An Orchestra of Superlatives - The Sydney Symphony Orchestra
About 150 concerts a year. An audience of more than 350,000 each year. Constantly on the worldwide tours and a home, which is impressive - the Sydney Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra of world-class. Housed in a landmark of Australia, in the Sydney Opera House, the orchestra rehearses, plays and excites its audience.
It was the year 1932. The Sydney Harbour Bridge, a great symbol of Sydney, was opened. And since a permanent symphony orchestra is a sign of maturity for a city, the Australia Broadcasting Commission founded the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in the same year. First, the orchestra had no fixed address and no principal conductor. In 1933 Brahms and Wagner pageants for example were staged under different conductors. The first long-time chief conductor became Eugene Goossens in 1946, who then wanted to bring the Sydney Orchestra "among the six best in the world". It was also Goossens who pushed the construction of the Sydney Opera House as a home for the orchestra.
In 1965 the orchestra then had its first international tour, including performances on the acclaimed Edinburgh Festival. In the early 1970s the Dutchman Willem van Otterloo took the orchestra over and conducted the first legendary concert in the new monumental homestead after the construction of the Opera House.
Today the orchestra is 82-headed. Among them many violins, cellos, basses, flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoon, bass, horns, trumpets, tubas, trombones, timpani and drums as well as piano and harp play a harmony from concert to concert. The orchestra in particular advocates the performance of contemporary Australian composers and promotes especially children and young people on their journey of discovery throughout the world of classical music.
