Label launch: Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings

The new in-house label of the Bayerische Staatsoper will seek to chronicle the excellence and diversity of one of the world’s leading opera houses.

The Bayerische Staatsoper and the Bayerisches Staatsorchester belong to the illustrious handful of cultural institutions whose tradition spans European musical history almost entirely.

In past decades, the opera house and orchestra have established themselves among the best in the world, in particular through their collaboration with conductors such as W. Sawallisch, C. Kleiber, Z. Mehta and K. Petrenko. Now the opportunity has been seized to take highlights from the large repertoire, catalogue them on an exclusive in-house label and make them available to a wider audience.

With the launch of Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings (BSOrec), from May 2021, selected current opera productions and concerts as well as archive recordings will be released in audio and audiovisual format.

The background information in the lavishly designed hardcover booklets completes the technically sophisticated experience. The label’s logo pays tribute to the characteristic double gable of the historic National Theatre in Munich: rotated ninety degrees it becomes a futuristic symbol. For the worldwide distribution, BSOrec has closed an agreement with the Naxos Music Group.

The debut release will be a live recording (2018) of Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, a rare and outstanding example of the collaboration of K. Petrenko and the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, followed later in the year by a DVD / Blu-ray release of Korngold’s Die tote Stadt (MD: K. Petrenko; SD: S. Stone; with J. Kaufmann, M. Petersen; 2019).