The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orchestra because of a new rule requiring players to give the orchestra their exclusive services. The LSO itself later introduced a similar rule for its members. From the outset the LSO was organised on co-operative lines, with all players sharing the profits at the end of each season. This practice continued for the orchestra's first four decades.
Sir Colin Rex Davis was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom he was particularly associated were Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett.
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent 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 included the Ballets Russes, the Huddersfield Choral Society, the Royal Choral Society, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and the London Philharmonic, Hallé, Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Royal Philharmonic orchestras. Sargent was held in high esteem by choirs and instrumental soloists, but because of his high standards and a statement that he made in a 1936 interview disputing musicians' rights to tenure, his relationship with orchestral players was often uneasy. Despite this, he was co-founder of the London Philharmonic, was the first conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic as a full-time ensemble, and played an important part in saving the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from disbandment in the 1960s.
Albert Coates was an English conductor and composer. Born in Saint Petersburg, where his English father was a successful businessman, he studied in Russia, England and Germany, before beginning his career as a conductor in a series of German opera houses. He was a success in England conducting Wagner at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1914, and in 1919 was appointed chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, is a concerto for piano and orchestra composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff between June 1900 and April 1901. The piece established his fame as a concerto composer and is one of his most enduringly popular pieces.
The Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27, is a four-movement composition for orchestra written from October 1906 to April 1907 by the Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. The premiere was performed at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg on 26 January 1908, with the composer conducting. Its duration is approximately 60 minutes when performed uncut; cut performances can be as short as 35 minutes. The score is dedicated to Sergei Taneyev, a Russian composer, teacher, theorist, author, and pupil of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The piece remains one of the composer's most popular and best known compositions.
Sergei Rachmaninoff composed his Piano Concerto No. 1 in F♯ minor, Op. 1, in 1891, at age 17–18. He dedicated the work to Alexander Siloti. He revised the work thoroughly in 1917.
Yeol Eum Son is a world renowned South Korean classical pianist. She is an interpreter of the Classical era of composers, especially Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, as well as such later composers as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. Over the past fifteen years, Son has achieved global acclaim for her performances of Mozart’s piano concertos.
Henry Jay Lewis was an American double-bassist and orchestral conductor whose career extended over four decades. A child prodigy, he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 16, becoming the first African-American instrumentalist in a major symphony orchestra and, later, the first African-American symphony orchestra conductor in the United States. As musical director of the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra, he supported America's cultural diplomacy initiatives in Europe after World War II.
James Loughran was a Scottish conductor, the first British conductor to be appointed chief of a major German orchestra.
Simon John O'Neill is a New Zealand-born operatic tenor. In 1998, his image appeared on the New Zealand one-dollar performing arts postage stamp.
Susan Gritton is an English operatic soprano. She was the 1994 winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and has sung leading roles in a wide-ranging repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Britten, Janáček and Strauss.
Ildebrando D'Arcangelo is an Italian opera singer. He has been called a bass-baritone, though he prefers the term basso cantabile.
Piotr Beczała ; born 28 December 1966) is a Polish operatic tenor with an international career based primarily in Europe and the United States. He has performed in the world's leading opera houses including Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Royal Opera House, Semperoper, Carnegie Hall, Teatro Real, Deutsche Oper Berlin and is particularly known for his portrayals of characters from the operas of Giuseppe Verdi and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In 2015, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his artistic achievements.
Rico Saccani is a conductor who served as music director and artistic adviser of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra between 1996 and 2005 and was principal guest conductor of the Hungarian State Opera from 1985 to 2005.
Johannes Wildner is an Austrian conductor, conducting professor, and former violinist of the Vienna Philharmonic.
Carlo Colombara is an Italian operatic bass. He has sung leading roles in major opera houses including La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera; the Real Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, the Arena di Verona, the Royal Opera House in London, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
Igor Konstantin Buketoff was an American conductor, arranger and teacher. He had a special affinity with Russian classical music and with Sergei Rachmaninoff in particular. He also strongly promoted British contemporary music, and new music in general.
Ildàr Amìrovich Abdrazàkov is a Russian bass opera singer. Honoured Artist of Russia (2021).
Lauren Fagan is an Australian operatic soprano, internationally known for performances in notable productions. A nominee for Young Singer of the Year in the 2018 International Opera Awards, she won the 2019 Dame Heather Begg Memorial Award to support the development of emerging opera singers from Australia or New Zealand.
