Philadelphia Orchestra

The orchestra was founded in 1900 by Fritz Scheel, who also acted as its first conductor.

Leopold Stokowski became music director in 1912 and brought the orchestra to national prominence. Under his guidance, the orchestra gained a reputation for virtuosity, and developed what is known as the "Philadelphia Sound."

The Orchestra was known for its special relationship with the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff due primarily to Stokowski's championship. Rachmaninoff himself also took on the role of conductor, recording with them in 1929. In particular, Rachmaninoff was supposed to have said that in his American years he composed with the sound of the Philadelphia Orchestra in his head.

In 1936 Eugene Ormandy joined the organization, and jointly held the post of principal conductor with Stokowski until 1938 when he became its sole music director. He remained as music director until 1980. Ormandy conducted many of the orchestra's best-known recordings.

Wolfgang Sawallisch succeeded Riccardo Muti as Music Director from 1993 to 2003. He made a number of recordings with the orchestra. However, the orchestra lost its recording contract with EMI during this time, which led to a musicians' strike in 1996.

In 2003, Christoph Eschenbach succeeded Sawallisch as music director. The orchestra returned to commercial recordings with Eschenbach.

In December 2008, at the invitation of Dutoit, Yannick Nézet-Séguin made his first guest-conducting appearance with the orchestra. Eventually, in 2012, he was appointed music director, succeeding Dutoit.

On April 16, 2011, the Philadelphia Orchestra's board of directors voted to file for Chapter 11 reorganization due to the organization's large operational deficit. This was the first time that a major U.S. orchestra has filed for bankruptcy. On July 30, 2012, the orchestra announced that it had officially emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Philadelphia Orchestra boasts a number of significant firsts. It was the first symphony orchestra to make electrical recordings (in 1925). It was the first orchestra to make a commercially sponsored radio broadcast (in 1929) and the first to appear on a national television broadcast (in 1948). The Philadelphia was the first American orchestra to make a digital recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies on compact disc (in 1988), and the first major orchestra to give a live cybercast of a concert on the internet (in 1997). In 2006, the orchestra appointed Carol Jantsch principal tuba, the orchestra's first ever female principal tuba player and the first in a full-time American orchestra. Wikipedia