The Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra ( lb, Lëtzebuerger philharmoneschen Orchester, french: Orchestre philharmonique du Luxembourg), abbreviated to OPL, is a symphony

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

based in

Luxembourg City Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Gr ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. The orchestra formerly performed at the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg and the

Conservatoire de Luxembourg The Conservatoire de Luxembourg is a conservatoire in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. The conservatoire was founded in 1906, after a private donation made possible its establishment, which had been mandated under a Grand Ducal decree ...

. Its current home is the

Philharmonie Luxembourg The Philharmonie Luxembourg, also known officially as the Grande-Duchesse Joséphine-Charlotte Concert Hall (french: Salle de concerts grande-duchesse Joséphine-Charlotte, german: Konzertsaal Großherzogin Joséphine-Charlotte), is a concert hall ...

, a large

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that ma ...

opened in 2005 in the Kirchberg quarter in the northeast of the city.

History

The orchestra was founded in 1933 as the in-house orchestra of

RTL Radio RTL Radio is a German commercial radio station based in Berlin and the part of the RTL Group. It originated as the German language service of Radio Luxembourg, which began broadcasting after World War II from Luxembourg. It broadcasts adult c ...

, named the ''RTL Grand Symphony Orchestra'' (french: Grand orchestre symphonique de RTL); Henri Pensis was its founder and first music director. After his initial tenure from 1933 to 1939, Pensis went into exile in the USA in the wake of

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He returned to Luxembourg in 1946 to resume direction of the orchestra. After Pensis died in 1958, Carl Melles was the orchestra's music director in 1958.

Louis de Froment Louis de Froment (; 5 December 192119 August 1994) was a French conductor. Froment was born into a French noble family in Toulouse, and started his musical studies at the city conservatory. He later attended the ''Conservatoire national supérieu ...

subsequently became music director and held the post from 1958 to 1980.

Leopold Hager Leopold Hager (born 6 October 1935, Salzburg) is an Austrian conductor known for his interpretations of works by the Viennese Classics ( Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert). Hager studied piano, organ, harpsichord, conducting, and compositio ...

succeeded de Froment in 1981, and served for 15 years to 1996. Following the 1991 privatisation of the ''Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion'', in 1995, RTL decided not to renew its contract with the orchestra. Subsequently, the Luxembourg government established the Henri Pensis Foundation to allow for the orchestra to continue its existence. In 1996, the orchestra acquired its current name under its new auspices. The orchestra's fifth music director, David Shallon suddenly died in 2000 while on tour in Japan.

Bramwell Tovey Bramwell Tovey (11 July 1953 – 12 July 2022) was a British conductor and composer. Life and career Tovey was educated at Ilford County High School, the Royal Academy of Music and the University of London. His formal music education was as ...

took over as music director in September 2002, and held the post until 2006. The OPL appointed

Emmanuel Krivine Emmanuel Krivine (born 7 May 1947, Grenoble) is a French conductor. Biography The son of a Polish mother and a Russian father, Krivine studied the violin as a youth. He was a winner of the ''Premier Prix'' at the Paris Conservatoire, at age 16. ...

as their music director starting from the 2005-2006 season. In May 2009, Krivine extended his contract with the orchestra through the 2014-2015 season. Krivine concluded his OPL tenure at the end of the 2014–2015 season. In June 2014, the OPL announced the appointment of Gustavo Gimeno as its next principal conductor, as of the 2015-2016 season, with an initial contract of 4 years. In March 2017, the OPL announced the extension of Gimeno's contract through the 2021-2022 season. In February 2020, the OPL announced a further extension of Gimeno's contract through the 2024-2025 season. Gimeno is scheduled to conclude his OPL tenure at the close of the 2024-2025 season.

Music directors

* Henri Pensis (1933-1939; 1946-1958) * Carl Melles (1958) *

(1958-1980) *

(1981-1996) * David Shallon (1997-2000) *

(2002-2006) *

(2006–2015) *

Gustavo Gimeno Gustavo Gimeno (born 1976, Valencia, Spain) is a Spanish conductor. He is currently chief conductor of the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Biography The son of a clarinetist, Gimeno studied ...

(2015–present)

Selected discography

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

- La Mer. Gustavo Gimeno , Orchestre Philharmonique Luxembourg. PENTATONEbr>PTC 5186627
(2018). *

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 20th-century clas ...

The Rite of Spring , image = Roerich Rite of Spring.jpg , image_size = 350px , caption = Concept design for act 1, part of Nicholas Roerich's designs for Diaghilev's 1913 production of ' , composer = Igor Stravinsky , based_on ...

. Gustavo Gimeno , Orchestre Philharmonique Luxembourg. PENTATONEbr>PTC 5186650
(2018). *

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

- Symphony No. 4. Gustavo Gimeno, Miah Persson, Orchestre Philharmonique Luxembourg. PENTATONEbr>PTC 5186651
(2018). *

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

- Daphnis et Chloé. Gustavo Gimeno, Orchestre Philharmonique Luxembourg, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln. PENTATONEbr>PTC 5186652
(2017). * Shostakovich - Symphony No. 1 & other short works. Gustavo Gimeno, Orchestre Philharmonique Luxembourg. PENTATONEbr>PTC 5186622
(2017). * Bruckner - Symphony No. 1 & 4 Orchestral Pieces. Gustavo Gimeno, Orchestre Philharmonique Luxembourg. PENTATONEbr>PTC 5186613
(2017).

References

External links

*
Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra official website

Radio Swiss Classic French-language page on the history of the orchestra

Philharmonic Orchestra Philharmonic Orchestra European orchestras Musical groups established in 1933 Arts organizations established in 1933 {{Luxembourg-stub