Munich Symphony Orchestra
The Munich Symphony Orchestra (Münchner Symphoniker) is a German orchestra based in Munich. Kurt Graunke founded the orchestra as the Graunke Symphony Orchestra in 1945. The orchestra acquired its current name in 1990. Its primary concerts are given at the Herkulessaal and the Prinzregententheater including concerts at the Philharmonie im Gasteig.
More than 100 concerts each year in almost every musical centre of Germany and Europe as well as regular guest performances in the USA (most recently in October/November 2011) and the Far East, display the capability of the orchestra which captivates through its flexibility, its wide repertoire and extrovert interpretations.
The orchestra has recorded music for over 500 films, including George Bruns' adaptation of Tchaikovsky's ballet score for Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty, El Cid by Miklos Rozsa, Jerry Goldsmith's score for The Wind and the Lion, Christopher Young's music for Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Victor Young's score for The Brave One and Howard Shore's score for The Silence of the Lambs. The Orchestra performed the soundtrack score to a number of episodes of the television series The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones in the 1990s.
Honorary conductor of the orchestra is Philippe Entremont, who is closely connected to the orchestra in many ways. For the seasons 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 Ken-David Masur has been appointed as first guest conductor of Munich Symphony. Since 2006 Georg Schmöhe as its chief conductor has been constantly working on the artistic profile of the orchestra and the enhancement of its symphonic repertoire. The young German conductor Kevin John Edusei is going to be his successor as chief conductor of Munich Symphony from season 2014/2015 on.
Chief conductors
- Kurt Graunke (1945−1989)
- Christoph Stepp (1990−1999)
- Heiko Mathias Förster (1999−2006)
- Georg Schmöhe (2006−2013)
- Kevin John Edusei (2014–)
