London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir
Biography London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932, and since then has been headed by many of the great names in the conducting world, including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. The Orchestra's current Principal Conductor is Vladimir Jurowski, appointed in 2007, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin is Principal Guest Conductor. Julian Anderson is the Orchestra's Composer in Residence.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been performing at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in London since it opened in 1951, becoming Resident Orchestra there in 1992. We also have flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and in summer we play for Glyndebourne Festival Opera where we have been Resident Symphony Orchestra since 1964. Touring abroad forms a major part of the Orchestra's schedule: during the the 2012/13 season we visited Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, the USA and Austria, and plans for 2013/14 include visits to the USA, Russia, Romania, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, France and Spain.
Having long been embraced by the recording, broadcast and film industries, the London Philharmonic Orchestra broadcasts regularly on TV and radio. We also work with the Hollywood and UK film industries, recording soundtracks for blockbusters including the Oscar-winning score for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. In 2005 we established our own record label, which now numbers over 70 releases.
In summer 2012 the LPO performed as part of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, and was also chosen to record all the world's national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics.
Vladimir Jurowski
was born in Moscow, and completed the first part of his musical studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. In 1990 he relocated with his family to Germany, continuing his studies at the High Schools of Music in Dresden and Berlin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov's May Night, and the same year saw his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Nabucco.
Jurowski was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003, becoming the Orchestra's Principal Conductor in September 2007. His position is generously supported by the Principal Conductor's Circle which includes the Tsukanov Family Foundation and one anonymous donor.
Jurowski also holds the titles of Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Artistic Director of the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra. He has also held the positions of First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper, Berlin (1997–2001); Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2000–03); Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra (2005–09); and Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001–13).
He is a regular guest with many leading orchestras in both Europe and North America, including the Berlin and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras; the Dresden Staatskapelle; the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester; the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich; and the Royal Concertgebouw, Philadelphia, Chicago Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony and Mahler Chamber orchestras.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra has released a wide selection of Vladimir Jurowski's live recordings with the Orchestra on its LPO Label, including Brahms's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2; Mahler's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2; Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances; Tchaikovsky's Symphonies 1, 4, 5, 6 and Manfred; and works by Turnage, Holst, Britten, Shostakovich, Honegger and Haydn.
Jurowski's discography also includes the first ever recording of the cantata Exil by Giya Kancheli for ECM; Meyerbeer's L'etoile du Nord for Marco Polo; Massenet's Werther for BMG; and a series of records for PentaTone with the Russian National Orchestra. His tenure as Music Director at Glyndebourne has been documented in a CD release of Prokofiev's Betrothal in a Monastery, and DVD releases of his performances of La Cenerentola, Gianni Schicchi, Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, and Rachmaninoff's The Miserly Knight. Other DVD releases include Hansel and Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera New York; his first concert as the London Philharmonic Orchestra's Principal Conductor featuring works by Wagner, Berg and Mahler; and DVDs with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 4 and 7) and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Strauss and Ravel), all released by Medici Arts.
