The Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra (Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken) was founded in 1937. Today it is one of the most important cultural institutions in the Saarland region. Enjoying close links with neighbouring countries, the orchestra exchanges concerts with the Orchestre National de Lorraine in Metz (France) and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. The orchestra thus plays a key rôle in the cultural integration of the Saarland-Lorraine-Luxembourg region, to which it makes a vital contribution. It is also regularly heard throughout Europe thanks to its involvement in the Deutsch-Französische Konzerte (Franco-German Concerts), a radio series that the Saarländischer Rundfunk, the regional broadcasting corporation, has organized for over fifty years.

Apart from its numerous concerts in Saarbrücken, the orchestra also performs in Germany’s most famous concert halls, and is a regular guest on stages around the world. It has already performed to great acclaim in Australia, the Soviet Union, the United States, Italy, China, Lisbon, and Japan, and Spain. The orchestra is one of the most important cultural flagships of the Saarland, and contributes significantly to the image of German public service broadcasting as a whole.

Since its foundation, the RSO has made a large number of recordings, both for broadcasting purposes and for release on CD, with a notable complete edition of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies, conducted by the orchestra’s first guest conductor, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, and honoured with a Cannes Classical Award in 2002. The orchestra’s recording of George Rochberg’s Symphony No. 5 (Naxos 8.559115) received a GRAMMY^® nomination in 2004. In September 2007 the orchestra merged with the Radio Orchestra Kaiserslautern to become the German Radio Philhamonic (Deutsche Radio Philharmonie).