Philharmonia Orchestra

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Philharmonia Orchestra. Eng. sym. orch. founded 1945 by Walter Legge primarily to make recordings for the Gramophone Co. Cond. on records and in the concert-hall incl. Karajan, Klemperer, Toscanini, Furtwängler, Strauss, Giulini, Cantelli, and Dobrowen. Became principally assoc. with Otto Klemperer (prin. cond. 1959–73), who was made ‘conductor for life’. In 1964, after Legge had attempted to disband it, orch. became self-governing body named New Philharmonia, the ‘New’ being dropped in 1977. Salzburg début 1990 (cond. Sinopoli). Lorin Maazel assoc. prin. cond. 1971–3; Riccardo Muti prin. cond. 1973–82; Giuseppe Sinopoli 1984–94; Christoph von Dohnányi from 1997.