The London Festival Orchestra (LFO) was established in the 1950s as the 'house orchestra' for
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
. In 1980 it was incorporated as an independent performing orchestra under
Ross Pople
Ross Pople (born 11 May 1945) is a New Zealand-born British conductor. He is the principal conductor of the London Festival Orchestra. He has worked with Yehudi Menuhin, Clifford Curzon, David Oistrakh, Kentner, George Malcolm, Sir Adrian Boul ...
. At least in the world of pop music, the orchestra is best known for providing accompaniment to
the Moody Blues
The Moody Blues were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1964, initially consisting of keyboardist Mike Pinder, multi-instrumentalist Ray Thomas, guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Graeme Edge and bassist Clint Warwick. The group came to ...
for their landmark 1967 album ''
Days of Future Passed
A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two sola ...
''.
With the staging of the orchestra's summer festival of music in cathedrals, under the title Cathedral Classics, sponsored by
American Express
American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
and
British Gas
British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...
, London Festival Orchestra quickly became a household name in the UK and abroad. In 1994 Pople's vision of artistic independence inspired the creation of The Warehouse; making LFO the first British orchestra to own a permanent, independent home. The Warehouse, situated in the heart of the South Bank, is a state of the art rehearsal, recording and concert venue and a significant focal point for UK and international artists and orchestras where they rehearse, perform and record. This is also where the LFO musicians are showcased in various collaborations as The Warehouse Ensemble with in-house performances.
BMG's new classical music label Arte Nova contracted LFO to record the bulk of its new classical music label in the late 90s. The LFO's enviable discography also includes recordings for
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
,
Hyperion and
ASV.
Additional to the LFO's London concert seasons at the
Southbank Centre
Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge).
It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...
and the
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...
, and more recently the
Cadogan Hall
Cadogan Hall is a 950-seat capacity concert hall in Sloane Terrace in Chelsea in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England.
The resident music ensemble at Cadogan Hall is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), the first ...
, the Orchestra has a long history of touring in the
Far East
The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
The ter ...
, the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
and the Americas; at the
Seoul Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...
; as cultural ambassadors to
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
at the resolution of the
Falkland Conflict; with annual tours to
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
.
The LFO was also featured in a 2004 episode of architectural show Grand Designs due to its objections to the colour of the brick in a neighbouring building.
London orchestras
Musical groups established in the 1950s
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