The Munich Philharmonic was founded in 1893 as an initiative of philologist Franz Aim, son of a piano manufacturer. Ferdinand Löwe was the orchestra’s first director (1908-14). During this period, Gustav Mahler conducted the orchestra for the premieres of his symphonies nos. 4 and 8. Two months after the composer’s death in 1911, the orchestra premiered Das Lied von der Erde under the baton of Bruno Walter.
F. Löwe was followed by maestros Siegmund von Hausegger, Oswald Kabasta, Eugen Jochum, hans Rosbaud, Fritz Rieger and Rudolf Kempe, “the magic conductor”, who led the orchestra from 1967 until his untimely death in 1976.
In 1979, Sergiu Celibidache conducted his first concert with the Munich Philharmonic, and was soon appointed music director. Since then, Celibidache and “his” orchestra have successfully toured throughout Europe, North and South America, and the Far East.
In 1985, the orchestra finally acquired its own concert hall (its former home was destroyed in an air raid in 1944).
In 1999-2004 the Principal Conductor of the Munich Philharmonic was James Levine. The orchestra under his directorship went on three major concert tours (Europe, USA). Since 2004, Christian Thielemann has been the orchestra’s general Music Director.
In 2003, the German Music Publishers Association awarded the Munich Philharmonic for “The Best Concert Program of the 2003/2004 Season” entitled “The Youth Listens (Jugend horcht).”
Munich Philharmonic created an extensive concert offer aimed at children and youth. Thanks to chamber music concerts for children, school concerts, workshops, open rehearsals, visits to schools, demonstrations of instruments and subscriptions for school and university students, children and the youth gained diverse possibilities of getting acquainted with classical music and with the work of a symphonic orchestra. In the 2004/2005 season about 25 thousand children and youth took part in 160 musical events of this kind.