Vail Vacationers will hear New York Philharmonic at the Bravo!Vail valley Music Festival this Summer

Bravo! Summer Event

New York Philharmonic - Resident Orchestra

The New York Philharmonic is by far the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, and one of the oldest in the world. Founded in 1842 by a group of local musicians led by American-born Ureli Corelli Hill, the Orchestra currently plays some 180 concerts a year.

Lorin Maazel began his tenure as Music Director in September 2002. He succeeded Kurt Masur. Previous Music Directors have included Zubin Mehta (1978–91), and Pierre Boulez (1971–77). Leonard Bernstein, who was appointed Music Director in 1958, was given the lifetime title of Laureate Conductor in 1969.

Since its inception, the Orchestra has championed the new music of its time, giving the first performances of many important works such as Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”; Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3; Gershwin’s Concerto in F; and Copland’s Connotations, in addition to the U.S. premieres of works such as Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 4.

The roster of composers and conductors who have led the Philharmonic includes such historic figures as Theodore Thomas, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Antonin Dvorák, Gustav Mahler (Music Director, 1909–11), Otto Klemperer, Richard Strauss, Willem Mengelberg (Music Director, 1922–30), Wilhelm Furtwngler, Arturo Toscanini (Music Director, 1928–36), Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Bruno Walter (Music Advisor, 1947–49), Dimitri Mitropoulos (Music Director, 1949–58), Klaus Tennstedt, George Szell (Music Advisor, 1969–70), and Erich Leinsdorf.

The Philharmonic’s remarkable achievements in radio, television, and other media have helped shape communications history. In 1922 the Philharmonic became one of the first orchestras to broadcast a live concert, and its coast-to-coast radio broadcast of 1930 was the first of its kind.