Franziskus Theurillat will leave the Basel Symphony Orchestra in summer 2028

Franziskus Theurillat will step down as orchestra director of the Basel Symphony Orchestra (SOB) at the end of July 2028, the Schweizer Musikzeitung reports.¹ He has held the post since 2000. His time there saw the orchestra break away from the Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft Basel and become independent, get through the coronavirus period and celebrate its 150th anniversary in the 2025/26 jubilee season.¹

Theurillat also knows the orchestra from the players' side: he studied horn at the Musik-Akademie Basel and from 1992 played in the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Basel, which merged with the Basler Sinfonie-Orchester in 1997 to form today's SOB.¹

According to the SOB's press release, announcing the move this early is meant to leave enough time for a careful succession process.¹ The source does not name a successor.

After Lucerne, this is another orchestra in German-speaking Switzerland announcing a change at the top of its management for 2028: in mid-September the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra said that its managing director Numa Bischof Ullmann would leave at the end of June 2028.²