Regarded by many as the pinnacle of symphonic ensembles, The Philadelphia Orchestra earns the label of the Rolls Royce among orchestras. Ranked among the so-called Big Five American orchestras, its devoted followers insist that it has held the position of the world's finest for more than a century.
Established in 1900, the group installed Fritz Scheel as its inaugural music director, a post he held until his passing in 1907. During those initial seasons the ensemble had yet to attain the lofty standing it would claim two decades later, though it drew distinguished visitors such as Richard Strauss, who appeared as guest conductor, and Artur Rubinstein, who performed as soloist in 1906. Scheel’s successor, Carl Pohlig, a protégé of Mahler, led the orchestra until 1912, when management selected the then-young and little-known Leopold Stokowski as music director. Within eight years Stokowski had elevated the ensemble to widespread recognition as the leading orchestra in the United States and one of the greatest anywhere. He recruited the era’s foremost soloists and frequently programmed his own transcriptions—frequently prepared with Lucien Caillet—of works by Bach and others. Under his direction the orchestra also produced an extensive series of RCA recordings during the 1920s and 1930s, outpacing most contemporaries in that activity. It became the first ensemble to secure commercial sponsorship for its own radio broadcasts and the first to appear on a motion-picture soundtrack, The Big Broadcast of 1937. Stokowski and the orchestra were further featured in Disney’s 1940 film Fantasia. One of his decisive changes in performance practice was the adoption of free bowing among the strings, which produced a richer, more opulent sonority.
In 1938 management chose Eugene Ormandy as the new music director; he had already served as assistant conductor since 1936. Stokowski continued to lead concerts and recordings until 1940. Ormandy abandoned the free-bowing technique, and many observers credit him with achieving still greater collective virtuosity. Leading mid-century artists—among them Rachmaninov, Horowitz, Van Cliburn, Szigeti, and Oistrakh—regularly appeared and recorded with the orchestra. Ormandy’s early years with RCA gave way to a Columbia affiliation in the 1940s, though the ensemble returned to RCA in 1968. Across both labels the repertory centered on the standard canon with special emphasis on Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev, while also encompassing a substantial body of American scores by Copland, Harris, Piston, and Gershwin.
Ormandy designated Riccardo Muti as his successor; Muti assumed the post in 1980. During his decade in Philadelphia he presided over numerous recordings, including a widely praised Beethoven symphony cycle for EMI. Although some critics viewed the period unfavorably, the orchestra sustained its overall high standing. Wolfgang Sawallisch became music director in 1993 and remained until 2003, continuing the EMI association through 1996 and producing, among other projects, a Schumann symphony cycle. Named conductor laureate at the conclusion of his tenure, he held the title until his death in 2013. Christoph Eschenbach succeeded him from 2003 to 2008. Charles Dutoit then served as chief conductor and artistic director from 2008 until 2012, a period during which the orchestra conducted its search for the next music director. In 2008 Dutoit invited Yannick Nézet-Séguin to make a guest appearance, and in 2010 the latter was named music director designate. Nézet-Séguin began his term in 2012; his contract was extended in 2017 through the 2025-2026 season.
Under Cristian Măcelaru the orchestra received a 2020 Grammy Award for the Decca recording Wynton Marsalis: Violin Concerto; Fiddle Dance Suite, featuring soloist Nicola Benedetti. That same year Nézet-Séguin led a Deutsche Grammophon account of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8.
