Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - Biography, Discography & Albums

Biography

For more than seven decades the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has occupied a central position within British musical life. Performances take place across the United Kingdom, reaching towns and regions that seldom host full-scale orchestral events, while regular seasons continue at London’s Cadogan Hall; these activities together support the ensemble’s description as the country’s national orchestra. Its organizational structure includes the popular-music-oriented Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, the experimental Sharp Edge collective, and RPO Resound, the orchestra’s dedicated community and education wing.

Sir Thomas Beecham, who established the RPO in 1946 and guided Britain’s post-war orchestral resurgence, would surely have welcomed the group’s later forays into mainstream entertainment. Those ventures have encompassed collaborations with well-known popular artists as well as contributions to film, television, and video-game scores. Early success followed swiftly: a long-running summer residency at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera began in 1948, and a 1950 tour of the United States marked the first visit by an English orchestra since 1912. Rudolf Kempe succeeded Beecham as principal conductor after the founder’s death in 1961.

The early 1960s brought difficulties under the interim guidance of Beecham’s widow; Kempe left and later returned, and the orchestra temporarily forfeited the right to the word “royal.” Queen Elizabeth II restored the designation in 1966. Artistic consolidation came through the successive tenures of Antal Doráti (1975–1978), André Previn (1985–1992), and Vladimir Ashkenazy (music director, 1987–1994). Subsequent leaders have included Daniele Gatti, Yuri Temirkanov, Charles Dutoit, and Vasily Petrenko, who assumed the music directorship in 2021.

Recording activity has always formed a defining feature of the orchestra’s work. More than one hundred releases appeared within its first few seasons, and by the early 2020s the total had reached several hundred, spanning light-pop projects—disco listeners will recall the Hooked on Classics series of the 1980s—and commissions of new avant-garde scores. One such undertaking was a 125-album agreement with the Tring label. In 1986 the orchestra launched RPO Records, believed to be the first recording imprint owned by a symphony orchestra; similar arrangements have since become standard. The lighter-music counterpart, the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, was formed the following year.

RPO Resound was inaugurated in 1993 to deliver musical experiences beyond conventional concert halls, including sessions in schools, prisons, and hospitals. One of its flagship initiatives is STROKESTRA, a rehabilitation program for stroke survivors. Since 2004 the RPO has maintained a residency at Cadogan Hall in Chelsea, becoming the first London orchestra to possess a permanent home. In 2019 the ensemble released Animal Requiem by Rachel Fuller, Pete Townshend’s creative partner and spouse, and was named associate orchestra of the Royal Albert Hall. Releases in 2022 included a pairing of Sibelius symphonies and the album Air, devoted to music by Oliver Davis. The following year the orchestra collaborated with Joe Hisaishi on A Symphonic Celebration, presenting orchestral arrangements of themes from beloved Studio Ghibli films.