023 Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra, with which he will remain associated as Conductor Emeritus. Moreover, Simon Rattle is the "Principal Artist" of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the First Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, and maintains long-standing relationships with other top orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic or the Berlin Staatskapelle, and with renowned opera houses including the Royal Opera House in London, the Berlin State Opera, the New York Met, and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. A recent collaboration led him to the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Simon Rattle has received numerous high honors. Among the CDs released with the BRSO, Mahler's Ninth Symphony was awarded a Diapason d’or and a Gramophone Editor’s Choice, while the Sixth Symphony received a Gramophone Editor’s Choice and a Prize of the German Record Critics.

Seong-Jin Cho has established himself worldwide as one of the leading pianists of his generation and most distinctive artists on the current music scene. With an innate musicality and consummate artistry, his thoughtful and poetic, virtuosic, and colourful playing can combine panache with purity and is driven by an impressive natural sense of balance. He is celebrated unanimously across the globe for his expressive magic and illuminative insights.

Seong-Jin Cho was brought to the world's attention in 2015 when he won First Prize at the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw, and his career has rapidly　ascended since. In early 2016, he signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and, in 2023, Cho was awarded the prestigious Samsung Ho-Am Prize in the Arts in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the world of classical music. An artist high in demand, Cho works with the world's most prestigious orchestras including Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouworkest, and Boston Symphony Orchestra. Conductors he regularly collaborates with include Myung-Whun Chung, Gustavo Dudamel, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Lahav Shani.

In the 2024/25 season Seong-Jin Cho takes up the mantle of Artist in Residence with the Berliner Philharmoniker, a position which sees Cho work with the orchestra on multiple projects across the season including concerto performances, chamber music collaborations, on tour to the Osterfestspiele Baden-Baden, and in recital.

Elsewhere, he notably returns to London's BBC Proms, to the Philadelphia Orchestra to open their season with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, to New York Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Santtu-Matias Rouvali, and to The Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst. Cho embarks on several international tours, including his notable return to Wiener Philharmoniker with Andris Nelsons in Korea and to Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks with Sir Simon Rattle in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, following a performance of Brahms Piano Concerto. No. 2 in Munich.

Highly sought after in recital, Seong-Jin Cho appears in the world's most prestigious concert halls including the main stage of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Wien, Alte Oper Frankfurt, KKL Luzern, Sala Santa Cecilia, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Rudolfinum, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Festival International de Piano de la Roque d'Anthéron, and Verbier Festival. During the coming season he will present the complete solo piano music of Maurice Ravel at venues including the Wiener Konzerthaus, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Barbican Centre London, Celebrity Series at Boston Symphony Hall, Walt Disney Hall Los Angeles, and Carnegie Hall.

Seong-Jin Cho's latest recording is his solo album entitled ‘The Handel Project', released in early 2023. In 2021, he released Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Scherzi with the London Symphony Orchestra and Gianandrea Noseda for Deutsche Grammophon. He had previously recorded his first album with the same orchestra and conductor featuring Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 as well as the Four Ballades. His solo album titled ‘The Wanderer' was released in 2020 and features Schubert's ‘Wanderer Fantasy', Berg's Piano Sonata op. 1, and Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor. A solo Debussy recital was also released in 2017, followed by a Mozart album with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Yannick Nézet-Séguin in 2018. All albums have been released on the Yellow Label and have garnered impressive critical acclaim worldwide.

Born in 1994 in Seoul, Seong-Jin Cho started learning the piano at the age of six and gave his first public recital aged 11. In 2009, he became the youngest-ever winner of Japan's Hamamatsu International Piano Competition.

In 2011, he won Third Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at the age of 17. From 2012-2015 he studied with Michel Béroff at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. Seong-Jin Cho is now based in Berlin.

With the 2023/24 season, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra welcomed its new principal conductor: Sir Simon Rattle. As the sixth chief conductor in the line of important orchestra leaders after Eugen Jochum, Rafael Kubelik, Sir Colin Davis, Lorin Maazel and Mariss Jansons, who died on 1 December 2019, he is a conductor personality of great openness to new artistic paths.

The BRSO, which celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2024, developed into an internationally renowned orchestra soon after its founding in 1949. In addition to the interpretation of the classical-romantic repertoire, the orchestra's central concern from the beginning was to cultivate contemporary music within the framework of musica viva, founded by Karl Amadeus Hartmann in 1945.

Since its beginnings, many renowned guest conductors such as Erich and Carlos Kleiber, Otto Klemperer, Leonard Bernstein, Georg Solti, Carlo Maria Giulini, Kurt Sanderling and Wolfgang Sawallisch have left their mark on the symphony orchestra.
Today, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Riccardo Muti, Herbert Blomstedt, Franz Welser-Möst, Daniel Harding and Iván Fischer are important partners.

The orchestra tours regularly throughout Europe, Asia and North and South America. Japanese music critics voted the BRSO's concerts under the direction of Zubin Mehta the No. 1 best concerts in 2018.

Its numerous CD recordings have repeatedly won national and international awards, such as the Grammy (2006). Most recently the recording of Gustav Mahler's 9th Symphony under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle was awarded the "Diapason d'or" (2023).

In an orchestra ranking by "Bachtrack”, one of the world's leading website for classical music events for which internationally renowned music critics were asked about "The world's greatest orchestras," the BRSO came in third place.