The SWR Radio Orchestra, Kaiserslautern, with a history of over five decades, has a repertoire ranging from the baroque, classical symphonies, the romantic, opera and operetta melodies to Viennese waltzes, musicals and film scores, classical modern works and minimalism. Until 1987 Emmerich Smola, as principal conductor, shaped the profile of the orchestra. In the 1950s Zarah Leander, Johannes Heesters and Anneliese Rothenberger were often in the Kaiserslautern studios, and the great composers of entertainment music, among them Robert Stolz and Franz Grothe, conducted their own works. More recently Montserrat Caballé, Cecilia Bartoli, Vesselina Kasarova, Anna Maria Kaufmann and Juan Diego Flórez have made guest appearances. With the conductor Christopher Franklin the orchestra undertook a concert tour of Germany, and participated in the internationally acclaimed Bad Wildbad La Cenerentola with Alberto Zedda. In 2007 it became part of the newly established German Radio Philharmonic.

Photo courtesy of Isabelle Girard