Artists biographies
Munich Chamber Orchestra
An unusually creative programme in combination with a homogeneity of sound with has grown up through constant work: more than 60 years after its formation, the Munich Chamber Orchestra (MCO) is today one of the most innovative German orchestras. Under a motto chosen for each season (in 2011 in was ‘Ostwärts’ – ‘Eastwards’) the programmes of the MCO confront works of earlier centuries with music of the present day, and the results are exciting and often surprising.
The orchestra has staged almost forty first performances since Christoph Poppen took over as artistic director in 1995 and created the ensembles dramaturgic profile. For their imaginative choice of repertoire, the MCO have received numerous awards. Composers such as Iannis Xenakis, Wolfgang Rihm and Jörg Widmann have written works for them; since 2006 alone, the MCO have commissioned pieces from more than ten composers. Alexander Liebreich, who succeed Poppen in the 2006/07 season, is banking additionally on the quality of experience and communicative intensity of contemporary music.
Alongside the Thursday evening concerts at their home base, the Prinzregententheater, the Chamber Orchestra has set up a number of unusual concert formats. For the last seven years, the MCO has in addition played the ‘Nachtmusiken’ in the rotunda of the Pinakothek der Moderne, each of which is devoted to a 20th or 21st century composer. Since 2010m there has been, also, a co-operative venture with the Münchner Kammerspielen, including three ‘chamber-music nights’ per season, devoted exclusively to contemporary music.
Notable guest conductors and a phalanx of outstanding soloists regularly ensure further artistic input. The orchestra gives some sixty concerts a year in major venues around the world. The 2010/11 season took them on tours of Asia (Taiwan, Hongkong, Macao, Beijing), Spain, Scandinavia and South America.
The orchestra has staged almost forty first performances since Christoph Poppen took over as artistic director in 1995 and created the ensembles dramaturgic profile. For their imaginative choice of repertoire, the MCO have received numerous awards. Composers such as Iannis Xenakis, Wolfgang Rihm and Jörg Widmann have written works for them; since 2006 alone, the MCO have commissioned pieces from more than ten composers. Alexander Liebreich, who succeed Poppen in the 2006/07 season, is banking additionally on the quality of experience and communicative intensity of contemporary music.
Alongside the Thursday evening concerts at their home base, the Prinzregententheater, the Chamber Orchestra has set up a number of unusual concert formats. For the last seven years, the MCO has in addition played the ‘Nachtmusiken’ in the rotunda of the Pinakothek der Moderne, each of which is devoted to a 20th or 21st century composer. Since 2010m there has been, also, a co-operative venture with the Münchner Kammerspielen, including three ‘chamber-music nights’ per season, devoted exclusively to contemporary music.
Notable guest conductors and a phalanx of outstanding soloists regularly ensure further artistic input. The orchestra gives some sixty concerts a year in major venues around the world. The 2010/11 season took them on tours of Asia (Taiwan, Hongkong, Macao, Beijing), Spain, Scandinavia and South America.
Münchener Kammerorchester © Marek Vogel
Munich Chamber Orchestra Documentary
