The SWR Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra emerged under American military rule after World War II and developed into a major force in contemporary music. In addition to radio broadcasts, the orchestra performed some 80 concerts a year in Stuttgart and around the radio network's coverage area. Along with performing traditional repertory, it established itself as a promoter of contemporary music, with a long list of contemporary composers conducting the group in their own works. In 2012, German radio executives voted to merge the SWR Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and the SWR Baden-Baden Freiburg Symphony Orchestra into a new SWR Symphonieorchester; Roger Norrington conducted the orchestra's final performance at the BBC Proms in 2016. The SWR Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra had a distinguished recording career covering a wide variety of repertory and winning several major industry awards. In 2020, SWR Music issued the orchestra's complete recordings of Beethoven's symphonies.