SYMPHONY AND CHAMBER ORCHESTRAS - Miz.org

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Berlin and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, to name only a few among the lar- gest of their rank. The third tier comprises seven publicly funded chamber orchestras which work all year round as string orchestras without their own woodwind or brass sections. Examples include the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Würt- temberg Chamber Orchestra in Heilbronn and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Fi- nally, the fourth tier involves the radio orchestras belonging to the ‘Consortium of public-law broadcasting corporations of the Federal Republic of Germany’, or ARD (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundes- republik Deutschland) and the Rundfunkorchester und -Chöre GmbH Berlin (ROC). These 12 radio orches tras or radio symphony orchestras, four big bands and seven radio choruses (see also Figure 10.3 in the article ‘Music on Radio and Television’ by Helmut Scherer and Beate Schneider) remain a mainstay of high-quality per- formance, ambitious programming and the promotion of contemporary music in Germany. 112 Germany’s so-called Kulturorchester – a somewhat antiquated label used in col lective bargaining agreements but meaning nothing more than an orchestra which works all year round with a permanent staff – are financed primarily by the public sector. The funds generally come from state or local subsidies and from radio and TV licence fees. Due to the federal structure of the country, the German Länder (states) are in charge of cultural affairs, and the role of the national govern- ment in funding theatres and orchestras is minimal. The financing models of the
Symphony and Chamber Orchestras | individual states differ considerably. Some theatres and orchestras are wholly or almost completely funded by a given state. These are then usually called Staats- theater (state theatres) or Staatsorchester (state orchestras). There are a very few cases of entirely local funding by a municipality. Most theatres and orchestras benefit from mixed funding provided by the Land and by local and nearby mu- nicipalities. The box-office returns and the orchestra’s own resources vary widely according to genre (music theatre, concert etc.) and from one region to the next. On average, they account for roughly 19 percent of the budget – often less, sometimes more. Only a few theatres and orchestras are privately sponsored; fundraising in this sector is virtually non-existent. In addition to the Kulturorchester, mention should also be made of other professional ensembles and chamber orchestras which either work on a project-by- project basis with a regular group of freelance musicians (‘project orchestras’) or, Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s Schauspielhaus am Gendarmenmarkt, Berlin: formerly a theatre, now a concert hall if they have the benefit of public funding, with a permanent staff. Examples in the first category are the Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt), the Deutsche Kammer- philharmonie (Bremen), the Bavarian Chamber Orchestra (Bad Brückenau) and the Concerto Köln. The second group includes the Ge<strong>org</strong>ian Chamber Orchestra (In- golstadt) and the Potsdam Chamber Academy, among others. The German Music Information Centre (Deutsches Musikinformationszentrum, or MIZ) currently lists more than 80 professional chamber orchestras on its website. 113
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SYMPHONY AND CHAMBER ORCHESTRAS - Miz.org

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