Frank Strobel conducts film music by Ennio Morricone

A conductor whose international reputation is built on repertoire of unusual stylistic diversity, Frank Strobel has long been recognised as a leading figure in the space where film meets music. In particular, he has played a crucial role in bringing film concerts into leading opera houses and concert halls.

The 2024/25 season includes the premiere of Gance’s Napoléon epic in Paris, concerts tributing Ennio Morricone as well as the German premiere of Bram Stoker’s Dracula with music by Wojciech Kilar at the Film Festival Braunschweig.

His most important film projects include Nosferatu (2023), Ivan The Terrible (2016), J’accuse (2014), Metropolis (2010), Nibelungen (2010), Battleship Potemkin (2009), Rosenkavalier (2006), Romeo & Juliet (2006) and Alexander Nevsky (2003). He was a founding member of the Europäische FilmPhilharmonie in 2000, an institution dedicated to the artistic development of music and film in the concert hall. This has given rise to such ambitious projects as Matrix Live at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

He has conducted such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Filarmonica della Scala, Staatskapelle Dresden, HR-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, as well as Seattle and Sydney Symphony. Frank Strobel held recently the position as Chief Conductor of the WDR Funkhausorchester.

Within his vast discography the series with film suites by Alfred Schnittke, to which Strobel retains the adaptation rights, were received to great critical acclaim. The fifth release of this series received an Opus Klassik Award in 2022.

With around 60 concerts annually, CD recordings, and international performances, the Rundfunkchor Berlin is one of the world’s leading choirs. Three Grammy Awards alone stand as a testament to the quality of its recordings. Its wide-ranging repertoire, flexible, richly nuanced sound, flawless precision, and compelling presence make the professional choir a partner of choice for prominent orchestras and conductors, including Kirill Petrenko, Daniel Barenboim, Simon Rattle, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In Berlin, the choir has an intense collaboration with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, as well as with their chief conductors.

The Rundfunkchor Berlin also attracts international attention with its interdisciplinary projects, which break the traditional concert format and offer new ways of experiencing choral music. A milestone was the staged interpretation of Brahms’ Requiem as a “human requiem” by Jochen Sandig and a team from Sasha Waltz & Guests. After performances in New York, Hong Kong, Paris, and Adelaide, the production traveled to Istanbul for the first time in the summer of 2019. For the project LUTHER dancing with the gods, the choir reflected on Luther’s impact on the arts and within the arts in a genre-defying concert performance with Robert Wilson and music by Bach, Nystedt, and Reich. For TIME TRAVELLERS, the choir will transform the Berliner Radialsystem into a walkable time tunnel in the 2019/2020 season. Based on Jonathan Dove’s composition The Passing of the Year, the project will create an interactive choral experience with films, images, performance, and music.

Through its community projects targeting diverse audiences – such as the large sing-along concert at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Festival of Choral Cultures for choirs from around the world, and the Song Market for Berlin students – the Rundfunkchor Berlin aims to inspire as many people as possible to sing. Its comprehensive educational program SING! focuses on the sustainable networking of various partners to promote singing as a natural part of Berlin’s elementary school curriculum. With the Academy and Schola, as well as the International Master Class Berlin, the ensemble is committed to nurturing the next generation of professional singers and conductors.

Founded in 1925, the Rundfunkchor Berlin celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2015. The choir has been shaped by conductors such as Helmut Koch, Dietrich Knothe (1982–93), Robin Gritton (1994–2001), and Simon Halsey (2001–2015). Since the 2015/16 season, Dutch conductor Gijs Leenaars has been the chief conductor and artistic director of the ensemble. Simon Halsey remains connected to the choir as an honorary conductor and guest conductor. The Rundfunkchor Berlin is an ensemble of the Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH Berlin, under the sponsorship of Deutschlandradio, the Federal Republic of Germany, the State of Berlin, and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg.