About our Residency programme

We welcome three outstanding and vividly contrasting ensembles to the 2024 International Festival. Taking up residency during the Festival run in August, these ensembles offer us in-depth and unique perspectives on the inner workings of their collective sound and ambitions. Residencies make time and space for the ensembles to deepen their connection with Edinburgh’s communities – from primary school pupils to our homegrown rising stars. The union between artists and audiences flourishes.

Bamberger Symphoniker

Spurred on by the guiding theme of the Rituals That Unite Us, the Bamberger Symphoniker unites with the International Festival to explore our collective rituals and their power to shape our identity and connect us – as a festival and as a community.

Born out of the turmoil of war, the Bamberger Symphoniker is a testimony to cross-border connection and resilience. In 1946, former members of the German Philharmonic Orchestra Prague met colleagues in Bamberg to reinstate an orchestra whose roots go back to the 18th century. Today, the orchestra resonates worldwide, transmitting its radiant sound while acting as a cultural ambassador for Bavaria and all of Germany.

We are profoundly inspired by the Bamberger Symphoniker’s impressive lineage of musical mentorship which greatly aligns with our own commitment to nurturing emerging talent.

Under the musical direction of Chief Conductor Jakub Hrůša, the Bamberger Symphoniker showcases their ambitious repertoire across their programme. Their series of four concerts starts with Hans Rott’s First Symphony, a little-known symphonic triumph, paired with Symphonic Prelude by Anton Bruckner, as well as Gustav Mahler’s haunting Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. Then, the orchestra ingeniously couples Antonín Dvořák’s Te Deum with his son-in-law Josef Suk’s poignant Asrael symphony. The family-friendly event Beyond the Score® combines live music, spoken word and visual projections to dive deep into Dvořák’s ‘New World’ Symphony. And, finally, the ‘New World’ Symphony is revisited again in combination with Johannes Brahms’s Double Concerto.

The Bamberger Symphoniker Residency is supported by James and Morag Anderson with additional support from Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany.