American symphony orchestra based at the for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is one of the "Big Five" US orchestras.
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The orchestra was founded in 1900 by , who also acted as its first conductor. In 1907, Karl Pohlig became music director and served until the orchestra cancelled his contract.
became music director in 1912 and brought the orchestra to national prominence. Under his guidance, the orchestra gained a reputation for virtuosity, and developed what is known as the "Philadelphia Sound". In 1917 Stokowski lead the Orchestra in its first sound recording for the Philadelphia became the first orchestra to make an electrical recording in April 1925, with ' Danse Macabre. Later, in 1926, began recording the Orchestra at The Academy of Music (the home of the Philadelphia Orchestra until 2001). Stokowski led the ensemble in experimental long-playing, high-fidelity, and even stereophonic sessions in the early 1930s for and (). Stowowski and the orchestra recorded the soundtrack for Walt Disney's Fantasia in multi-track stereophonic sound in 1939-40. Stokowski left the orchestra in 1941, and did not return as a guest conductor for nearly 20 years.
In 1936 was appointed co-conductor with Stokowski and was given the title of music director two years later in 1938. He remained as music director until 1980, after which he became Conductor Laureate. Ormandy conducted many of the orchestra's best-known recordings, remaining with through 1942. Following a settlement of a recording ban imposed by the American Federation of Musicians, the Orchestra joined Records () in 1944. The orchestra returned to RCA Victor in 1968 and made its first digital recording, Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra, for RCA in 1979. The Orchestra has also recorded for and . Ormandy took the orchestra on its historic 1973 tour of the People's Republic of China, where it was the first Western orchestra to visit that country in many decades.
Upon the retirement of Eugene Ormandy, became the fifth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 1980 through 1992. Muti's recordings with the orchestra included the symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, and Scriabin, for the and labels.
succeeded Riccardo Muti as the sixth music director from 1993 to 2003, and he was named Conductor Laureate, and held the title until his death in 2013. Sawallisch made a number of recordings with the orchestra for , however, the orchestra lost its recording contract with EMI during this time, which led to a musicians' strike in 1996.
In January 2001, was announced as the Orchestras seventh music director; his tenure began with the 20032004 season. In December 2001, The Philadelphia Orchestra performed inaugural concerts in its new home at The . In May 2005, the Orchestra announced a three-year recording partnership with the Finnish label , the Orchestra's first recording contract in 10 years. In October 2006, Eschenbach and the orchestra announced the conclusion of his tenure as music director in 2008, and began a four-year tenure as chief conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra. In June 2010, was appointed Music Director Designate, and in 2012, he was appointed music director, succeeding Dutoit, who subsequently was named conductor laureate of the orchestra.
Aliases
- Warwick Symphony Orchestra
- The Robin Hood Dell Orchestra Of Philadelphia
Members
- Jan Savitt
- Paul Gershman
- Max Pollikoff
- Harry Zaratzian
- Marcella DeCray
- Tibor Zelig
- Samuel Mayes
- Joseph De Pasquale
- William Schoen
- Renard Edwards
- Virginia Halfmann
- Paul Shure
- Victor Bay
- Emmet Sargeant
- Judy Geist
- Bob de Pasquale
