photo gallery
La Roulotte de l'OSR
The Roulotte de l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande has - once again - finished parading through six French-speaking cantons: Geneva, Bern, Valais, Neuchâtel, Fribourg and Vaud. On their mobile stage, the musicians played a various programme for children and elderly, curious to discover a symphony orchestra up close!
L'OSR c'est vous! 2022
On Friday the 24th of June was a full Victoria Hall during La Fête de la Musique for the 2nd edition of L'OSR c'est vous! What a pleasure to see amateur and professional musicians on stage in harmony, filling the venue with tunes from films that have now become cult favorites: Mission Impossible, Star Wars, Psycho and many others.
Le Colibri (The Hummingbird)
Last Saturday, the concert version of Elisa Shua Dusapin's story Le Colibri was conducted by composer Christophe Sturzenegger, accompanied by actors Clémentine Le Bas, Mathieu Fernandez-Villacanas and Matteo Prandi, in a production directed by Joan Mompart.
A touching tale about friendship, childhood and mourning, Le Colibri is a concert, a show performed at the Am Stram Gram Theatre and a comic book illustrated by Hélène Becquelin published by La Joie de Lire, giving access to a sound recording of the actors, accompanied musically by the OSR!
Festival de Pâques 2022
A magnificent premiere for the OSR at the Festival de Pâques, with a colourful programme: Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto, played by Renaud Capuçon, followed by The Rite of Spring, famous for the scandal it caused at its premiere, conducted by Jonathan Nott.
Première night
Central Europe is under the spotlights!
The OSR, in collaboration with the Ensemble Contrechamps and the HEM Orchestra, the Hungarian pianist János Balázs and the Hungarian cymbalist Miklós Lukács performed three swiss premiere pieces as part of the Archipel Festival: Peter Eötvös' Fermata, Slovenian composer Nina Šenk's Changing and Eötvös' Cziffra Psodia, celebrating the 100th birthday of Hungarian piano virtuoso György Cziffra.
What a night!
The Rite of Spring
What a blast last night with The Rite of Spring, conducted by Jonathan Nott! Then came the magic of Maurice Ravel's Shéhérazade cycle, perfect for calming the spirits with its exotic touch, sung by soprano Christiane Karg. Varèse's Arcana ends the evening in style with the largest orchestra the Victoria Hall can accommodate.
UZBEK STARS
Last night, the spotlights were on the young prodigies: conductor Aziz Shokhakimov and pianist Behzod Abduraimov. Keeping with the Uzbek theme, the concert began with the Swiss premiere of Suleiman Yudakov's Khorezm Festival Procession, followed by Rachmaninoff's magnificent Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 and ended with Prokofiev's Symphony No. 7.
the OSR on tour in Spain!
Throwback on our spanish tour last week.
From the 21st to the 26th of February, the Orchestre, Jonathan Nott and the swiss flutist Emmanuel Pahud played in Spain's most famous concert halls: the Auditorio Principe Felipe in Oviedo, the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, the Auditorio y Palacio de congresos in Zaragoza, the renown Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona and lastly the Auditorio de la Dupitacion de Alicante in Alicante.
What a week!
The Golden Flute
A light-hearted opening with Ibert's Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, played by our talented principal flute Loïc Schneider under the direction of Jonathan Nott.
Followed by Mahler's long-awaited Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor - a real struggle between life and death in music - powerfully conducted by our Musical & Artistic Director.
The msytical Péri
A perfect opening to the evening with the mysticism of La Péri by Dukas, followed by Neharot - tears in Hebrew - by Matthias Pintscher.
A Swiss premiere, this contemporary composition - commissioned by the Suntory Foundation for the Arts, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Staatsoper Dresden, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France - finds its inspiration in the complicated and troubled times we live since 2020.
Zimmermann plays Schumann
For this concert honouring German composers, our artist in residence Frank Peter Zimmermann played the wonderful Concerto for violin and orchestra in D minor by Schumann, followed by Brahm's Symphony No 2 in D major op. 73 played by the orchestra and conducted by our music and artistic director Jonathan Nott.
An unforgettable evening with Argerich and Pires
After months of anticipation, the Orchestra welcomed Martha Argerich and Maria João Pires onstage at the Victoira Hall for an unprecedented performance of Mozart's Concerto for two pianos and Mahler's 1st Symphony with conductor in residence, Daniel Harding. Many thanks to Fleuriot Fleurs for the decoration!
