As its cultural ambassador, it is also a regular guest at major international concert venues such as the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Shanghai Concert Hall. Musicians from more than 20 nations form the orchestra’s sound that is particularly representative of Viennese classical music, in particular the music of its hometown’s famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The orchestra also discovers the works of the Romantic period in the form of new chamber orchestral transparency and spans the repertoire from the Baroque to the modern era.

In 1952, the Viennese conductor and musicologist Bernhard Paumgartner, who worked in Salzburg, founded the Camerata Academica as an ensemble of teachers and students of the Mozarteum with his vision of creating an ideal sound through the personal responsibility of each individual musician in the highest sense of the community. From the very beginning, the CAMERATA under Paumgartner, known as a Mozart specialist, was primarily committed to the work of the Salzburg composer. Notable tours as well as recordings such as the complete Mozart piano concertos with Géza Anda as soloist in the 1960s and with Sir András Schiff in the 1980s anchored the orchestra on the international music market.

Sándor Végh had the greatest influence on the development of CAMERATA as chief conductor from 1978 to 1997. With him on the podium, Mozart’s opera repertoire as well as works by Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert became increasingly important. His credo of approaching each piece as if it were chamber music played by a string quartet (a continuation of Paumgartner’s idea) still characterizes the sound and playing style of CAMERATA today. Invitations to the Salzburg Festival as an opera orchestra allowed the orchestra to grow further. Sándor Végh was followed by Sir Roger Norrington, Leonidas Kavakos and Louis Langrée.

In 2016, the orchestra decided to take the leadership into its own hands as a logical consequence of its chamber orchestral tradition. Under the artistic direction of the “primi inter pares”, CAMERATA has since performed under its own leadership and with a democratic self-image with its concertmasters Gregory Ahss and Giovanni Guzzo and, depending on the repertoire, in collaboration with guest conductors. Examples of these include Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Herreweghe, Manfred Honeck, François Leleux and Finnegan Downie-Dear. CAMERATA has an in-depth collaboration with its artistic partners, the French pianist Hélène Grimaud and the Dutch violinist Janine Jansen. In the 2024/25 season, CAMERATA will also be working with artists such as Lisa Batiashvili, Mao Fujita, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Fazıl Say, Dorothee Oberlinger and Richard Galliano.

CAMERATA pays particular attention to the development of young talent and carries out intensive music education work with CAMERATA Young. Inclusive projects such as “Papageno goes to school” and concerts for young and old bring the fascination of classical music to all sections of the population. CAMERATA also incorporates music education projects into its tours wherever possible.