Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Widely regarded as one of the UK’s great orchestras, the ‘Royal Phil’ was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1946 and has spent nearly 70 years making numerous acclaimed recordings of symphonies, opera, ballet and film soundtracks. Stravinsky recorded his opera ‘The Rake’s Progress’ with the RPO in 1964 and Colin Davis made some of his earliest recordings with them. In the 1960s and 1970s they recorded Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. In 1986 they launched RPO Records, “the world’s first record label to be owned by a symphony orchestra.” For the past decade the RPO has been based at Cadogan Hall in London’s Chelsea.