Philharmonic Orchestra of Luxembourg

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The Philharmonic Orchestra of Luxembourg (French: Orchester philharmonique du Luxembourg , OPL) is the national orchestra of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg . It is located on the Kirchberg plateau in the newly built Philharmonie Luxembourg, opened in 2005, in the capital Luxembourg . Previous venues were the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg and the “Conservatoire de Luxembourg”.

history

The orchestra was established in 1933 as the house orchestra of the RTL Radio radio station with the name Grand orchester symphonique de RTL . Henri Pensis from Luxembourg was the orchestra's founder and first musical director. In 1939 Pensis went into exile in the USA and the orchestra was dissolved. The new beginning as a small entertainment orchestra in 1945 was followed by the resumption of serious music in 1946 after Pensis had returned from the USA.

The broadcaster RTL decided in 1996 not to continue the contract with the orchestra. The Luxembourg government set up the Henri Pensis Foundation so that the orchestra could continue to exist. The orchestra has had the new name since 1996.

The orchestra is financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the City of Luxembourg . The OPL also works with partners and sponsors .

On February 16, 2016, Angélique Kidjo won a Grammy in the category “ Best World Music Album ” for her recording with the Philharmonic Orchestra, which took place in 2013 at the Philharmonie in Luxembourg .

orchestra

The orchestra currently (as of January 2013) consists of 98 permanent musicians. These come from around 20 countries. Around two thirds of the musicians come from Luxembourg and the neighboring countries France , Germany and Belgium .

repertoire

The focus of the repertoire of the Orchester Philharmonique du Luxembourg (OPL) is on classical and romantic concert literature . In particular, however, the orchestra intensively performs works from the 20th and 21st centuries. With the OPL a complete recording of the orchestral works by Iannis Xenakis was created . The orchestra performed works by Bernd Alois Zimmermann , Arthur Honegger , Ivo Malec , Hugues Dufourt , Toshio Hosokawa , Klaus Huber , Helmut Lachenmann , Georges Lentz , Philippe Gaubert and Gabriel Pierné , among others .

The orchestra regularly participates in opera productions at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg. Other activities include film concerts such as “Live Cinema” in collaboration with the Cinemathèque de la Ville de Luxembourg and the “Pops at the Phil” concerts, in which the orchestra accompanied artists such as Patti Austin , Dionne Warwick , Maurane and Angélique Kidjo , among others .

With the Orchester Philharmonique du Luxembourg (OPL) around twenty CD releases are available. The concerts of the OPL are regularly broadcast by the Luxembourg radio broadcaster Radio 100.7 and are broadcast internationally via the network of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Musical director

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Grammy for Angélique Kidjo with the OPL , wort.lu, February 16, 2016.