What is Berlin Philharmonic?
'''Berlin Philharmonic''' (in [[German language|German]]: Die '''Berliner Philharmoniker'''), is an [[orchestra]] from [[Berlin]], [[Germany]]. It is one of the greatest orchestras in the world. The conductor of the orchestra is [[Simon Rattle|Sir Simon Rattle]]. == History == [[File:Berlin Philharmonie asv2018-05 img1.jpg|thumb|left| Entrance to the concert hall.]] The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in [[Berlin]] in the spring of [[1882]]. By [[1887]] they were known by their present name. [[Hans von Bülow]] became their conductor that year and made them into a world class orchestra. Other great conductors were also invited to conduct as guests: [[Hans Richter]], [[Felix von Weingartner]], [[Richard Strauss]], [[Gustav Mahler]], [[Johannes Brahms]] and [[Edvard Grieg]]. In [[1895]], [[Arthur Nikisch]] became chief conductor, and was followed in 1923 by [[Wilhelm Furtwängler]]. The orchestra continued to perform throughout [[World War II]]. After Furtwängler fled to [[Switzerland]] in 1945, [[Leo Borchard]] became chief conductor, but a few months later he was accidentally shot and killed by American forces occupying Berlin. [[Sergiu Celibidache]] then took over as chief conductor for seven years, from [[1945]] to[[1952]]. Furtwängler returned in 1952 and conducted the orchestra until his death in [[1954]]. [[Herbert von Karajan]] led the orchestra from [[1955]] until he resigned in April [[1989]]. He was a very strict conductor who had to be obeyed in everything he did. The orchestra made lots of great recordings with him. After Karajan, [[Claudio Abbado]] became principal conductor. He helped the orchestra to learn new works, not just the well known [[Classical music period|classical]] and [[romantic music|romantic]] works but also the more modern [[20th century classical music|20th century works]]. He stopped conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in 2002. At the time Germany was being reunited the orchestra had financial problems. [[File:Rattle_BPH-Rittershaus1-Wikipedia.jpg|Sir Simon Rattle con