The National Symphony Orchestra ( es, (Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional), abbreviated OSN, is the state symphony orchestra of

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

; it is located in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

. It is one of the components of the Peruvian Ministerio de Cultura. As of 2007, the orchestra had ninety members. Besides the traditional classical repertory, the orchestra also performs Latin American and Peruvian works, including numerous world premieres.

History

Before the formation of the National Symphony Orchestra, there was an amateur symphony orchestra, founded in 1907 under the auspices of the Lima Philharmonic Society (Sociedad Filarmónica de Lima). The National Symphony Orchestra was founded during the administration of

Óscar R. Benavides Óscar Raymundo Benavides Larrea (March 15, 1876 – July 2, 1945) was a Peruvian field marshal, diplomat, and politician who served as the 38th (1914 – 1915, by a coup d'etat) and 42nd (1933 – 1939) President of Peru. Early life He was ...

by law of 11 August 1938. It initially consisted of sixty-four musicians, half of them native Peruvians, the other half foreigners then living in Peru or hired by contract from abroad. The orchestra gave its first concert on 11 December 1938 at the Teatro Municipal de Lima, under the baton of

Theo Buchwald Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...

, as part of the eighth International Conference of American States. The program featured the

National Anthem of Peru The "" ("National Anthem of Peru"; also known as "", or "National March of Peru"; "", or "We are free!") is the national anthem of Peru. It was composed by José Bernardo Alcedo, and its lyrics were written by José de la Torre Ugarte in 1821. ...

, plus works by

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first hal ...

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

, and

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

. The first director of the orchestra was the viennese conductor Theo Buchwald, who remained in that position until his death in 1960. This epoch of the orchestra's existence is considered its most brilliant period, since the orchestra had among her members many talented musicians who had come from Europe to Peru when fleeing the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, among them many

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

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Visiting conductors who led the orchestra included

Fritz Busch Fritz Busch (13 March 1890 – 14 September 1951) was a German conductor. Busch was born in Siegen, Westphalia, to a musical family, and studied at the Cologne Conservatory. After army service in the First World War, he was appointed to senior p ...

Carlos Chávez Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez (13 June 1899 – 2 August 1978) was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by nativ ...

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

Antal Doráti Antal Doráti (, , ; 9 April 1906 – 13 November 1988) was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Antal Doráti was born in Budapest, where his father Alexander Doráti was a vi ...

Erich Kleiber Erich Kleiber (5 August 1890 – 27 January 1956) was an Austrian, later Argentine, conductor, known for his interpretations of the classics and as an advocate of new music. Kleiber was born in Vienna, and after studying at the Prague Conservato ...

Igor Markevitch Igor Borisovich Markevitch (russian: Игорь Борисович Маркевич, ''Igor Borisovich Markevich'', uk, Ігор Борисович Маркевич, ''Ihor Borysovych Markevych''; 27 July 1912 – 7 March 1983) was a Russian- ...

Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

Hermann Scherchen Hermann Scherchen (21 June 1891 – 12 June 1966) was a German conductor. Life Scherchen was born in Berlin. Originally a violist, he played among the violas of the Bluthner Orchestra of Berlin while still in his teens. He conducted in Riga ...

, and

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

. Visiting soloists who performed with the orchestra included

Claudio Arrau Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Bra ...

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to the v ...

Artur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish-American pianist.

Andrés Segovia Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987) was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were students of Segovia or their students. Segovia's contribution to the m ...

and

Nicanor Zabaleta Nicanor Zabaleta (January 7, 1907 – April 1, 1993) was a Spanish harpist. Zabaleta was born in San Sebastián, Spain, on January 7, 1907. In 1914 his father, an amateur musician, bought him a harp in an antique shop. He soon began taking ...

. A period of decline began in the 1960s, due in part to the socio-economic problems of Peru and to government cultural policies. The orchestra is now passing through a period of financial crisis and managerial reorganization that has engendered much controversy, partly over the transfer of the management of the orchestra to the National Association of Musical Performing Arts Organizations (Asociación Nacional de Elencos Musicales

In August 2006, angered that they would not be paid for a performance of

Mozart's Requiem The Requiem in D minor, K. 626, is a requiem mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). Mozart composed part of the Requiem in Vienna in late 1791, but it was unfinished at his death on 5 December the same year. A completed version date ...

with the National Chorus (Peru) (Coro Nacional), the union of musicians of the orchestra refused to play, and a substitute orchestra was hurriedly assembled instea

The orchestra has long promoted the work of Peruvian composers, and it has performed works by

Daniel Alomía Robles Daniel Alomía Robles (3 January 1871 – 17 July 1942) was a Peruvian composer and ethnomusicologist. He is best known for composing the song " El Cóndor Pasa" in 1913 as part of a zarzuela — a musical play that alternates between spoken and ...

, Celso Garrido-Lecca, Roberto Carpio, Enrique Iturriaga, Armando Guevara Ochoa, Ernesto López Mindreau, Enrique Pinilla, Francisco Pulgar Vidal, Alfonso de Silva, Teodoro Valcárcel and Edgar Valcárcel, among others.

Locations

The orchestra's home for many years was the Teatro Municipal de Lima. The orchestra currently performs at the Gran Teatro Nacional, but it also gives educational concerts elsewhere in Lima and throughout Peru.

Music Directors

(1938–1960) * Hans Günter Mommer (1960–1963) * Armando Sánchez Málaga (1963—1965) *

Luis Herrera de la Fuente Luis Herrera de la Fuente (April 25, 1916 – December 5, 2014) was a Mexican conductor, pianist, violinist, composer and writer of the 20th century. De la Fuente gained many recognitions and awards in Mexico and worldwide. He conducted the Orqu ...

(1965—1967) *

Carmen Moral Carmen Moral is an Conductor (music), orchestra conductor and also teaches conducting at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. She holds master's degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University (New York) and a mast ...

(on two separate occasions; the first woman to be a music director of an orchestra in Latin America; she has been named "Conductor Emeritus" of the orchestra) * Leopoldo La Rosa * José Malsio * José Carlos Santos (1980—1983 and 1990—2001) * Guillermina Maggiolo (September 2006–July 2009)
Matteo Pagliari
(since July 2009; incumbent)

Bibliography

* Luis Antonio Meza Casas, "Música Académica", ''Enciclopedia Temática del Perú,'' vol. 16 (Lima: El Comercio S.A.)

External links

*
Official page
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:National Symphony Orchestra Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional (Peru) Musical groups established in 1938 Peruvian music