Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Patron: HRH The Duke of York, KG
Artistic Director and Principal Conductor: Charles Dutoit
In 2017 the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) celebrated 70 years at the forefront of music-making in the UK. Its home base since 2004 at London’s Cadogan Hall serves as a springboard for fourteen residencies across the country, often in areas where access to live orchestral music is very limited. With a wider reach than any other UK large ensemble, the RPO has truly become Britain’s national orchestra.
The regional programme, plus regular performances at Cadogan Hall, Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall and a hugely popular series at the Royal Albert Hall, are conducted by a distinguished roster of musicians: Charles Dutoit, appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor in 2009 after a decades-long association with the RPO; Pinchas Zukerman, the inspirational Principal Guest Conductor; Alexander Shelley, the dynamic young Principal Associate Conductor since January 2015, and the esteemed Permanent Associate Conductor Grzegorz Nowak.
International touring is vital to the Orchestra’s work, taking it to many prestigious destinations worldwide. Recent engagements include concerts at the festivals of Montreux and Granada, an extensive tour of the USA, and visits to central Europe and the Far East, including South Korea and China.
For more than twenty years RPO Resound, the Orchestra’s community and education programme, has taken music into the heart of the regions that the Orchestra serves. From Azerbaijan to Jamaica and from Shanghai to Scunthorpe, the team – comprising the majority of the Orchestra – has worked with young people, the homeless, recovering stroke patients (in the STROKESTRA project in Hull) and in settings ranging from the Sea Life London Aquarium to hospitals, orphanages and children’s hospices.
In 1986, the RPO became the first UK orchestra to launch its own record label. Continuing its tradition of entrepreneurial innovation, in 2015 the RPO started an online radio station, The Sound of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which broadcasts via its website, and RPO TV, an online video channel streaming fly-on-the-wall shorts written, directed and filmed by the musicians.
The Orchestra has become increasingly active on social media platforms, inviting audiences to engage informally on Facebook and Twitter and to enjoy behind-the-scenes insights on the RPO blog, YouTube and Instagram.
Although the RPO embraces twenty-first-century opportunities, including appearances with pop stars and on video game, film and television soundtracks, its artistic priority remains paramount: the making of great music at the highest level for the widest possible audience. This would have been lauded by its Founder and first conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham, who set up the RPO in 1946, leading a vital revival in the UK’s orchestral life after World War II.
Since then, the Orchestra’s principal conductors have included Rudolf Kempe, Antal Doráti, Walter Weller, André Previn, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yuri Temirkanov and Daniele Gatti; and its repertoire has encompassed every strand of music from the core classical repertoire to music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and works by leading composers of recent years, including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Sir John Tavener.
Further information on the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and their activities can be found at www.rpo.co.uk
Artistic Director and Principal Conductor: Charles Dutoit
In 2017 the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) celebrated 70 years at the forefront of music-making in the UK. Its home base since 2004 at London’s Cadogan Hall serves as a springboard for fourteen residencies across the country, often in areas where access to live orchestral music is very limited. With a wider reach than any other UK large ensemble, the RPO has truly become Britain’s national orchestra.
The regional programme, plus regular performances at Cadogan Hall, Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall and a hugely popular series at the Royal Albert Hall, are conducted by a distinguished roster of musicians: Charles Dutoit, appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor in 2009 after a decades-long association with the RPO; Pinchas Zukerman, the inspirational Principal Guest Conductor; Alexander Shelley, the dynamic young Principal Associate Conductor since January 2015, and the esteemed Permanent Associate Conductor Grzegorz Nowak.
International touring is vital to the Orchestra’s work, taking it to many prestigious destinations worldwide. Recent engagements include concerts at the festivals of Montreux and Granada, an extensive tour of the USA, and visits to central Europe and the Far East, including South Korea and China.
For more than twenty years RPO Resound, the Orchestra’s community and education programme, has taken music into the heart of the regions that the Orchestra serves. From Azerbaijan to Jamaica and from Shanghai to Scunthorpe, the team – comprising the majority of the Orchestra – has worked with young people, the homeless, recovering stroke patients (in the STROKESTRA project in Hull) and in settings ranging from the Sea Life London Aquarium to hospitals, orphanages and children’s hospices.
In 1986, the RPO became the first UK orchestra to launch its own record label. Continuing its tradition of entrepreneurial innovation, in 2015 the RPO started an online radio station, The Sound of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which broadcasts via its website, and RPO TV, an online video channel streaming fly-on-the-wall shorts written, directed and filmed by the musicians.
The Orchestra has become increasingly active on social media platforms, inviting audiences to engage informally on Facebook and Twitter and to enjoy behind-the-scenes insights on the RPO blog, YouTube and Instagram.
Although the RPO embraces twenty-first-century opportunities, including appearances with pop stars and on video game, film and television soundtracks, its artistic priority remains paramount: the making of great music at the highest level for the widest possible audience. This would have been lauded by its Founder and first conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham, who set up the RPO in 1946, leading a vital revival in the UK’s orchestral life after World War II.
Since then, the Orchestra’s principal conductors have included Rudolf Kempe, Antal Doráti, Walter Weller, André Previn, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yuri Temirkanov and Daniele Gatti; and its repertoire has encompassed every strand of music from the core classical repertoire to music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and works by leading composers of recent years, including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Sir John Tavener.
Further information on the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and their activities can be found at www.rpo.co.uk
This year the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will feature in two events at the 2017 Welsh Proms, An Evening of Movies & Musicals with John Owen Jones on Friday July 27th; and the Last Night of the Welsh Proms with Claire Jones on Saturday July 28th. Further information on each of these events can be found here