section_path: Culture/Theatre and music
section_name: Theatre and music
paragraph_text: Theatre and music
  
  Basel is the home of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, founded in 1933, a worldwide centre for research on and performance of music from the Medieval through the Baroque eras. Theater Basel, chosen in 1999 as the best stage for German-language performances and in 2009 and 2010 as "Opera house of the year" by German opera magazine Opernwelt, presents a busy schedule of plays in addition to being home to the city's opera and ballet companies. Basel is home to the largest orchestra in Switzerland, the Sinfonieorchester Basel. It is also the home of the Basel Sinfonietta and the Kammerorchester Basel, which recorded the complete symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven for the Sony label, led by its music director Giovanni Antonini. The Schola Cantorum and the Basler Kammerorchester were both founded by the conductor Paul Sacher, who went on to commission works by many leading composers. The Paul Sacher Foundation, opened in 1986, houses a major collection of manuscripts, including the entire Igor Stravinsky archive.The baroque orchestras La Cetra and Capriccio Basel are also based in Basel.
  
  In May 2004, the fifth European Festival of Youth Choirs (Europäisches Jugendchorfestival, or EJCF) opened; this Basel tradition started in 1992. Host of the festival is the local Basel Boys Choir.
  
  In 1997, Basel contended to become the " European Capital of Culture ", though the honor went to Thessaloniki.
  
  In 2025, Basel hosted the Eurovision Song Contest at St. Jakobshalle, becoming the third Swiss city to host the competition after Lugano in 1956 and Lausanne in 1989.