The Berlin Philharmonic, German: , formerly Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester (BPO), is an orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

 based in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a symphony orchestra of the Netherlands, based at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 1988, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred the "Royal" title upon the orchestra...

, while in 2008 it was voted the world's number two orchestra in a survey among leading international music critics organized by the British magazine Gramophone (behind the Concertgebouw). Its primary concert venue is the Philharmonie

Berliner Philharmonie

The Berliner Philharmonie is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany. Home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the building is acclaimed for both its acoustics and its architecture....

, located in the Kulturforum

Kulturforum

The Kulturforum is a collection of cultural buildings in Berlin, Germany. It was built up in the 1950s and 60s at the edge of West Berlin, after most of the once unified city's cultural assets had been lost behind the Berlin Wall...

 area of the city. Since 2002, its principal conductor

Music director

A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...

 is Sir Simon Rattle

Simon Rattle

Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....

. The BPO also supports several chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

 ensembles. The funding for the organization is subsidized by the city of Berlin and a partnership with Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...

.

History

The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in Berlin in 1882 by 54 musicians under the name Frühere Bilsesche Kapelle (literally, "Former Bilse's Band"); the group broke away from their previous conductor Benjamin Bilse

Benjamin Bilse

Benjamin Bilse was a German conductor and composer.Bilse was born in Liegnitz in the Prussian Silesia Province. He obtained a rich musical education, as at the Vienna Conservatory under violinist Joseph Böhm, and played in the orchestra of Johann Strauss I...

 after he announced his intention of taking the band on a fourth-class train to Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

 for a concert. The orchestra was renamed and reorganized under the financial management of Hermann Wolff in 1887. Their new conductor was Ludwig von Brenner

Ludwig von Brenner

Ludwig von Brenner was a German conductor and composer.He was born in Leipzig, and studied at Leipzig conservatoire, later going to Saint Petersburg to play in the court orchestra of the Tsar...

; in 1887 Hans von Bülow

Hans von Bülow

Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...

, one of the most esteemed conductors in the world, took over the post. This helped to establish the orchestra's international reputation, and guests Hans Richter

Hans Richter (conductor)

Hans Richter was an Austrian orchestral and operatic conductor.-Biography:Richter was born in Raab , Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire. His mother was opera-singer Jozsefa Csazenszky. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory...

, Felix von Weingartner, Richard Strauss

Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...

, Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...

, Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...

 and Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...

 conducted the orchestra over the next few years. Programmes of this period show that the orchestra possessed only 46 strings, much less than the Wagnerian

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

 ideal of 64.

In 1895, Arthur Nikisch

Arthur Nikisch

Arthur Nikisch ; 12 October 185523 January 1922) was a Hungarian conductor who performed internationally, holding posts in Boston, London and - most importantly - Berlin. He was considered an outstanding interpreter of the music of Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Liszt...

 became chief conductor, and was succeeded in 1923 by Wilhelm Furtwängler

Wilhelm Furtwängler

Wilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. By the 1930s he had built a reputation as one of the leading conductors in Europe, and he was the leading conductor who remained...

. Despite several changes in leadership, the orchestra continued to perform throughout World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. After Furtwängler fled to Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 in 1945, Leo Borchard

Leo Borchard

Lew Ljewitsch "Leo" Borchard was a Russian conductor and briefly musical director of the Berlin Philharmonic....

 became chief conductor. This arrangement lasted only a few months, as Borchard was accidentally shot and killed by the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 forces occupying Berlin. Sergiu Celibidache

Sergiu Celibidache

- Biography :Celibidache was born in Roman, Romania, and began his studies in music with the piano, after which he studied music, philosophy and mathematics in Bucharest, Romania and then in Paris...

 then took over as chief conductor for seven years, from 1945 to 1952. Furtwängler returned in 1952 and conducted the orchestra until his death in 1954.

His successor was Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...

, who led the orchestra from 1955 until his resignation in April 1989, only months before his death. Under him, the orchestra made a vast number of recordings and toured widely, growing and gaining fame. When Karajan stepped down, the post was offered to Carlos Kleiber

Carlos Kleiber

Carlos Kleiber was a German-born, Austrian classical conductor who spent most of his early life in Berlin, Buenos Aires, Vienna and New York City, and from the early 1960s his professional career in Germany.- Early career :...

