The Symphonic Orchestra of Madrid has celebrated its first centenary in 2004 proud and satisfied of its brilliant past and excited with its promising future.
The orchestra was founded in 1903 by most of the members of The Society of Concerts –the first stable symphonic orchestra in Spain, created by Barbieri in 1866, and was presented in the Royal Theatre of Madrid on 7th of February of 1904, conducted by Alonso Cordelás. In 1905 a rich collaboration with Enrique Fernández Arbós was begun, and it lasted three decades in which also very important personalities such as Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinski occupied the podium.
Under the direction of Arbós the basic aims of the orchestra in all its activities were defined: renovation of the repertoire, support to the Spanish music and musicians and the creation of new audiences. One hundred years later those principles are still fundamental for the Symphonic Orchestra of Madrid. After Arbós’ death the entitlement of the orchestra was occupied by Spanish conductors such as Conrado del Campo, José María Franco, Enrique Jordá and Vicente Spiteri.
In 1981, after an agreement with the Ministry of Culture, the orchestra became to be the stable orchestra for all the productions from the Teatro de la Zarzuela, and its pure symphonic activity is recovered, in this field the annual series of concerts of the Community of Madrid in the National Auditorium of Music stand out. Besides working with the most important Spanish conductors, the orchestra has been conducted by great international conductors such as Peter Maag, Pinchas Steingber, Kurt Sanderling, Krzysztof Penderecki and Mstilav Rostropovich.
In 1993 the orchestra received the prize to the musical creation of the Community of Madrid and the following year celebrates its ninetieth anniversary with a series of acts, recordings and publications, one of them was the book La Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid: noventa anos de historia by Carlos Gómez Amat and Joaquín Turina (Alianza Editorial, 1994) that collects the life of the institution. In its discography we have to highlight the Spanish zarzuelas and operas recorded for “Auvidis”, all the Symphonies by Mendelssohn under the conduction of Peter Maag for “Arts” and the first ever recording of Merlin and Henry Clifford by Albeniz conducted by José de Eusebio.
Since 1997 the Symphonic Orchestra of Madrid covers the musical needs of the spectacles presented in the Royal Theatre. In its performances there the orchestra has received a growing praise from the audience and also from the professionals and the critics; it can be highlighted the great success of the production of Parsifal by Wagner in the 2000-2001 season under the conduction of García Navarro.
In 1999 the orchestra created a professional chorus that made its debut in the Royal Theatre. That same year the orchestra decided to establish a solid artistic direction and the assembly of partners stipulates to recover the figure of the permanent director, position accepted by García Navarro and later in 2002 by Jesús Lopez Cobos. In the same way the position of honorific director for Kurt Sanderling and the new figure of the resident composer for Cristóbal Halffter are created. In 2000 the orchestra created its School-Orchestra, an innovative project aimed to the musical training and the working insertion of promising young talents, and to the creation of new audiences principally among the students from the Community of Madrid. Nowadays by a contract with the Lyrical Theatre Foundation, the Symphonic Orchestra and Chorus of Madrid have become the permanent orchestra and chorus of the Royal Theatre.
