new york philharmonic
The oldest and most famous of all major American orchestras, the New York Philharmonic is the definitive international-level orchestra in America, compared on occasion with the Berlin Philharmonic. [1]
On April 2, 1842, however, Ureli Corelli Hill called the first organizational meeting of the Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York, planting the seeds of the New York Philharmonic. [2]
The New York Philharmonic is the oldest active symphony orchestra in the United States, organized during 1842. [3]
By 1867, the size of the orchestra had grown to 100 players, and in that year the ensemble moved to the Academy of Music. [2]
On Dec. 7, 1842, the 63-member orchestra of the Philharmonic Society of New York presented its first concert, to about 600 listeners in the Apollo Rooms on lower Broadway. [4]
In 1824, there appeared in New York the Philharmonic Society, comprised of members of the city’s theater orchestras, which gave concerts for several years — their debut featured the first New York performance of the final movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2; and in 1825 an unidentified ensemble performed the New York premieres of Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus and Egmont overture. [5]
The Guarantors were responsible for bringing Gustav Mahler to the Philharmonic as principal conductor and expanding the season from 18 concerts to 54, which included a tour of New England. [...] At the first joint board meeting in 1928, the chairman, Clarence Mackay, expressed the opinion that “with the forces of the two Societies now united… the Philharmonic-Symphony Society could build up the greatest orchestra in this country if not in the world.” [...] The concert opened with Beethoven ’s Symphony No. 5 led by American-born conductor Ureli Corelli Hill, who was also founder and first president of the Philharmonic. [3]
And its recordings, beginning in the 1920s under Mengelberg, were among the most honored of their era, while those from the 1960s during the tenure of Bernstein as music director, are also among the best selling classical records ever made in America. [...] The most significant competitor to the Philharmonic Society, however, was the New York Symphony, founded in 1878 by Leopold Damrosch, who was also the orchestra’s conductor until his death in 1885, after which his son Walter took over at the podium and as president. [1]
Bernstein ’s televised Young People’s Concerts and hundreds of recordings with the orchestra did more to establish the Philharmonic’s worldwide “brand identification” than any public relations firm could have achieved. [2]
… in 1928, the modern New York Philharmonic was created with the merger of the Philharmonic Society and the New York Symphony Orchestra, into the Philharmonic-Symphony Society Orchestra, later the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York and, finally, the New York Philharmonic. [1]
The Philharmonic Society commenced its inaugural season on December 7, 1842, with 50 players and a first-year schedule of four concerts. [2]
The orchestra is older than any other American symphonic institution in existence by nearly four decades; its record-setting 14,000th concert was given in December 2004. [3]
Sources:
[1] New York Philharmonic Biography on Yahoo! Music
[2] New York Philharmonic: Information from Answers.com
[3] New York Philharmonic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[4] New York Philharmonic - The New York Times
[5] New York Philharmonic - Upcoming Shows & Peformances - Zvents