The Philharmonia Orchestra creates thrilling performances for a global audience. Founded in 1945, in part as a recording orchestra for the growing home audio market, the Philharmonia has
always pioneered the use of technology to reach broader audiences for orchestral music. During the Coronavirus pandemic, it has continued to create outstanding performances, experienced online by listeners on five continents.
The Philharmonia’s home is Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in the heart of London, where it has been Resident Orchestra since 1995. The Orchestra is also resident at Bedford Corn Exchange, De Montfort Hall in Leicester, The Marlowe in Canterbury, Anvil Arts in Basingstoke, Three Choirs Festival in the West of England, and Garsington Opera. Central to all its residencies is a Learning & Engagement programme that empowers people to engage with, and participate in, orchestral music.
The Philharmonia is a registered charity. The organisation relies on income from a range of sources to deliver its programme, and is proud to be generously supported by Arts Council England. During the pandemic it has received a grant from the Cultural Recovery Fund, along with support from stakeholders. This has enabled it not just to survive, but to create new online experiences for its audiences.
Finnish conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen has been the Philharmonia’s Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor since 2008. Fellow Finn Santtu-Matias Rouvali takes over as Principal Conductor in the 2021/22 season. Under Salonen and other key conductors, the Philharmonia has created a series of critically-acclaimed, visionary projects, distinctive for both their artistic scope and their depth of live and digital content. In January 2021 the Orchestra announced a new Artist in Residence collaboration with House of Absolute, a collective of multidisciplinary artists.
The Philharmonia’s international reputation derives in part from its extraordinary legacy of recordings and soundtracks, which in the last ten years has been built on by award-winning digital projects that place the viewer at the heart of the orchestra. It releases live recordings of signature concerts with Signum Records.
Throughout its history, the Philharmonia has toured across Europe, Asia and America. Its most recent work includes a 2020 residency at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, as well as tours to the Canary Islands, US, and Colombia. The Philharmonia is a team of 80 world-class musicians from 16 countries. They look forward to bringing music
into your life, through great concerts and ground-breaking projects, for the next 75 years and beyond.
