What is Philharmonia?
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians --> | name = Philharmonia Orchestra | image =Gulsin Onay with conductor Esa Pekka Salonen.jpg | caption = Philharmonia concert, 2011 | background = classical_ensemble | alias = Philharmonia<br>{{nowrap|New Philharmonia Orchestra}} | origin = [[London]], [[England]], [[United Kingdom|UK]] | genre = [[classical music|Classical]]<br>[[Popular music]]<br>[[Soundtrack]] | occupation = [[Orchestra|Symphony orchestra]] | years_active = 1945–present | associated_acts = | website = [http://www.philharmonia.co.uk www.philharmonia.co.uk] | current_members = '''Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor'''<br>[[Esa-Pekka Salonen]]<br>'''Honorary Conductor for Life'''<br>[[Christoph von Dohnányi]]<br>'''Conductor Emeritus'''<br>[[Kurt Sanderling]]<br>'''Conductor Laureate'''<br>[[Vladimir Ashkenazy]] | past_members = | }} The '''Philharmonia''' is an [[orchestra]] from [[London]]. ==History== The orchestra was formed in [[1945]] by Walter Legge. Legge was not a [[conducting|conductor]], but he was a man who organized a lot of music, especially recordings. The orchestra spent most of their time making [[Gramophone record|gramophone]] recordings, but sometimes they also gave concerts. The conductor [[Thomas Beecham]] led their first [[concert]] in [[1946]], but Beecham had always organized his own orchestras and he wanted to organize this one. He even wanted to change the orchestra’s name. The players decided that they did not want Beecham as their conductor. Beecham went on to form another orchestra which he called the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]]. In the first years of the Philharmonia they were conducted by several world-famous conductors, including [[Arturo Toscanini]], [[Wilhelm Furtwängler]] and, especially, [[Herbert von Karajan]]. Karajan helped the orchestra to become one of the finest in the world, and he