OSR c'est vous ! 2021 Edition
A look back on the first edition of "l'OSR, c'est vous !"
After months of preparation, our special orchestra made up of amateur & professional musicians finally presented an exciting programme of works by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Shostakovich, Bizet, and favourites from the film music repertoire.
Congratulations to the participants for their first immersion in a professional orchestra, and thank you to our musicians for their coaching!
Pink October
An unforgetable evening of romanticism was the theme of the OSR's concert in support of the 20th anniversary of the Réseau cancer du sein. Conducted by Fabio Luisi, Lise de la Salle played Rachmaninoff's 4th piano concerto with the impalpable fluidity of a virtuoso pianist. And the entertainment did not stop at the encore as the audience was treated toVipers Drag by Fats Waller, from her album When do we dance ?
Chaplin at the Beach !
Chaplin's silent film, The Kid, is set to music peformed by the OSR 100 years after it's creation in the unique setting of Genève-Plage for the second evening of our festival. A cult film, conducted by a regular at our family concerts, the highly enthousiastic Philippe Béran !
Festival Genève-Plage : Rhapsody in Blue
With the sun setting behind the Jura, an unforgettable first evening of the Festival Genève-Plage took place on 26.08.2021 ; an audience enraptured by Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" performed by the fantastic pianist Yoav Levanon, conducted by Jonathan Nott!
Concert 1:1
An unique concert experience : one musician plays for a one-person audience!
Across a series of unique locations in Geneva, one OSR musican plays a surprise 10-minute work without saying a word, to an audience of just one person. The OSR thanks Fleuriot fleurs, Les enfants terribles, SIG Quartier libre, the restaurnt Le Lyrique,
Rooftop°42, Le Museum et Museum of the Fire Brigade of the City of Geneva.
Poésie symphonique - 21.01.21
«C’est une pluie mécanique, un chaos cliquetant... Imaginé par György Ligeti (1923-2006), le Poème symphonique pour cent métronomes tient de la provocation artistique autant que de l’expérience sonore» Thierry Raboud, La Liberté, 21.01.2021.
À revisiter en images, ou à écouter sur OSR.CH/live
First concert of the 2020-21 season
A look back at the first subscription concert with soprano Christiane Karg and the musical and artistic director of the OSR, Jonathan Nott for a "100% Mahler" programme. "The OSR and Mahler, a happy marriage: The Geneva concert on Wednesday evening, dedicated to the Austrian composer, with soprano Christiane Karg as soloist, reminds us of the special ties between conductor Jonathan Nott and the great Gustav. Magnificent." Sylvie Bonier, Le Temps
In rehearsal with Maria-João Pires and Daniel Harding
Join the OSR backstage for a glimpse into rehearals with pianist Maria-João Pires and conductor Daniel Harding, who, following a popular concert series in September 2020, was announced as conductor in residence for the 2021-2022 season.
The OSR at Genève Plage
With a bit of daring and inventiveness, 2020 saw the first symphony orchestra concert resounding on the lawns of Genève Plage! First a classical evening for Mozart and Ravel lovers with artist in residence Francesco Piemontesi. Then, our loyal audience braved the weather for a Hollywood gala of film music with the universe of superheroes from DC Comics and Marvel mingling with Le fabuleux destiny d'Amélie Poulain and many others.
The OSR's Circus Caravan!
A project born during the pandemic of March 2020, initiated by a meeting between the symphony orchestra and a circus! It took a bit of madness for general manager Steve Roger to acquire an old circus trailer and transform it into a travelling stage! A successful stunt to bring music closer to the public while respecting the distances imposed by our times. Thanks to the caravan, the musicians of the OSR open up performances to small groups in schools, town squares and care homes in French-speaking Switzerland.
Beethoven's 9th in 360
The 11th June 2020 saw an unusual setting at the Victoria Hall : the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande placed two meters apart in 360 formation for a recording of Beethoven's 9th Symphony! Jonathan Nott conducts the concert from a vast podium in the middle of the auditorium, surrounded by the musicians spread out over the stage, stalls and boxes.
In the absence of an audience, an impressive list of soloists magnify the final explosion of the Ode to Joy: Sonya Yoncheva, Marie-Claude Chappuis, Mauro Peter and Manuel Walser, sing from the balconies. They are surrounded by the choirs of the Grand Théâtre de Genève (choirmaster Alan Woodbridge) and the Zürcher Sing-Akademie (choirmaster Nicolas Fink).