The Philadelphia Orchestra

For chorus credit use The Philadelphia Orchestra Chorus.

American symphony orchestra based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is one of the "Big Five" US orchestras.

The orchestra was founded in 1900 by Walt Disney's Fantasia in multi-track stereophonic sound in 1939-40. Stokowski left the orchestra in 1941, and did not return as a guest conductor for nearly 20 years.

In 1936 TELDEC. Ormandy took the orchestra on its historic 1973 tour of the People's Republic of China, where it was the first Western orchestra to visit that country in many decades.

Upon the retirement of Eugene Ormandy, EMI, however, the orchestra lost its recording contract with EMI during this time, which led to a musicians' strike in 1996.

In January 2001, Yannick Nézet-Séguin was appointed Music Director Designate, and in 2012, he was appointed music director, succeeding Dutoit, who subsequently was named conductor laureate of the orchestra.