Artists

Biography:

The Münchener Kammerorchester (MKO) is known worldwide for its daring and varied programmes. With great curiosity and open-mindedness, stylistic diversity and a top-calibre performance level, it combines music from past centuries with works of today, relying on powers of association and excitement. It is also constantly on the lookout for innovative concert formats and new cultural synergies, thereby projecting a unique profile on the international orchestral landscape.

Founded in 1950, the ensemble’s core consists of 28 permanent string players from 14 different countries. A stellar group of regular guests from top-tier European orchestras allows the MKO to expand its membership, allowing it to give benchmark performances of masterpieces from the classical-romantic repertoire, and to kindle its audiences’ excitement for music over and over again with its energy and commitment. Since 2022, the MKO has been working on a longer-term basis with three Associated Conductors in place of a Principal Conductor, in order to promote a deepening of the entire repertoire spectrum. But concerts led by one of the MKO’s two concertmasters, Yuki Kasai and Daniel Giglberger, still remain an important part of MKO’s activities.

The MKO’s tireless commitment to contemporary music is evident in the numerous works it has premiered in recent decades. Composers such as Iannis Xenakis, Wolfgang Rihm, Tan Dun, Chaya Czernowin, Georg Friedrich Haas, Pascal Dusapin, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Thomas Larcher, Tigran Mansurian, Salvatore Sciarrino and Jörg Widmann have written for the MKO. In recent years, composition commissions were awarded to Beat Furrer, Milica Djordjević, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Thomas Adès, Clara Iannotta, Samir Odeh-Tamimi, Mark Andre, Stefano Gervasoni, Márton Illés, Miroslav Srnka, Mithatcan Öcal, Johannes Maria Staud, Dieter Ammann, Sara Glojnarić and Lisa Streich, among others. In addition to a continuous collaboration with the label ECM Records, a number of MKO recordings have been released by Sony Classical, Deutsche Grammophon, Warner, BIS, NEOS, KAIROS and Berlin Classics.