1,350 musicians break world record for largest string orchestra with immense ‘Ode to Joy’
8 July 2025, 15:27 | Updated: 8 July 2025, 16:07
Record broken with world's largest string orchestra
A new world record has been set in Germany, with the eternal music of Beethoven...
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The world record for the largest string orchestra has been broken in Germany.
On Sunday 6 July, 1,353 musicians braved rain and wind to gather in the town hall square in Recklinghausen to play Ludwig van Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ from his Ninth Symphony.
Read more: The remarkable story of Beethoven’s ‘Choral’ Symphony No. 9 and the ‘Ode to Joy’
General Music Director of the Westfalen Symphonic Orchestra, Rasmus Baumann, who conducted the event, described the piece as “the European anthem”, adding that “the idea that music connects people is ideal for such an occasion.”
Watch the record-breaking moment below.
Von Hong Kong bis nach Recklinghausen!
— Heuwox (@TheHeuwi) July 6, 2025
Unsere Ruhrfestspielstadt hält nun den Weltrekord für das größte Streichorchester. pic.twitter.com/s7O6xmefAb
One participant, Anne Stiepedley, said: “We can now be really proud that we’ve managed to get this off the ground”, then asking “we can do it again, can’t we?”
Read more: Alphorn world record broken as 1,006 players give epic performance in Swiss Alps
The previous record had been set in Hong Kong in 2018, and the record for the overall largest orchestra consisted of 8,573 musicians. This was achieved by El Sistema Nacional de Orquestas y Coros Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela, in Caracas, Venezuela, on 13 November 2021.
