The London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra occupies a foundational place in Britain's classical music landscape, where it delivers core symphonic repertoire, native British works, and new compositions while also venturing regularly into non-classical territory on disc.

Formed in 1932 after widespread agreement that London's leading ensembles suffered from weak direction and lagged behind their counterparts in Germany and the United States, the orchestra was assembled by Sir Thomas Beecham, who recruited 106 elite musicians. The ensemble enjoyed immediate acclaim, though Beecham guided it through early wartime financial strain until poor health and disagreements about artistic policy prompted his departure.

After the war, Eduard van Beinum served as principal conductor from 1947 to 1951, after which Sir Adrian Boult held the post until 1958 and launched a vigorous recording schedule whose results continue to be regarded as benchmarks.

Bernard Haitink took the podium in 1966 and remained until 1979, a longer continuous tenure than any predecessor until Vladimir Jurowski; during this period the orchestra acquired and refurbished a disused church, converting it into Henry Wood Hall for rehearsals and sessions beginning in 1975. Haitink's successor, Sir Georg Solti, led the group from 1979 to 1983 and thereafter served as conductor emeritus, maintaining frequent podium appearances and recording projects. Three German maestros followed in succession: Klaus Tennstedt in 1983, Franz Welser-Möst in 1990, and Kurt Masur in 2000. Welser-Möst formalized the orchestra's residency at the Royal Festival Hall, its primary performance home ever since.

Numerous guest conductors have contributed to the ensemble's extensive catalog of crossover projects. Although less prolific in this area than the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic has produced several prominent film scores, among them Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), The Fly (1986), the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the 1984 compilation Academy Award Themes. It has also issued albums of music by Pink Floyd and Yes, as well as the 1959 release Hawaiian Paradise. In 2011 the orchestra recorded 205 national anthems ahead of the London Olympic Games the following year. By 1997 its discography already encompassed 280 titles, and more than 250 additional albums have appeared since; twenty-one of those were issued in 2001 alone. The orchestra launched its own LPO label in the mid-2000s and has continued to release both classical and non-classical material, including the 2018 collection Genius of Film Music: Hollywood Blockbusters 1980s to 2000s.

In 2007 the London Philharmonic capitalized on the influx of gifted Russian musicians who had relocated to the West by appointing Vladimir Jurowski principal conductor; he remained until 2020, becoming the orchestra's longest-serving leader and directing a 2021 recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 8 ("Symphony of a Thousand"). Karina Canellakis was named the ensemble's first female principal guest conductor in 2020. Jurowski was succeeded in 2021 by Edward Gardner, the first British principal conductor in decades.