The award-winning Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is the UK’s oldest continuing professional symphony orchestra. Vasily Petrenko was appointed Principal Conductor of the Orchestra in September 2006 and in September 2009 became Chief Conductor. He joins a distinguished line of musicians who have led the Orchestra during its illustrious history including Max Bruch, Sir Charles Hallé, Sir Henry Wood, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Sir John Pritchard, Sir Charles Groves, Walter Weller, David Atherton, Marek Janowski, Libor Pešek KBE, Petr Altrichter and Gerard Schwarz.
The Orchestra gives over sixty concerts each season in its home, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, and in recent seasons has given world premiere performances of major works by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Sir John Tavener, Karl Jenkins, Stewart Copeland, Michael Nyman, Michael Torke, Nico Muhly and James Horner, alongside works by Liverpool-born and North West-based composers. Collaborations with international artists from rock, pop and roots music include Sir Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, Liverpool electronica group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Ian Broudie and the Lightning Seeds and West African Kora player, Toumani Diabaté.
The Orchestra also performs widely throughout the UK and internationally, most recently touring to China, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Spain, Germany, Romania, the Czech Republic and Japan.
With Vasily Petrenko, recent additions to the Orchestra’s critically acclaimed discography include Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony (Gramophone Awards Orchestral Recording of the Year 2009), the world premiere performance of Sir John Tavener’s Requiem; Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.3 (which won Petrenko Germany’s Echo Klassik Awards 2012 Emerging Artist of the Year), Symphony No. 2, Symphony No. 1, Symphonic Dances, and complete Piano Concertos with Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2, also with Trpčeski, and Elgar’s Symphony No. 1. The recording of Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10, part of the complete symphony cycle on disc, was the Gramophone Awards Orchestral Recording of the Year 2011.