, but he declined.

Claudio Abbado

Claudio Abbado

Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...

 became principal conductor after Karajan, expanding the orchestra's repertoire beyond the core classical

Classical period (music)

The dates of the Classical Period in Western music are generally accepted as being between about 1750 and 1830. However, the term classical music is used colloquially to describe a variety of Western musical styles from the ninth century to the present, and especially from the sixteenth or...

 and romantic

Romantic music

Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....

 works into more modern 20th-century works. He stepped down from this post in 2002 to conduct the Lucerne Festival Orchestra

Lucerne Festival Orchestra

The Lucerne Festival Orchestra is an ad hoc seasonal orchestra, based at the annual Lucerne Festival in Switzerland. The Lucerne Festival had featured a resident orchestra as far back as 1938, with Arturo Toscanini conducting the first concert of that ensemble. From 1943 until its disbandment in...

. During the post-unification period, the orchestra encountered financial problems resulting from budgetary stress in the city of Berlin. In 2006, the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic established the Claudio Abbado Composition Prize in Abbado's honour.

In June 1999, the musicians elected Sir Simon Rattle

Simon Rattle

Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....

 as their next chief conductor. Rattle made it a condition of his signing with the Berlin Philharmonic that it be turned into a self-governing public foundation, with the power to make its own artistic and financial decisions. This required a change to state law, which was approved in 2001, allowing him to join the organization in 2002. Rattle's contract with the orchestra was initially through 2012. In April 2008, the BPO musicians voted in favour of retaining Rattle as their chief conductor. From 2006 to 2010 the general manager of the orchestra was Pamela Rosenberg. In April 2008, the orchestra announced that Rosenberg would not continue as general manager after her contract expires in 2010. As of September 2010 the new general manager will be German media manager Martin Hoffmann.

In 2006, the orchestra announced it would investigate its role during the Nazi regime

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

. In 2007, Misha Aster published The Reich's Orchestra, his study of the relationship of the Berlin Philharmonic to the rulers of the Third Reich. Also in 2007, the documentary film The Reichsorchester by Enrique Sánchez Lansch

Enrique Sánchez Lansch

Enrique Sánchez Lansch is a Spanish-German film director and screenwriter.-History:Enrique Sánchez Lansch was born in Gijón, Northern Spain to a Spanish father and German mother. He was raised in Gijón and Cologne, Germany...

 was released.

The first concert hall of the orchestra was destroyed in 1944. Since 1963, the orchestra has been resident at the Philharmonie, which was constructed from 1960 until 1963, following the design of architect Hans Scharoun

Hans Scharoun

Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun was a German architect best known for designing the Berlin Philharmonic concert hall and the in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important exponent of Organic architecture....

. On 20 May 2008, a fire broke out at the Philharmonie. One-quarter of the roof underwent considerable damage as firefighters cut openings to reach the flames beneath the roof. The hall interior also sustained water damage, but was otherwise "generally unharmed." The firefighters limited damage by the use of foam. The orchestra was restricted from use of the hall for concerts until June 2008.

UNICEF appointed the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle

Simon Rattle

Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....

 as Goodwill Ambassadors in November 2007.

On 18 December 2008 the Orchestra announced the creation of a Digital Concert Hall. The new Internet platform will enable music fans all over the world to see and hear the Philharmonic's concerts – live or on demand.

Principal conductors

• Ludwig von Brenner
  Ludwig von Brenner
  Ludwig von Brenner was a German conductor and composer.He was born in Leipzig, and studied at Leipzig conservatoire, later going to Saint Petersburg to play in the court orchestra of the Tsar...
  
   (1882–1887)
• Hans von Bülow
  Hans von Bülow
  Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...
  
   (1887–1892)
• Arthur Nikisch
  Arthur Nikisch
  Arthur Nikisch ; 12 October 185523 January 1922) was a Hungarian conductor who performed internationally, holding posts in Boston, London and - most importantly - Berlin. He was considered an outstanding interpreter of the music of Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Liszt...
  
   (1895–1922)
• Wilhelm Furtwängler
  Wilhelm Furtwängler
  Wilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. By the 1930s he had built a reputation as one of the leading conductors in Europe, and he was the leading conductor who remained...
  
