The Vienna Philharmonic (in German: die Wiener Philharmoniker) is an orchestra based in Vienna,  Austria.  It is thought of as one of the greatest orchestras in the world.

The orchestra play in a concert hall called the  Musikverein.  Before becoming a member of the Vienna Philharmonic the musicians have to work for at least three years in the opera house (the Vienna State Opera).  Then they are allowed to try to become a member of the Vienna Philharmonic.

History
The orchestra started in 1842, when Otto Nicolai formed the Philharmonische Academie.  The members of this orchestra made all the decisions about how the orchestra should be organized, and the orchestra still works in this way today.

When Nicolai left in 1847, the orchestra nearly came to an end.  They did not play very much until 1860, when Karl Anton Eckert joined as conductor.  Since then, the orchestra has given concerts all the time.

From 1875 to 1898 Hans Richter was principal conductor, except for the season 1882-1883 when he had an argument with the orchestral committee.  During the time Richter was conductor the orchestra gave the first performances of several very famous works, including Symphonies no 2 and 3  by Brahms and Symphony no 8 by Anton Bruckner.

Gustav Mahler was their conductor from 1898 to 1901.  During this time the orchestra played abroad for the first time.  They played at the 1900 Paris World Exposition.  The next conductors of the orchestra were Felix Weingartner, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Clemens Krauss.

Since 1933, the orchestra has not had one main conductor, but instead it has many guest conductors who have stayed for short periods.   These have included a great many of the world's best known conductors, including Richard Strauss, Arturo Toscanini, Hans Knappertsbusch, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Karl Böhm, John Barbirolli, Herbert von Karajan, Carlo Maria Giulini, Georg Solti, Erich Kleiber, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Carlos Kleiber, Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Daniel Barenboim and Valery Gergiev. Three conductors, however, gave many concerts with the orchestra during the period after World War II: Karajan and Böhm, who were made honorary conductors, and Bernstein, who was made an honorary member of the orchestra.

Since 1941 the orchestra has played the New Year's Day concert every January 1, in their concert hall Musikverein.  The concert is dedicated to the music of the Strauss family composers, especially Johann Strauss II.  The concert is watched on television by people all over the world.

In recent years the orchestra has been criticised because they did not allow women to become full members of the orchestra.  This is now gradually starting to change.  They were also criticised for racism because they only took people who were white.   In 2001 they appointed a violinist who was half-Asian.

Conductors

Guest Conductors (since 1933) 

 Bruno Walter
 Fritz Busch
 Arturo Toscanini
 Richard Strauss
 Josef Krips
 Wilhelm Furtwängler
 Hans Knappertsbusch
 Sir John Barbirolli
 Erich Kleiber
 Karl Böhm
 Herbert von Karajan

 Rafael Kubelík
 George Szell
 Carl Schuricht
 Carlos Kleiber
 Wolfgang Sawallisch
 Carlo Maria Giulini
 Sir Adrian Boult
 Leonard Bernstein
 Seiji Ozawa
 Claudio Abbado
 James Levine

 Lorin Maazel
 Simon Rattle
 Mstislav Rostropovich
 André Previn
 Giuseppe Sinopoli
 Václav Neumann
 Riccardo Muti
 Georges Prêtre
 Valery Gergiev
 Nikolaus Harnoncourt
 Pierre Boulez

 John Eliot Gardiner
 Roger Norrington
 Marcello Viotti
 Christian Thielemann
 Franz Welser-Möst
 Daniele Gatti
 Gilbert Kaplan
 Mariss Jansons
 Daniel Barenboim
 Simone Young
 Pierre Monteux

 Jonathan Nott
 Daniel Harding
 Zubin Mehta
 Willi Boskovsky
 Georg Solti
 Gunter Wand
 Eugene Ormandy

Related pages
Arnold Rosé

Other websites

 Vienna Philharmonic website

Orchestras
Vienna