- Leopold Stokowski
- Clement Barone
- Juliette Kang
- Noah Geller
- Joseph Silverstein
- Eugene Ormandy
- Gilbert Johnson
- Christoph Eschenbach
- Bernard Garfield
- Carlton Cooley
- Anthony Gigliotti
- John De Lancie
- Murray Panitz
- Mason Jones
- Lucien Cailliet
- Rosario Bourdon
- Frank Kaderabek
- Winifred Mayes
- Barbara Haffner
- Christopher Rex
- Melvyn Broiles
- Charles Jaffe
- Jeffrey Khaner
- Jeffery Kirschen
- Carrie Dennis
- Efe Baltacigil
- Max Goberman
- Yuan Tung
- Norman Carol
- Jacob Krachmalnick
- Robert Bloom
- Elsa Hilger
- Denise Tryon
- John Minsker
- Anshel Brusilow
- Victor Gottlieb
- Holly Blake
- Jonathan Blumenfeld
- Joseph Alessi
- Lorne Munroe
- Louis Rosenblatt
- John Simonelli
- Charles Vernon
- Anthony Zungolo
- Edmund Schuëcker
- Arnold Grossi
- Luis Biava
- Louis Lanza
- Arthur Berv
- Harry Glantz
- Deborah Reeder
- William McGlaughlin
- Jeffrey Curnow
- Nancy Bean
- Sheppard Lehnhoff
- Wayne Rapier
- Alexander Hilsberg
- Howard Wall
- William Kincaid
- Anthony Orlando
- Francis J. Lapitino
- Yoko Takebe
- Hai-Ye Ni
- Charles Rex
- Jean Rogister
- Roger Scott
- Frank Sinatra
- Neil Courtney
- Marcel Tabuteau
- Gordon Pulis
- Henry Charles Smith
- M. Dee Stewart
- Abe Torchinsky
- Seymour Rosenfeld
- Marilyn Costello
- Charles Griffin
- Hans Kindler
- Gerald Carlyss
- Glenn Dodson
- Tyrone Breuninger
- Paul Arnold
- Michael Ludwig
- Clarence Karella
- Mark Gigliotti
- Benar Heifetz
- Mischa Mischakoff
- Edna Phillips
- David Wetherill
- Blair Bollinger
- Roger Blackburn
- Daniel Williams
- Eric Carlson
- Richard Ranti
- Sol Schoenbach
- Daniel Saidenberg
- Michel Gusikoff
- Michel Penha
- Joseph Pepper
- David Madison
- Loren N. Lind
- William Torello
- David Grupp
- Richard Harlow
- Nolan E. Miller
- Adam Unsworth
- Paul Olefsky
- Max Aronoff
- Hugo Kreisler
- Samuel Krauss
- Ling Tung
- Sidney Curtiss
- Arthur Bennett Lipkin
- Leon Frengut
- William Stokking
- Erez Ofer
- Kendall Betts
- Jeffrey Lang
- James Pellerite
- Oscar Zimmerman
- Frederick Vogelgesang
- Che-Hung Chen
- Derek Barnes
- William Gruner
- David Bilger
- Donald Montanaro
- Marcel Farago
- Donald E. McComas
- Stevens Hewitt
- Charles M. Morris
- William De Pasquale
- George Goslee
- Albert Tipton
- Daniel Bonade
- Ricardo Morales
- Milton Prinz
- Udi Bar-David
- Herbert Baumel
- Nitzan Haroz
- Walter Oesterreicher
- Saul Caston
- Gardell Simons
- Louis Gesensway
- John Krell
- Michael Stairs
- Bert Phillips
- Davyd Booth
- Herman Weinberg
- Alfred Lennartz
- Margarita Csonka Montanaro
- Julius Schulman
- Richard Woodhams
- Samuel Caviezel
- Rachel Ku
- Elisabeth Starr Masoudnia
- Anna Marie Ahn Petersen
- Carol Jantsch
- Elina Kalendareva
- Alex Veltman
- Daniel Han
- Daniel Matsukawa
- Stephen Wyrczynski
- Hirono Oka
- Jerome Wigler
- Kimberly Fisher
- Matthew Vaughn
- John Hood
- Robert W. Earley
- Zachary de Pue
- Yumi Kendall
- Kathryn Picht Read
- Shelley Showers
- Jonathan Beiler
- Dmitri Levin
- Herbert Light
- Burchard Tang
- Elizabeth Hainen
- Choong-Jin Chang
- Booker Rowe
- Kiyoko Takeuti
- Henry G. Scott
- Duane Rosengard
- Ohad Bar-David
- Christopher Deviney
- Richard Amoroso
- Angela Zator Nelson
- Albert Filosa
- Harold Robinson
- Don S. Liuzzi
- Paul Roby
- Michael Shahan
- Angela Anderson
- Jennifer Haas
- Boris Balter
- Emilio Gravagno
- David Kim
- Herold Klein
- Barbara Govatos
- David Nicastro
- Jennifer Montone
- Yumi Ninomiya Scott
- Raoul Querze
- David Cramer
- Paul R. Demers
- Lisa-Beth Lambert
- Miyo Curnow
- Robert Kesselman
- Robert Cafaro
- Gloria De Pasquale
- Kazuo Tokito
- Philip Kates
- Stephane Dalschaert
- John Koen
- David Fay
- Sol Ruden
- Anton Torello
- Samuel Roens
- Thaddeus Rich
- Irvin Rosen
- Jason Depue
- Bibi Black