   (1922–1945)
• Leo Borchard
  Leo Borchard
  Lew Ljewitsch "Leo" Borchard was a Russian conductor and briefly musical director of the Berlin Philharmonic....
  
   (May – August 1945)
• Sergiu Celibidache
  Sergiu Celibidache
  - Biography :Celibidache was born in Roman, Romania, and began his studies in music with the piano, after which he studied music, philosophy and mathematics in Bucharest, Romania and then in Paris...
  
   (1945–1952)
• Wilhelm Furtwängler
  Wilhelm Furtwängler
  Wilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. By the 1930s he had built a reputation as one of the leading conductors in Europe, and he was the leading conductor who remained...
  
   (1952–1954)
• Herbert von Karajan
  Herbert von Karajan
  Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
  
   (1954–1989)
• Claudio Abbado
  Claudio Abbado
  Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...
  
   (1989–2002)
• Simon Rattle
  Simon Rattle
  Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....
  
   (2002–present)

Awards and recognition

Classical BRIT Awards

Classical Brit Awards

The Classic BRIT Awards are an annual awards ceremony held in the United Kingdom covering aspects of classical music, and are the classical equivalent of pop music's BRIT Awards....

• 2001 – "Ensemble/Orchestral Album of the Year" – Sir Simon Rattle, Mahler: Symphony No. 10
  Symphony No. 10 (Mahler)
  The Symphony No. 10 by Gustav Mahler was written in the summer of 1910, and was his final composition. At the time of Mahler's death the composition was substantially complete in the form of a continuous draft; but not being fully elaborated at every point, and mostly not orchestrated, it was not...
  
  (EMI, 2000)
• 2003 – "Ensemble/Orchestral Album of the Year" – Sir Simon Rattle, Mahler: Symphony No. 5
  Symphony No. 5 (Mahler)
  The Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor by Gustav Mahler was composed in 1901 and 1902, mostly during the summer months at Mahler's cottage at Maiernigg. Among its most distinctive features are the funereal trumpet solo that opens the work and the frequently performed Adagietto.The musical canvas and...
  
  (EMI, 2002)

Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

s

• 1970
  Grammy Awards of 1970
  The 12th Grammy Awards were held on March 11, 1970. They recognized accomplishments of musicians for the year 1969.-Award winners:*Record of the Year**Bones Howe & The 5th Dimension for "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In"*Album of the Year...
  
   – Best Opera Recording
  Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording
  The Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording has been awarded since 1961. The award was originally titled Best Classical Opera Production. The current title has been used since 1962....
  
   – Herbert von Karajan, Helga Dernesch
  Helga Dernesch
  Helga Dernesch is an Austrian soprano and mezzo soprano. Her career has taken her through four successive phases: from mezzo-soprano to lyric soprano to dramatic soprano and after about 1980 back to mezzo again...
  
  , Thomas Stolze, Jess Thomas
  Jess Thomas
  Jess Thomas was an American operatic tenor, best known for his Wagner singing.-Biography:Jess Floyd Thomas was born in Hot Springs, South Dakota. As a child he took part in various musical activities and later studied psychology at the University of Nebraska and Stanford University. He was...
  
  , Wagner: Siegfried
  Siegfried (opera)
  Siegfried is the third of the four operas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring...
  
  (DGG, 1969)
• 1979
  Grammy Awards of 1979
  The 21st Grammy Awards were held in 1979, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1978.- Award winners :*Record of the Year**Phil Ramone & Billy Joel for "Just the Way You Are"...
  
   – Best Orchestral Performance
  Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance
  The Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance has been awarded since 1959. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:*From 1959 to 1964 it was awarded as Best Classical Performance - Orchestra...
  
   – Herbert von Karajan, Beethoven: Symphonies (9) (Complete)
• 1993
  Grammy Awards of 1993
  The 35th Grammy Awards were held in 1993. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Eric Clapton was the night's big winner, winning 6 awards including Album of the Year.-Award winners:*Record of the Year...
  
   – Best Orchestral Recording
  Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance
  The Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance has been awarded since 1959. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:*From 1959 to 1964 it was awarded as Best Classical Performance - Orchestra...
  
