What is London Philharmonic Orchestra?
The '''London Philharmonic Orchestra''' ('''LPO''') is one of the major [[orchestra]]s of the [[United Kingdom]]. It is based in the Royal Festival Hall, [[London]]. The orchestra was formed in 1932 by [[Thomas Beecham|Sir Thomas Beecham]], and played its first concert on [[October 7]], [[1932]] at the [[Queen's Hall]], London. The associate conductor at the time was [[Malcolm Sargent]]. At one of the orchestra's early concerts in November 1932 the sixteen-year old [[Yehudi Menuhin]] played a programme of violin concertos including the concerto by [[Edward Elgar|Elgar]] which the composer himself conducted. In the 1930s, when Beecham conducted at the [[Royal Opera House]], the orchestra played for operas there. Beecham made many recordings with the orchestra. In [[1939]] the orchestra's sponsors stopped giving money to the orchestra. The orchestra became a self-governing body, which meant that, like the [[London Symphony Orchestra]], the players organized the orchestra themselves, deciding on their pay, their members, what music they should play etc. During the [[World War II|Second World War]] they went round the country playing in places where people would not otherwise hear music. Many of the players' instruments were destroyed when the [[Queen's Hall]] was bombed in May 1941, but lots of people gave money for them to buy new instruments. After the war, Beecham returned to the LPO for eighteen months, but left to start a new orchestra, the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra|Royal Philharmonic]]. The orchestra continued to play with several guest conductors until Eduard van Beinum was appointed. When he became ill they appointed [[Adrian Boult|Sir Adrian Boult]] who stayed until 1956, although he continued to work with the orchestra and became its President in [[1965]]. Through the late 1950s the orchestra did not have much money and had to stop paying the players regular salaries. They only got paid for the work they did. In 1958 the LPO appointed William Steinberg as chief conductor. He helped the orchest