About us
Established in 2007, the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra represents a first class Romanian ensemble.
Principal Comductor: John Axelrod
It features the most valuable artists musicians in Romania. Wishing to offer music lovers the opportunity to come into contact with quality music, Bucharest Symphony Orchestra has developed original and innovative musical concepts, joined under the Salut CULTURA! season. The reputation and recognition came along with the impressive series of concerts and events held both in traditional concert halls, outdoor and in less conventional places. Bucharest Symphony Orchestra tackles a wide range of repertoire, ranging from classical music to film music, pop / rock and crossover. The Bucharest Symphony Orchestra mission is to promote music excellence and to attract young people to the concert halls.
A truly official Romanian Cultural Ambassador, Bucharest Symphony Orchestra and Benoît Fromanger performed in 2013 and further, in 2017, as the first Romanian orchestra in seven of the most fabulous concert halls in South America, such as: Teatro Colón and Teatro Coliseo Palazzo Italia in Buenos Aires, Teatro El Circulo in Rosario/Argentina; Sala São Paulo in São Paulo/ Brazilia, Teatro El Occitane in Trancoso/Brazilia, Corpartes 660 in Santiago/Chile, Gran Teatro Nacional din Lima/ Peru and Teatro Solís din Montevideo/Uruguay.
Bucharest Symphony Orchestra worked with world renowned artists and (co) produced a large series of crossover concerts, Cine Concerts, ensemble agreed by Disney Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., 20th Century Fox, LucasFilm and Warner Chappell Music for Star Wars, Frozen, Harry Potter and Disney in Concert series.
The Bucharest Symphony Orchestra performed together with renowned international artists, such as: the sopranos Angela Gheorghiu, Sarah Brightman, Irina Baianț, Vassiliki Karayanni, Elena Moșuc, Tarja Turunen, Joanna Woss, tenors Alessandro Safina, Teodor Ilincăi, Roxana Constantinescu, the conductors John Axelrod, Alexandre Bloch, Jin Wang, Conrad van Alphen, Jose Luis Gomez, David Handel, Nicolae Moldoveanu, Tiberiu Soare, Cem Mansur, Francesco Rosa, Nicholas Krauze, Benoit Fromanger, Timothy Henty, the violinists Sarah Chang, Daishin Kashimoto - first Concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Erik Schumann, David Lefevre - first Concertmaster of Monte-Monte-Carlo Philharmonic, George Tudorache - London Symphony Concertmaster, Corina Belcea, Alexandru Tomescu, Gabriel Croitoru, the pianists Viniciu Moroianu, Răzvan Dragnea, Eduard Kunz, Alexander Schimpf and Pierre Reach, the cellists Claudio Bohorquez, Rodin Moldovan - solo cellist Leipzig MDR Orchester and world renowned artists such as: Edward Maya - producer/artist/dj, Bogdan Băcanu - marimba, Gheorghe Zamfir - pan flute and Toto Cutugno.
Since 2018, Bucharest Symphony Orchestra in cooperation with the Bucharest Music Institute (BMI) produces the International Conducting Competition in Bucharest and the first edition awarded seven prizes.
Often sold-out, the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra surpassed all expectations wherever it was invited to perform. Renowned national and international festivals invited BSO, such as: the ”George Enescu” International Festival, ”Clara Haskil” – Sibiu International Festival, Bucharest Music Film Festival, “Dilema Veche” Festival, “Rencontres de Calenzana” – Corsica/Franța Festival.
In 2017 and 2018, the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra received massive recognition from bands and their fans, such as: Nothing But Thieves, Bastille and HMLTD for arranging and performing cover versions of their music at the Summer Well Festival.
Under the baton of the austrian conductor Jin Wang, Bucharest Symphony Orchestra was invited to perform 20 concerts of its first concert tour in China. BSO is the first Romanian orchestra that performed after 1990 in Shanghai, Nanjing, Ningbo, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and Hangzhou. In 2015, the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra was commissioned to a second large tour in China consisting in 8 gala concerts, including Beijing and Harbin.
In 2018, Bucharest Symphony Orchestra was invited by to perform a extraordinary concert in the European Parliament, in the Yehudi Menuhin Hall.
“It was a memorable evening […] And it was also a concert with such an expressivity and flawless technique which I have missed in Bucharest for a long, long time, but which shows which kind of great talents still slumber in Romania and how easily they can be awoken in international collaboration. It was an evening that touched emotionally very deep all who had experienced that great concert.” Dieter Stanzeleit/Royal TV
“Meeting an orchestra that’s so good and young such as the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra, represents a great joy. It is a professional, high quality orchestra that pleases everyone’s ear with their music, be it royal or peasant one.” Radu Gheorghe, actor/ Alba Iulia, „L’apprenti Sorcier”
„[…] Tarja Turunen, Mike Terrana and the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra performed three songs: Led Zeppelin (‘Kashmir’, ‘Immigrant Song’, ‘Stairway to Heaven’) in a exceptional symphonic version, where the orchestra succeeded to find the inner core of each song.”
Alex Revenco / Jurnalul National, Tarja Turunen „Beauty & the Beast World Tour” concert tour
„El espíritu preciso de la Sinfónica de Bucarest” - La Capital/Rosario, Argentina
„Un impecable cierre rumano” - Ambito Financiero/Buenos Aires, Argentina
„El mejor broche para una temporada – Orquesta y solista brillaron y conmovieron a un público impactado” - El Pais, Montevideo, Uruguay