London Symphony Orchestra |

London Symphony Orchestra

One of the UK’s leading symphony orchestras. Since 1982, the LSO site has been the Barbican Center located in London.

The LSO was founded in 1904 as an independent, self-governing organization. It was the first orchestra of its kind in the UK. He played his first concert on June 9 of the same year with conductor Hans Richter.

In 1906, the LSO became the first British orchestra to perform abroad (in Paris). In 1912, also for the first time for British orchestras, the LSO performed in the USA – originally a trip to the American tour was planned on the Titanic, but, by a lucky chance, the performance was postponed at the last moment.

In 1956, under the baton of composer Bernard Herrmann, the orchestra appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, in a climactic scene filmed at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

In 1966, the London Symphony Choir (LSH, eng. London Symphony Chorus), associated with the LSO, was formed, numbering more than two hundred non-professional singers. LSH maintains close cooperation with the LSO, despite the fact that he himself has already become quite independent and has the opportunity to cooperate with other leading orchestras.

In 1973 the LSO became the first British orchestra invited to the Salzburg Festival. The orchestra continues to actively tour around the world.

Among the leading musicians of the London Symphony Orchestra at various times were such outstanding performers as James Galway (flute), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Barry Tuckwell (horn). Conductors who have collaborated extensively with the orchestra include Leopold Stokowski (with whom a number of noteworthy recordings have been made), Adrian Boult, Jascha Gorenstein, Georg Solti, André Previn, George Szell, Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, John Barbirolli and Carl Böhm, who has a very close relationship with the orchestra. Both Böhm and Bernstein subsequently became Presidents of the LSO.

Clive Gillinson, former cellist with the orchestra, served as Director of the LSO from 1984 to 2005. It is believed that the orchestra owes its stability to him after a period of serious financial problems. Since 2005, the director of the LSO has been Katherine McDowell.

The LSO has been involved in musical recordings almost since the early days of its existence, including some acoustic recordings with Artur Nikisch. Over the years, many recordings have been made for HMV and EMI. In the early 1960s, the eminent French conductor Pierre Monteux made a number of stereophonic recordings with orchestra for Philips Records, many of which have been reissued on CD.

Since 2000, he has been releasing commercial recordings on CD under his own label LSO Live, founded with the participation of Gillinson.

Main conductors:

1904-1911: Hans Richter 1911—1912: Sir Edward Elgar 1912-1914: Arthur Nikisch 1915—1916: Thomas Beecham 1919-1922: Albert Coates 1930-1931: Willem Mengelberg 1932—1935: Sir Hamilton Harty 1950-1954: Josef Krips 1961-1964: Pierre Monteux 1965—1968: Istvan Kertes 1968—1979: Andre Previn 1979—1988: Claudio Abbado 1987—1995: Michael Tilson Thomas 1995—2006: Sir Colin Davies since 2007: Valery Gergiev

In the period from 1922 to 1930. the orchestra was left without a chief conductor.