PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA
The Philharmonia Orchestra, founded as a recording orchestra in 1945, has always been innovative in its use of technology to reach a wider audience. It has grown into one of the world’s top international orchestras with a history of legendary recordings and stellar performances by some of the greatest conductors of the 20th and 21st centuries: Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Arturo Toscanini, and Riccardo Muti, just to name a few. In addition, Philharmonia has premiered works by Richard Strauss, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Errollyn Wallen, Kaija Saariaho, and numerous others.
During the Corona pandemic, the Philharmonia Orchestra managed to create an online concert format which streamed its performances not only to their own home audience, but also to first-time listeners in Brazil, Sudan, Indonesia, India, and north of the Arctic Circle in Norway.
Finnish conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen has been the Philharmonia's chief conductor and artistic director since 2008. His younger compatriot, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, took over as chief conductor in the 2021-2022 season.
The orchestra consists of 80 musicians from a total of 60 different countries.



