Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the oldest symphony orchestras in the world. Since 1957 the orchestra has had the title Royal , bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II , and for decades it was the only orchestra in Great Britain.
The founding of the orchestra goes back to the year 1840 with the establishment of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society , in which citizens could purchase shares for financing, which at the same time had a subscription character. The first conductor was the Swiss Jakob Zeugheer. From 1867, Julius Benedict , Max Bruch and Charles Hallé followed three German conductors until 1895. Well-known chief conductors in the middle of the 20th century were Malcolm Sargent , Paul Kletzki , John Pritchard and Charles Groves . From 1977 to 1980, Walter Weller was the first Austrian to take on the musical direction, and from 1983 to 1986 another German was Marek Janowski . The current chief conductor is Vasily Petrenko . The honorary conductor (“conductor laureate”) is Libor Pešek , who was chief conductor from 1987 to 1997.
The orchestra played from 1849 until it was destroyed by fire in 1933 in the old Philharmonic Hall , which was known for its excellent acoustics. At the same location, the new building of the same name, which is still in use today, was built in 1939 with references to Art Deco and the Bauhaus .
Web link
- Website of the orchestra (English)
Jakob Zeugheer (1843–1865) | Alfred Mellon (1865–1867) | Julius Benedict (1867–1880) | Max Bruch (1880–1883) | Charles Hallé (1883–1895) | Frederic Hymen Cowen (1896–1913) | Louis Cohen (1932-1942) | Malcolm Sargent (1942-1948) | Hugo Rignold (1948–1954) | Paul Kletzki (1954–1955) | Efrem Kurtz (1955–1957) | John Pritchard (1957-1963) | Charles Groves (1963-1977) | Walter Weller (1977–1980) | David Atherton (1980-1983) | Marek Janowski (1983–1986) | Libor Pešek (1987–1997) | Petr Altrichter (1997-2001) | Gerard Schwarz (2001-2006) | Wassili Petrenko (since 2006)