Known simply as the LSO, the London Symphony Orchestra is the oldest of all of the city's classical music ensembles of a similar size. A self-governing group of musicians, the orchestra chooses the conductors with whom it will take appointments. Sir Edward Elgar and Sir Thomas Beecham are both famous alumni who have taken up the baton with the orchestra. In more recent times, conductors who have worked with the London Symphony Orchestra include André Previn, Claudio Abbado and Sir Colin Davis. Since 1982, the orchestra has had a permanent home at the Barbican Centre, the multi-purpose arts complex located in the City of London. The London Symphony Orchestra has made many recordings of classical works over the years and is in demand for recording work, notably for the film and television industries.

London Symphony Orchestra's career milestones

Founded in the early 1900s, the London Symphony Orchestra soon gained a reputation for being the UK's finest classical music ensemble. Over the following decades, the group lost this accolade, in the eyes of many music critics, as ensembles such as the Royal Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony Orchestra began to gain in reputation. However, the LSO recovered its primary position in the hearts of music fans in the 1960s; a place that it has not given up ever since.

During the early 1970s, the London Symphony Orchestra took part in a series of televised concerts on BBC known as André Previn's Music Night. During broadcasts, the famous conductor would talk about a piece of classical music and offer the viewing audience some context. After a brief lecture, given directly to camera, Previn would go on to conduct the piece in question, with the LSO. This brought the orchestra into the homes of many people who had not experienced the delights of a full symphony orchestra before. Later that decade, the orchestra acquired a disused church in South London and restored it into a full-time rehearsal studio. This studio was also used for recordings from 1975 onwards.

By the late 1970s, the London Symphony Orchestra's workload was changing somewhat. As well as being an in-demand concert orchestra, the ensemble made a series of Classic Rock albums, in which the musicians tackled classical-style arrangements of artists such as David Bowie and Led Zeppelin. In 1978, the composer John Williams famously recorded the soundtrack for Star Wars with the orchestra, a work that paid great royalties. During the 1990s, the LSO toured Asia with the likes of Leonard Bernstein and went on to play for TV again with the Concerto! series, which featured soloists such as James Galway and Kyoko Takezawa, among others.

Similar to the London Symphony Orchestra

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