| Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR) | |
|---|---|
| Orchestra | |
 Official logo | |
| Founded | 1918; 107 years ago (1918) |
| Location | Geneva, Switzerland |
| Concert hall | Victoria Hall |
| Principal conductor | Jonathan Nott |
| Website | Official website |
TheOrchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR)[1] is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based inGeneva at theVictoria Hall. In addition to symphony concerts, the OSR performs as the opera orchestra in productions at theGrand Théâtre de Genève.
Ernest Ansermet founded the OSR in 1918, together withPaul Lachenal,[2] with a contingent of 48 players and a season of six months' duration. Besides Swiss musicians, the OSR players initially came from other countries, including Austria, France, Germany and Italy. Ansermet gradually increased the percentage of Swiss musicians in the orchestra, attaining 80% Swiss personnel by 1946.[3] He remained the music director of the OSR for 49 years, from 1918 to 1967.
A Swiss radio orchestra based inLausanne was merged into the OSR in 1938. Subsequently, the OSR began to broadcast radio concerts regularly on Swiss radio.[3] The orchestra had a long-standing contract for recordings withDecca Records, dating from the tenure of Ansermet, and made over 300 recordings for Decca, starting in 1947 withDebussy'sLa mer.[4] The OSR premiered many works of the Swiss composersArthur Honegger andFrank Martin. During the directorship ofArmin Jordan (1985–1997), the OSR continued to make recordings on theErato label.[5]
From 2005 to 2012,Marek Janowski was the artistic director and music director of the OSR. He conducted the OSR in recordings for thePentatone label.[6][7] In September 2008, his initial 5-year contract had been extended to 2015,[8] but in January 2010, in a change to the September 2008 contract extension, Janowski and the OSR mutually agreed on the scheduled conclusion of his directorship of the OSR after the 2011–12 season.[9]
Following the announcement of Janowski's scheduled 2012 departure, attempts to secureBertrand de Billy[10] andKazuki Yamada[11] as the OSR's next artistic leader did not come to fruition. In September 2010, the OSR namedNeeme Järvi as its ninth artistic and musical director, and in parallel, Yamada as principal guest conductor, with both appointments effective as of 2012, with initial contracts of 3 years for both conductors.[12] Järvi has commercially recorded with the OSR for theChandos label.[13] He concluded his OSR directorship after the 2014–2015 season.
Jonathan Nott first guest-conducted the OSR in October 2014. Following these concert appearances, in January 2015, the OSR named Nott its next music and artistic director, effective January 2017.[14][15][16] The OSR formalised the new contract and relationship with Nott in March 2016.[17][18] In February 2021, the OSR announced the conversion of Nott's OSR contract into an evergreen, open-ended lifetime agreement with no set final date.[19] Following news reports in 2023 of a revised contract end date of 2026 for Nott's OSR contract,[20] Nott is scheduled to conclude his OSR tenure at the close of the 2025-2026 season.[21]
In 2023,Pierluigi Christophe Orunesu's company Cyber'Art developed the 'icologram' initiative, a digital startup enabling virtual artist presence, and collaborated with the OSR to record the first holographic symphonic performance presented at Artgenève 2024.[22][23][24] In 2025, the OSR unveiled 'Virtual Hall', an immersivevirtual reality platform also developed with Cybel'Art, to offer360-degree video and spatial audio from multiple stage perspectives, conceptualised by Orunesu and premiered at Artgenève 2025.[25]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
