Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

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The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR)<ref>The literal translation reads "Orchestra of French-speaking Switzerland".</ref> is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall. In addition to symphony concerts, the OSR performs as the opera orchestra in productions at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

History

Ernest Ansermet founded the OSR in 1918, together with Paul Lachenal,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="Potts">Template:Cite journal</ref> He remained the music director of the OSR for 49 years, from 1918 to 1967.

A Swiss radio orchestra based in Lausanne was merged into the OSR in 1938. Subsequently, the OSR began to broadcast radio concerts regularly on Swiss radio.<ref name="Potts" /> The orchestra had a long-standing contract for recordings with Decca Records, dating from the tenure of Ansermet, and made over 300 recordings for Decca, starting in 1947 with Debussy's La mer.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The OSR premiered many works of the Swiss composers Arthur Honegger and Frank Martin. During the directorship of Armin Jordan (1985–1997), the OSR continued to make recordings on the Erato label.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

From 2005 to 2012, Marek Janowski was the artistic director and music director of the OSR. He conducted the OSR in recordings for the Pentatone label.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In September 2008, his initial 5-year contract had been extended to 2015,<ref>"L'Orchestre de la Suisse romande conforte son avenir et offre un CD à tous les Genevois". Tribune de Genève, 5 September 2009.</ref> 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.<ref>Sylvie Bonier, "Marek Janowski quittera l'OSR en 2012". Tribune de Genève, 21 January 2010.</ref>

Following the announcement of Janowski's scheduled 2012 departure, attempts to secure Bertrand de Billy<ref>Sylvie Bonier, "Bertrand de Billy ne viendra pas à l'OSR". Tribune de Genève. 26 January 2010.</ref> and Kazuki Yamada<ref>Sylvie Bonier, "Le jeune Kazuki Yamada est proposé pour diriger l'OSR". Tribune de Genève, 18 June 2010.</ref> as the OSR's next artistic leader did not come to fruition. In September 2010, the OSR named Neeme 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.<ref>Sylvie Bonier, "Surprise à l'OSR: Neeme Järvi sera le prochain chef". Tribune de Genève, 22 September 2010.</ref> Järvi has commercially recorded with the OSR for the Chandos label.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The OSR formalised the new contract and relationship with Nott in March 2016.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> Following news reports in 2023 of a revised contract end date of 2026 for Nott's OSR contract,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nott is scheduled to conclude his OSR tenure at the close of the 2025-2026 season.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2025, the OSR unveiled 'Virtual Hall', an immersive virtual reality platform also developed with Cybel'Art, to offer 360-degree video and spatial audio from multiple stage perspectives, conceptualised by Orunesu and premiered at Artgenève 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Artistic and musical directors

References

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