   – Leonard Bernstein
  Leonard Bernstein
  Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
  
  , Mahler: Symphony No. 9
  Symphony No. 9 (Mahler)
  The Symphony No. 9 by Gustav Mahler was written between 1909 and 1910, and was the last symphony that he completed.Though the work is often described as being in the key of D major, the tonal scheme of the symphony as whole is progressive...
  
  (DGG, 1992; recording 1979)
• 1995
  Grammy Awards of 1995
  The 37th Grammy Awards were presented March 1, 1995. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.-Award winners:*Record of the Year**Bill Bottrell & Sheryl Crow for "All I Wanna Do"*Album of the Year...
  
   – Best Chamber Music Performance
  Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance
  The Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance has been awarded since 1959. The award has had several minor name changes:*From 1959 to 1960 the award was known as Best Classical Performance - Chamber Music ...
  
   – Daniel Barenboim
  Daniel Barenboim
  Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....
  
  , Dale Clevenger
  Dale Clevenger
  Dale Clevenger has been Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1966. Before joining the CSO, he was a member of Leopold Stokowski's American Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony of the Air directed by Alfred Wallenstein. He was also principal horn of the Kansas City...
  
  , Larry Combs
  Larry Combs
  Larry Combs is an American clarinetist. His principal teachers were Stanley Hasty at the Eastman School of Music and Leon Russianoff in New York....
  
  , Daniele Damiano, Hansjörg Schellenberger
  Hansjörg Schellenberger
  Hansjörg Schellenberger is a German oboist and conductor born in 1948.He won the first prize at the German Jugend musiziert Competition with seventeen, which led to a scholarship enabling him to further his education at Interlochen . He continued his studies in Munich with Manfred Clement and he...
  
  , Beethoven/Mozart
  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
  
  : Quintets (Chicago – Berlin) (1994)
• 1998
  Grammy Awards of 1998
  The 40th Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1998. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Rock icon Bob Dylan, Alison Krauss, and R...
  
   – Best Small Ensemble Performance
  Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance
  The Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance has been awarded since 1997. In its early years, its title included the addition ""....
  
   – Claudio Abbado
  Claudio Abbado
  Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...
  
  , Hindemith: Kammermusik Nr. 1
  Kammermusik (Hindemith)
  Kammermusik is the name given to a series of eight musical compositions by the German composer Paul Hindemith.Written between 1921 and 1927, the first two works are for small ensembles , and share the opus number 24. Kammermusik No...
  
   mit Finale 1921, Op. 24 No. 1 (with members of Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra) (EMI, 1996)
• 2000
  Grammy Awards of 2000
  The 42nd Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2000. During the show, Santana won 8 Grammys, tying Michael Jackson's record for most awards won in a single night. Santana's album Supernatural was awarded a total of nine awards....
  
   – Best Classical Vocal Performance
  Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance
  The Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Solo has been awarded since 1959. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:...
  
   – Claudio Abbado
  Claudio Abbado
  Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...
  
  , Anne Sofie von Otter, Thomas Quasthoff
  Thomas Quasthoff
  Thomas Quasthoff is a German bass-baritone. Although his reputation was initially based on his performance of Romantic lieder, Quasthoff has proven to have a remarkable range from the Baroque cantatas of Bach to solo jazz improvisations.-Biography:Quasthoff was born in Hildesheim, Germany, with...
  
  : Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn (DGG, 1999)
• 2001
  Grammy Awards of 2001
  The 43rd Grammy Awards were held on February 21, 2001. Steely Dan was the biggest winner winning three awards including Album of the Year for Two Against Nature. U2 was also a big winner winning three awards as well; including Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Beautiful Day. Dr...
  
   – Best Orchestral Performance
  Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance
  The Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance has been awarded since 1959. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:*From 1959 to 1964 it was awarded as Best Classical Performance - Orchestra...
  
   – Sir Simon Rattle, Mahler: Symphony No. 10 (EMI, 2000)
• 2007
  Grammy Awards of 2007
  The 49th Annual Grammy Awards was a ceremony honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning September 15, 2005 and ending September 14, 2006 in the United States. The awards were handed out on Sunday February 11, 2007 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The Dixie Chicks...
  
   – Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)
  Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)
  The Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance was awarded from 1959 to 2011. From 1967 to 1971 and in 1987 the award was combined with the award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance and awarded as the Grammy Award for Best Classical Performance - Instrumental Soloist or...
  
   – Antonio Pappano
  Antonio Pappano
  Antonio Pappano is a British conductor and pianist of Italian parentage.Pappano's family relocated to England from Castelfranco in Miscano near Benevento, Italy in 1958 and at the time of his birth his parents worked in the restaurant business, but Pasquale Pappano, his father, was by vocation a...
  
  , Leif Ove Andsnes
  Leif Ove Andsnes
  Leif Ove Andsnes is a Norwegian pianist and an ardent champion of the works of Edvard Grieg.-Biography:He studied with Jiří Hlinka at the Bergen Music Conservatory and made his debut in Oslo in 1987, in Britain at the Edinburgh Festival with the Oslo Philharmonic in 1989, and in the United States...
  
  : Rachmaninov, Piano Concertos 1 and 2 (EMI, 2006)

Gramophone Award

Gramophone Award

The Gramophone Awards are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry, often referred to as the Oscars for classical music. The winners are selected annually by critics for the Gramophone magazine and various members of the industry, including...

s

• 1981 – "Opera Recording of the Year" – Herbert von Karajan, Wagner: Parsifal (DGG, 1980)
• 1981 – "Orchestral Record of the Year" – Herbert von Karajan, Mahler: Symphony No. 9 (DGG, 1980)
• 1984 – "Record of the Year" – Herbert von Karajan, Mahler: Symphony No. 9 (DGG, 1984; live recording 1982)
• 2000 – "Orchestral Record of the Year" – Sir Simon Rattle, Mahler: Symphony No. 10 (EMI, 2000)
• 2004 – "Concerto" – Mariss Jansons
  Mariss Jansons
  Mariss Ivars Georgs Jansons is a Latvian conductor, the son of conductor Arvīds Jansons. His mother, the singer Iraida Jansons, who was Jewish, gave birth to him in hiding in Riga, Latvia, after her father and brother were killed in the Riga Ghetto...
  
  , Leif Ove Andsnes
  Leif Ove Andsnes
  Leif Ove Andsnes is a Norwegian pianist and an ardent champion of the works of Edvard Grieg.-Biography:He studied with Jiří Hlinka at the Bergen Music Conservatory and made his debut in Oslo in 1987, in Britain at the Edinburgh Festival with the Oslo Philharmonic in 1989, and in the United States...
  
  , Grieg
  Edvard Grieg
  Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
  
  : Piano Concerto
  Piano Concerto (Grieg)
  The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, composed by Edvard Grieg in 1868, was the only concerto Grieg completed. It is one of his most popular works and among the most popular of all piano concerti.-Structure :The concerto is in three movements:...
  
  and Schumann
  Robert Schumann
  Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
  
  : Piano Concerto
  Piano Concerto (Schumann)
  The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.54, is a famous Romantic concerto by Robert Schumann, completed in 1845.Schumann had begun several piano concerti before this one: In 1828, he had begun one in E-flat major; from 1829-31 he worked on one in F major, and in 1839, he wrote one movement of a concerto...
  
  (EMI, 2004)
• 2006 – "Record of the Year" – Claudio Abbado, Mahler: Symphony No. 6
  Symphony No. 6 (Mahler)
  The Symphony No. 6 in A minor by Gustav Mahler, sometimes referred to as the Tragische , was composed between 1903 and 1904 . The work's first performance was in Essen, on May 27, 1906, conducted by the composer.The tragic, even nihilistic ending of No...
  
  (DGG, 2005)

ECHO (formerly Deutscher Schallplattenpreis

Deutscher Schallplattenpreis

The Deutscher Schallplattenpreis was a prize that the Deutsche Phono-Akademie awarded from 1963 through 1992. Its successor is the ECHO prize....

) of Deutsche Phono-Akademie

• 2003 – Chorwerkeinspielung – Sir Simon Rattle
  Simon Rattle
  Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....
  
  , Rundfunkchor Berlin, MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig, Ernst-Senff-Chor Berlin, Karita Mattila
  Karita Mattila
  Karita Marjatta Mattila is a leading opera soprano. She was born in Somero, Finland.Mattila appears regularly in the major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Bastille, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco...
  
