Established in 1933 under the auspices of Radio Luxembourg (RTL), the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg (OPL) has made its mark across Europe. Publicly administered since 1996, the OPL has been in residence at the Philharmonie Luxembourg since 2005. In January 2012, the orchestra and the Philharmonie became a unified entity.
The exceptional acoustics of its home venue, along with enduring relationships with renowned institutions such as the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, as well as participation in festivals like Musica (Strasbourg) and ArsMusica (Brussels), have contributed to the OPL's reputation for refined sonority. Under the direction of Emmanuel Krivine, who has led the orchestra since the 2012-2013 season, the OPL has collaborated with distinguished artists including Evgeny Kissin, Julia Fischer, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Jean-Guihen Queyras, further solidifying its standing. The orchestra boasts an impressive array of accolades for approximately twenty CDs released in the past seven years, including the Grand Prix Charles Cros, Victoires de la musique classique, Orphée d’Or de l’Académie du Disque Lyrique, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Télérama ffff, Pizzicato Excellentia, IRR Outstanding, BBC Music Choice, and several Diapasons d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Pizzicato Supersonic, and Classica R10, among others.
Emmanuel Krivine, the sixth music director of the OPL, follows in the footsteps of Henri Pensis, Louis de Froment, Leopold Hager, David Shallon, and Bramwell Tovey. A student of Karl Böhm, Krivine embodies the ideal of a symphony orchestra that embraces diverse idioms and repertoires. His clear interpretations have helped the OPL gain recognition as "a transparent, elegant orchestra with a beautiful palette of colours" (Le Figaro) and "free from anything flowery or nebulous but imbued with stylistic security and attuned to the specific qualities of each piece" (WDR). In addition to classic and romantic works, the orchestra actively features music from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, performing compositions by Ivo Malec, Hugues Dufourt, Toshio Hosokawa, Klaus Huber, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Helmut Lachenmann, Georges Lentz, Philippe Gaubert, Philip Glass, Michael Jarrell, Gabriel Pierné, and Arthur Honegger, among others. The OPL has also recorded the complete orchestral works of Iannis Xenakis.
Demonstrating its versatility, the orchestra regularly stages opera productions at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, presents film concerts such as "Live Cinema" in collaboration with the Cinémathèque de la Ville de Luxembourg, and hosts "Pops at the Phil" events featuring artists like Patti Austin, Kurt Elling, Dionne Warwick, Maurane, and Angélique Kidjo. The orchestra also participates in open-air concerts with jazz and rock groups during the Fête de la Musique. The 2013/14 season featured soloists including Martin Grubinger, Tine Thing Helseth, Vesselina Kasarova, Angelika Kirchschlager, Nikolaï Lugansky, Truls Mørk, Emmanuel Pahud, Alina Pogostkina, Baiba Skride, Alexandre Tharaud, Camilla Tilling, and Arcadi Volodos, alongside conductors Richard Egarr, Susanna Mälkki, Juanjo Mena, Antonio Méndez, Tito Muñoz, Franck Ollu, Philip Pickett, Jonathan Stockhammer, Stefan Soltesz, Juraj Valčuha, Gast Waltzing, and Ulrich Windfuhr.
Since 2003, the orchestra's education team, "login:music," has organized concerts and workshops for schools, children, and families, including DVD productions and "pocket concerts" in schools and hospitals. The team also prepares school classes for subscription concerts through music appreciation workshops and arranges the "Dating:" cycle, which combines actors and multimedia tools to engage audiences with selected composers' works.
The OPL frequently tours music venues across Europe, as well as in Asia and the USA. Concerts are regularly broadcast by Luxembourg radio 100,7 and internationally by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Grand Duchy and the City of Luxembourg, the OPL partners with BGL BNP Paribas, Garage Arnold Kontz, Crédit Agricole Private Banking, and P&T. Additionally, since December 2012, the orchestra has had access to a cello by Matteo Goffriller (1659–1742), referred to as "Le Luxembourgeois," provided by BGL BNP Paribas.
