Badische Staatskapelle

Founded in 1662 as the Court Orchestra of the Princely Court of Baden, which at that time still resided in Durlach, the BADISCHE STAATSKAPELLE developed into an orchestra with great national and international charisma. Famous court conductors such as Franz Danzi, Hermann Levi, Otto Dessoff and Felix Mottl conducted numerous premieres and first performances, e.g. of works by Hector Berlioz, Johannes Brahms and Béla Bartók. Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss also took the podium of the Hofkapelle on several occasions. Hermann Levi introduced the first regular subscription concerts of the then court orchestra in the 1860s, which still live on today as the symphony concerts of the BADISCHE STAATSKAPELLE.

General music directors such as Joseph Keilberth, Christof Prick, Günther Neuhold and Kazushi Ono led the orchestra into the modern era despite wars and financial hardship, without neglecting the pillars of the repertoire The BADISCHE STAATSKAPELLE still shows itself today with a complete span between repertoire care and presentation of pioneering contemporaries, exemplified by the name Wolfgang Rihm.

As General Music Director from 2008 to 2020, Justin Brown focused on cultivating the works of Wagner, Berlioz, Verdi and Strauss and designed varied concert programs, for which he and his team won the "Best Concert Program 2012/13" award from the German Music Publishers Association.

With the 2020/21 season, Georg Fritzsch took over as General Music Director. For the Beethoven Year 2020, he and piano virtuoso Gerhard Oppitz performed all five Beethoven piano concertos in a marathon evening.