About the Orchestra
Liverpool Phil wins double at RPS Awards - click here to read more
The Original The Original Liverpool Sound: The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Story now available to buy - click here for more details
Read about Kenneth Hesketh's two year tenure as RPS/PRS Foundation Composer in the House
History
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the oldest concert-giving organisations in the world, and the second oldest in Britain. The origins of its concert series date back to the formation of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society, which administers it, in 1840. The Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, as it was called then, acquired the title ‘Royal’ in 1957. In 1989 the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society and Orchestra received an Honorary Fellowship from the Liverpool John Moores University and in 1991 were the first organisations to be granted the freedom of the City of Liverpool. A further honour of Meritorious Service was granted by the City of Liverpool in 1997.
Here and Now
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra gives over sixty concerts from September to June in the bright, pleasant ambience and excellent acoustic of Philharmonic Hall, as well as presenting a regular concert series at Preston Guild Hall and Blackburn King George’s Hall, and making frequent appearances in concert halls throughout the United Kingdom and abroad.
Conductors
In September 2006, Vasily Petrenko became Principal Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. He is the youngest person and the first Russian to have held this appointment in the Phil’s 165-year old history.
A distinguished list of previous Principal Conductors includes 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.
Far and Wide
The RLPO made its first tour abroad in 1966 and has since given concerts in the USA and Far East, as well as throughout Europe. In 1993 the RLPO became the first non-Czech orchestra to have the honour of performing the opening concerts at the Prague Spring Festival, and has returned to Prague several times, most recently in September 2005. In 2006, the Orchestra has toured Spain and played a gala concert in Malta.
New Trends
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, committed to the encouragement of today’s composers, has commissioned new works from many leading contemporary composers. Among the British composers it has worked with are Graham Fitkin, Django Bates and David Horne (Composer in Association 2000–2002). The Phil’s new music group, Ensemble 10/10 focuses on contemporary and chamber music. Vladimir Ashkenazy and Sir Simon Rattle are the Phil’s Artist Laureates 2008.
Recordings
The RLPO’s extensive catalogue includes the complete symphonies of Beethoven (with Sir Charles Mackerras), Nielsen (Douglas Bostock), Vaughan Williams (Vernon Handley) and William Alwyn (David Lloyd-Jones), and music by Britten, Dvorak, Mahler, Rachmaninov, Smetana, Strauss and Suk. Several recordings also feature the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir. The Orchestra enjoys working with various recording companies including Naxos, Nimbus and Universal. In 1998 the Orchestra launched its own recording label, RLPO Live, which features recordings made in Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. New releases of RLPO Live recordings are currently being made by Avie Records.
Classic FM Partnership
In November 2001 the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Classic FM, the UK’s leading classical music radio station, announced a ground-breaking partnership which makes the Liverpool Phil Classic FM’s Orchestra in North West England. This relationship has been extended to 2009 and will continue to raise the profile of the orchestra in the city of Liverpool and throughout the UK and build new audiences for classical music in the run-up to European Capital of Culture 2008.
Education & Participation
Over 40,000 people each year participate in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s outreach programmes, which have been widely acclaimed locally, regionally, and nationally.
Musicians from the Orchestra work extensively in schools and in the community on a range of education projects including the annual schools’ concerts and the Phil’s five-year Music for Life residency in inner city Liverpool.
Liverpool Phil Wins National Music Award
THE ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC is a double winner in the 20th Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards for its work in the UK during 2008, Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture year.
In a glittering ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel, hosted by Sean Rafferty and Catherine Bott of BBC Radio 3, the Phil's recently appointed Conductor Emeritus, Sir Charles Mackerras presented the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Ensemble 10/10, the Phil’s new music group, with the joint award of Ensemble of the Year. The award citation recognised:
"the combined achievements of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Ensemble 10/10 in making an outstanding contribution to British musical life during Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture. The jury was impressed by the synergy created within a fruitful collaborative environment, the enthusiasm and vibrancy with which both groups embraced repertoire of remarkable stylistic diversity and their determined efforts to involve audiences at all levels."
Ensemble 10/10 were also winners of Concert Series and Festivals category of the Awards for a concert programme that "showed remarkable integrity and imagination and a pleasing element of surprise. The jury was impressed by the Ensemble’s clear sense of artistic ambition, allied to the quality of the connection with its audiences. Ensemble 10/10 has become an integral part of the Phil’s activity and the jury hopes it will go on to become a lasting part of the Liverpool scene."
With Principal Conductor Vasily Petrenko, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra was at the centre of Liverpool's Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008, adding value, excellence and innovation to many of the special events commissioned for the year. These included a memorable contribution to the official launch of 2008 at the ECHO Arena, to major concerts in Liverpool’s two cathedrals as well as at the Orchestra's home, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
Between them, the Orchestra and Ensemble 10/10 gave world premieres of over 30 new works, including commissions by Liverpool Culture Company for European Capital of Culture 2008, the BBC and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Major works by Sir John Tavener, Karl Jenkins, Michael Nyman and Brett Dean, featured alongside works by Liverpool-born composers John McCabe, Kenneth Hesketh, Emily Howard, and BBC Young Musician and Composer of the Year 2007, Mark Simpson.
The Liverpool Phil is an organisation connected to its city and an ambassador for it, working nationally and internationally through the Orchestra’s extensive touring schedule across the UK and through its broadcasts and recordings. During 2008, these included a BBC Prom and two sold out Classic FM Live concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall as well as concert dates in Holland and Germany; and three CD releases including the critically acclaimed recording of Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony on Naxos, conducted by Vasily Petrenko.
The Phil’s ground-breaking partnership with Classic FM included the broadcast of 25 concerts from the Orchestra’s concert season, which alongside broadcasts with BBC Radio 3, meant the Phil could justifiably claim to be, outside of the BBC ensembles, the UK's most broadcast orchestra in 2008.
In December 2008, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra was listed was as one of three 'Up-and-Coming' orchestras in the world, by a panel of leading international critics in Gramophone magazine's December issue.
Download the press release to read more
www.rpsmusicawards.com