Norway's premier ensemble, the Oslo Philharmonic, sees its performances aired regularly throughout the country while maintaining an extensive discography that has carried its interpretations to listeners abroad. Foreign-born leaders have frequently shaped its path, with particular distinction accruing in the 1980s and 1990s under Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons, whose Oslo appointment marked his first post outside the Soviet Union.
The present-day orchestra descends from Edvard Grieg's Christiana Musikforening and the Christiana Theater Orchestra, the latter two entities merging in 1919 to form the Filharmonisk Selskaps Orkester, or Orchestra of the Philharmonic Company; the designation Oslo Philharmonic (Oslo-Filharmonien) came into official use only in 1979. During the 1920s and 1930s the group flourished, engaging leading guest conductors and composer-conductors from abroad such as Artur Nikisch, Maurice Ravel, and, one week before the Nazi invasion of Norway in 1940, Wilhelm Furtwängler. Its concerts entered Norwegian radio broadcasts as early as the 1920s.
World War II brought a suspension of activities, yet the ensuing decades revived momentum and widened visibility. Sweden's Herbert Blomstedt, the first non-Norwegian to hold the post, led the orchestra from 1962 to 1968 and initiated tours to Europe's principal musical centers, while the Finn Okko Kamu (1975-1979) conducted an American tour. Jansons succeeded them, elevating the ensemble's international profile still further and concluding a long-term recording contract with Britain's EMI label. Although the orchestra took up residence in the new Oslo Concert Hall in 1977, the venue soon sparked debate; after clashing with its owner, the Oslo city government, over acoustic conditions, Jansons resigned in 2000. Subsequent music directors included the American André Previn (2002-2006), Finland's Jukka-Pekka Saraste (2006-2013), and the Russian Vasily Petrenko (2013-2020). Finland's Klaus Mäkelä was scheduled to assume the podium in 2020.
A steady flow of recordings continues on the Simax, Dacapo, and Lawo Classics labels, often reaching four releases per year. In 2019 Petrenko directed the orchestra for the Lawo Classics account of Richard Strauss's tone poems Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30, and Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40.