  , Anne Sofie von Otter, Thomas Moser, Philip Langridge
  Philip Langridge
  Philip Gordon Langridge CBE was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio....
  
  , Thomas Quasthoff
  Thomas Quasthoff
  Thomas Quasthoff is a German bass-baritone. Although his reputation was initially based on his performance of Romantic lieder, Quasthoff has proven to have a remarkable range from the Baroque cantatas of Bach to solo jazz improvisations.-Biography:Quasthoff was born in Hildesheim, Germany, with...
  
  : Schoenberg
  Arnold Schoenberg
  Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
  
  , Gurre-Lieder
  Gurre-Lieder
  Gurre-Lieder is a massive cantata for five vocal soloists, narrator, chorus and large orchestra, composed by Arnold Schoenberg, on poems by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen...
  
  (EMI, 2002)
• 2006 – Musik-DVD Produktion des Jahres – Sir Simon Rattle, Thomas Grube and Enrique Sánchez Lansch
  Enrique Sánchez Lansch
  Enrique Sánchez Lansch is a Spanish-German film director and screenwriter.-History:Enrique Sánchez Lansch was born in Gijón, Northern Spain to a Spanish father and German mother. He was raised in Gijón and Cologne, Germany...
  
   (director), Uwe Dierks (producer): Rhythm Is It!
  Rhythm Is It!
  Rhythm Is It! is a 2004 German documentary film directed by Thomas Grube and Enrique Sánchez Lansch. The film documents a project undertaken by the Berlin Philharmonic principal conductor Simon Rattle and choreographer Royston Maldoom who decided to popularize classical music by staging a...
  
  (2005)
• 2006 – Sinfonische Einspielung – Claudio Abbado
  Claudio Abbado
  Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...
  
  : Mahler
  Gustav Mahler
  Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
  
  , Symphony No. 6
  Symphony No. 6 (Mahler)
  The Symphony No. 6 in A minor by Gustav Mahler, sometimes referred to as the Tragische , was composed between 1903 and 1904 . The work's first performance was in Essen, on May 27, 1906, conducted by the composer.The tragic, even nihilistic ending of No...
  
  (DGG, 2005)

Timbre de Platine (Platinum Stamp) awarded by Opéra International magazine http://www.emiclassics.com/phpNewSite/catalogue/cat-select.php?artist=true&id=77626

• 1987 – Riccardo Muti, Mozart: Requiem
  Requiem (Mozart)
  The Requiem Mass in D minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death. A completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem Mass to commemorate the...
  
  (EMI, 1987)

Current members

The members of the orchestra are:

First violins

• Guy Braunstein
  Guy Braunstein
  Guy Braunstein is a classical violinist.Guy Braunstein was born in Israel and began to study the violin at age seven. In Israel he studied under the guidance of Haim Taub and in the United States under the guidance of Glenn Dicterow and Pinchas Zukerman.Braunstein developed a solo and chamber...
  
  (1st Concertmaster)*
• Daniel Stabrawa (1st Concertmaster)*
• Daishin Kashimoto (1st Concertmaster)
• Tōru Yasunaga
  Tōru Yasunaga
  is a Japanese violinist. Yasunaga is an active chamber musician and soloist, and has been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic since 1977, serving as concertmaster since 1983, until his retirement in March 2009.- Biography :...
  
  (1st Concertmaster, retired)
• Rainer Sonne (Concertmaster)
• Zoltán Almási
• Maja Avramović
• Simon Bernardini
• Wolfram Brandl
• Peter Brem
• Armin Brunner
• Andreas Buschatz
• Alessandro Cappone
• Madeleine Carruzzo
• Aline Champion
• Felicitas Clamor-Hoffmeister
• Laurentius Dinca
• Sebastian Heesch
• Aleksandar Ivić
• Rüdiger Liebermann
• Kotowa Machida
• Helmut Mebert
• Bastian Schäfer

Second violins

• Christian Stadelmann (leader of the 2nd Violins)*
• Thomas Timm (leader of the 2nd Violins)*
• Daniel Bell
• Holm Birkholz
• Stanley Dodds
• Cornelia Gartemann
• Amadeus Heutling
• Christophe Horak
• Rainer Mehne
• Christoph von der Nahmer
• Raimar Orlovsky
• Bettina Sartorius
• Rachel Schmidt
• Armin Schubert
• Stephan Schulze
• Christoph Streuli
• Eva-Maria Tomasi
• Romano Tommasini

