Oslo Philharmonic

The Oslo Philharmonic (Norwegian: Oslo-Filharmonien) is a Norwegian symphony orchestra based in Oslo, Norway. The orchestra traces its roots to the Philharmonic Society founded in 1847 and the Christiania Musical Association co-founded by Edvard Grieg in 1871, and was established in its current form in 1919. Since 1977, it has had its home in the Oslo Concert Hall. The orchestra gives an average of sixty to seventy symphonic concerts annually, the majority of which are broadcast nationally on the radio. The Oslo Philharmonic entered into a close collaboration with the newly established national broadcasting company, the NRK, in 1934. Its chief conductor is Klaus Mäkelä.

The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra's roots go back to 1871, when Edvard Grieg and Johan Svendsen founded the Christiania Musikerforening (Christiania Musical Association), as a successor of The Philharmonic Society (Det Philharmoniske Selskab, 1847).

The orchestra was later conducted by Ole Olsen, Johan Selmer, Iver Holter and Otto Winter-Hjelm. Under Holter, the orchestra was merged with the Christiania Theatre Orchestra, which was on the verge of reductions. Holter suggested the founding of a city orchestra which could play at municipal festivities, concerts and in the theatre, and as a result of this, the orchestra gained municipal support from 1889.

In 1899, the Nationaltheatret, which was to present both theatre and opera, was opened. Here the orchestra expanded to 44 musicians, and it was conducted by Johan Halvorsen.

The orchestra served the Nationaltheatret in two roles: providing music for the new theatre, and symphony concerts for the Music Society. During the First World War, the desire for symphonic music grew, along with inflation, leading to a dispute between the orchestra and the Nationaltheatret and a temporary collapse of the Musikerforening's concerts. Thus, in 1919, the orchestra was reformed as the Filharmonisk Selskaps Orkester (Orchestra of the Philharmonic Company) by private shareholders and initiative. The first season was shared by three conductors; Johan Halvorsen, Georg Schnéevoigt and Ignaz Neumark.

Filharmonisk Selskaps Orkester's first concert took place in Logen (Store Sal) on 27 September 1919, with 59 musicians on stage and with Georg Schnéevoigt as conductor. On the repertoire was Rikard Nordraak's Ja, vi elsker dette landet, Johan Svendsen's Fest polonaise, Christian Sinding's Symphony No. 1, Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, and finally Landkjenning, with the singer Erik Ole Bye as baritone soloist.

Among the guest musicians of this first season were the conductor Arthur Nikisch, the pianists Eugen d'Albert, Edwin Fischer, Wilhelm Kempff, Ignaz Friedman and Artur Schnabel, and the violinists Bronisław Huberman and Carl Flesch. Between September 1919 and May 1920, the orchestra gave 135 public concerts, most of them sold out.

The next decades featured various economic problems, which led to the resignation of 15 musicians in one season. In spite of this, the orchestra continued to attract notable musicians and conductors, such as Richard Burgin, who later became concertmaster for Serge Koussevitzky in Boston; Max Rostal; Ernst Glaser; Robert Soetens, for whom Sergei Prokofiev's 2nd Violin Concerto was written; and others who were driven out of Germany by the Nazi regime – Igor Stravinsky, Fritz Busch, Erich Kleiber, and Bruno Walter.