Our Orchestra on Tour turns 70 - let's hear it for the Philharmonia
One of the world's great orchestras is celebrating an important birthday - and we think they're absolutely wonderful.
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1. Founded in 1945
After World War II, legendary classical music record producer Walter Legge was looking for a first-class orchestra for opera, concerts and recordings, and formed the Philharmonia. Here's the earliest known photo of the orchestra
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2. 70 years of working with classical music's finest
Over 70 years the orchestra has worked with the greatest conductors, composers and musicians. Here's Igor Stravinsky on the podium. No pressure.
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3. Birthdays
Here's a picture from the orchestra's 10th anniversary celebrations in 1955. Make ours a big slice, thanks.
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4. Five incredible Principal Conductors
Otto Klemperer, Riccardo Muti, Giuseppe Sinopoli and Christoph von Dohnányi have all been at the helm of this great orchestra - Finnish maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen is their current Principal Conductor
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5. One of the world's busiest orchestras
Every year the Philharmonia performs at more than 160 concerts, numerous outreach events, and records music for films, computer games and commercial CDs. Phew.
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6. 70 years of redefining what an orchestra is
Concert programmes have always been innovative, recordings have always been championed – and now the Philharmonia has added video game music to its repertoire, as well as a digital ‘virtual Philharmonia Orchestra’ and iOrchestra.
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7. A home at London's Royal Festival Hall
Since 1995 the orchestra have been based in London's cultural hub at Southbank Centre, filling the Royal Festival Hall with splendid sounds.
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8. And sounding good live
They're regulars at Classic FM Live - and they sound fantastic thundering out the greatest music ever written in the Royal Albert Hall
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9. And our Orchestra on Tour
We're delighted that The Philharmonia has been one of our partner orchestras since 2003 - with a title that reflects their invaluable role in taking classical music to venues around the country