Violas

• Neithard Resa (1st principal)*
• Naoko Shimizu (principal)
• Wilfried Strehle (principal)
• Amichai Grosz
• Micha Afkham
• Julia Gartemann
• Matthew Hunter
• Ulrich Knörzer
• Sebastian Krunnies
• Walter Küssner
• Ignacy Miecznikowski
• Martin von der Nahmer
• Zdzisław Polonek
• Joaquín Riquelme García
  Joaquín Riquelme García
  Joaquín Riquelme García , is a Spanish viola soloist and member of the Berlin Philharmonic.- Biography :Born in Murcia in 1983, Joaquín started his music studies in Murcia, before moving to Madrid to study at the Madrid Royal Conservatory...
  
  
• Martin Stegner
• Wolfgang Talirz

Cellos

• Georg Faust (1st principal)*
• Ludwig Quandt (1st principal)*
• Martin Löhr (principal)
• Olaf Maninger
• Richard Duven
• Christoph Igelbrink
• Solène Kermarrec
• Stephan Koncz
• Martin Menking
• David Riniker
• Nikolaus Römisch
• Dietmar Schwalke
• Knut Weber

Double basses

• Matthew McDonald (1st principal)*
• Janne Saksala (1st principal)*
• Esko Laine (principal bass)
• Fora Baltacigil
• Martin Heinze
• Wolfgang Kohly
• Peter Riegelbauer
• Edicson Ruiz
  Edicson Ruiz
  Edicson Ruiz is a Venezuelan double-bass player. At age 17, Ruiz became the youngest member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the second in the Philharmonic history after a harp player in the 19th century; he is also the first Hispanic-American musician who joins the Berlin Philharmonic...
  
  
• Janusz Widzyk
• Ulrich Wolff

Flutes

• Andreas Blau (principal)*
• Emmanuel Pahud
  Emmanuel Pahud
  Emmanuel Pahud is a Swiss flute player.He was born in Geneva, Switzerland. His father is of French and Swiss background and his mother is French. The Berlin-based flutist is most known for his baroque and classical flute repertory....
  
  (principal)*
• Michael Hasel
• Jelka Weber

Oboes

• Albrecht Mayer
  Albrecht Mayer
  Albrecht Mayer is a German classical oboist.-Biography:Mayer sang as a child in the Cathedral Choir in Bamberg. He was a student of Gerhard Scheuer, Georg Meerwein, Maurice Bourgue and Ingo Goritzki, and began his professional career as principal oboist for the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in 1990...
  
  (principal)*
• Christoph Hartmann
• Jonathan Kelly
  Jonathan Kelly (oboist)
  Jonathan Kelly is an English oboist. He is currently Principal Oboe in the Berlin Philharmonic.Jonathan Kelly was born in 1969 and was educated at Magdalen College School, Brackley, Northants, UK, where he began the oboe. He won a County Music Scholarship which enabled him to study with Helen...
  
  *
• Andreas Wittmann
• Dominik Wollenweber (cor anglais)

Clarinets

• Wenzel Fuchs
  Wenzel Fuchs
  -Biography:Fuchs was born in Innsbruck, Austria in 1963.He studied clarinet at the Innsbruck Conservatory with Walter Kefer and at the Vienna Music Academy with Peter Schmidl...
  
  (principal)*
• Andreas Ottensamer (principal)*
• Alexander Bader
  Alexander Bader
  Alexander Bader is a German clarinetist.Bader was born in 1965 in Stuttgart. He studied piano and clarinet at Berlin's Hochschule der Künste. His clarinet teachers were Manfred Preis and Peter Rieckhoff. He studied under Wolfgang Meyer in the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik...
  
  
• Manfred Preis
  Manfred Preis
  Manfred Preis is a German bass clarinetist and saxophonist.Preis studied at the Munich Musikhochschule and the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker. He played clarinet in the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. He plays bass clarinet in the Berlin Philharmonic. He also plays clarinet in...
  
