Philharmonia Orchestra
© Felix Broede
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the world’s great orchestras. Widely acknowledged as one of the UK’s foremost musical pioneers, and with an extraordinary recording legacy, the Philharmonia leads the field for its quality of playing, and for its innovative approach to residencies, audience development, music education and the use of new technologies in reaching a global audience. Together with its relationships with the world’s most sought-after artists, most importantly its Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Philharmonia Orchestra is at the heart of British musical life.
Today, the Philharmonia has the greatest claim of any to be the UK’s national orchestra, committed to presenting the same quality, live music-making in venues throughout the country as it brings to London and the great concert halls of the world. In 2015 the Orchestra celebrated its 70th birthday and the 20th anniversary of the foundation of its residency programme, which began in 1995 with the launch of its residencies at London’s Southbank Centre and Bedford’s Corn Exchange. The Orchestra also has long-term partnerships with De Montfort Hall in Leicester (Resident Orchestra since 1997), the Anvil in Basingstoke (Orchestra in Partnership since 2001), and, more recently, at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury and Three Choirs Festival (Resident Orchestra).
The Orchestra performs more than 160 concerts a year, as well as recording music for films, computer games and commercial audio releases. Under Esa-Pekka Salonen a series of flagship, visionary projects at the Royal Festival Hall, where the Orchestra performs 40 concerts a season, have been critically acclaimed. City of Light: Paris 1900-1950 (2015), City of Dreams: Vienna 1900-1935 (2009), Bill Viola’s Tristan und Isolde (2010), Infernal Dance: Inside the World of Béla Bartók (2011) and Woven Words, a celebration of Witold Lutosławski’s centenary year (2013), are followed in 2016 by Stravinsky: Myths & Rituals, a major, five-concert festival of music by Igor Stravinsky.
The Philharmonia has a busy international touring schedule, with recent major series in Taiwan and Japan with Esa-Pekka Salonen, a tour to China with Vladimir Ashkenazy, and concerts in Iceland, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Poland. The Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen take up residence at the 2016 Festival International d'Art Lyrique d'Aix-en-Provence, including two concerts from the Stravinsky: Myths & Rituals series.
The Philharmonia’s Principal International Partner is Wuliangye.
www.philharmonia.co.uk
Not to be altered without permission
April 2016