   (bass clarinet)
• Walter Seyfarth

Bassoons

• Daniele Damiano (principal)*
• Stefan Schweigert (principal)*
• Mor Biron
• Marion Reinhard (double)
• Markus Weidmann

Horns

• Radek Baborák (principal,retired)
• Stefan Dohr
  Stefan Dohr
  Stefan Dohr is a German horn player and currently the principal horn of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra . Apart from being a sought-after masterclass teacher, he teaches the horn at the Herbert von Karajan Academy.-Biography:Stefan Dohr studied with Prof. Wolfgang Wilhelmi at the Musikhochschule...
  
  (principal)*
• Stefan de Leval Jezierski
• Fergus McWilliam
• Georg Schrekenberger
• Klaus Wallendorf
• Sarah Willis

Trumpets

• Gábor Tarkövi (principal)*
• Tamás Velenczei (principal)*
• Thomas Clamor
• Georg Hilser
• Guillaume André Jehl
• Martin Kretzer

Trombones

• Christhard Gössling (principal)*
• Olaf Ott (principal)*
• Jesper Busk Sørensen
• Thomas Leyendecker
• Stefan Schulz

Tubas

• Paul Hümpel
• Alexander von Puttkamer

Timpani

• Rainer Seegers
  Rainer Seegers
  Rainer Seegers , is a German percussionist, timpanist of the Berlin Philharmonic, tutor of the European Union Youth Orchestra and guest professor at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler"...
  
  
• Wieland Welzel

Percussion

• Raphael Häger
• Simon Rössler
• Franz Schindlbeck
• Jan Schlichte

Harp

• Marie-Pierre Langlamet

* denotes current soloists.

In popular culture

The soundtrack album for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey (film)

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...

offers a version of Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra performed by the BPO conducted by Karl Böhm

Karl Böhm

Karl August Leopold Böhm was an Austrian conductor. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century.- Education :...

. (The version used in the movie itself was by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Karajan, uncredited, but copyright owner Decca Records

Decca Records

Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

 didn't want to be associated with science-fiction.)

On November 19, 1999, the BPO played with the heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Metallica

Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...

 in a sold-out concert at the Berlin Velodrom

Velodrom

The Velodrom is an indoor track cycling arena, in the Prenzlauer Berg, locality of Berlin, Germany. Holding up to 12,000 people, it was also Berlin's largest concert venue, until the opening of O2 World in 2008....

 arena, the only European stop on the band's three-date S&M symphony tour. The orchestra was conducted by Michael Kamen

Michael Kamen

Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer , orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician.-Background:...

. They also played with the German rock band Scorpions

Scorpions (band)

Scorpions are a heavy metal/hard rock band from Hannover, Germany, formed in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker, who is the band's only constant member. They are known for their 1980s rock anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and many singles, such as "No One Like You", "Send Me an Angel", "Still...

 on their 2000 album Moment of Glory

Moment of Glory

Moment of Glory is the fifteenth studio album by German heavy metal band Scorpions with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. At first the English composer Andrew Powell was asked to provide arrangements. As they would have reduced the orchestra too much, being only a symphonic accompaniment, both the...

.

Further reading

• Annemarie Kleinert
  Annemarie Kleinert
  Annemarie Kleinert-Ludwig is a German Doctor of Philosophy who did research and taught history at theFree University of Berlin, the University of Hanover, and the University of California, San Diego. Presently she works as a free-lance writer.Her first book dealt with the , up to 1848. It was the...
  
  : Music at its Best: The Berlin Philharmonic. From Karajan to Rattle, BoD Publishing Company, Norderstedt 2009, ISBN 978-3-8370-6361-5

External links

• Berliner Philharmoniker official website
• Digital Concert Hall
• "Economic Crisis Puts the Squeeze on Arts", a 2003 Deutsche Welle
  Deutsche Welle
  Deutsche Welle or DW, is Germany's international broadcaster. The service is aimed at the overseas market. It broadcasts news and information on shortwave, Internet and satellite radio on 98.7 DZFE in 30 languages . It has a satellite television service , that is available in four languages, and...
  
  article
• Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks
• Website about the Kulturforum am Potsdamer Platz
• Misha Aster, Das Reichsorchester
• Bolero Berlin website