Brooklyn Philharmonic

There have been several organizations referred to as the "Brooklyn Philharmonic." The most recent one was the now-defunct Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, an American orchestra based in the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City in existence from the 1950s until 2012. In its heyday it was called "groundbreaking" and “one of the most innovative and respected symphony orchestras of modern times.”

The Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn was formed in 1857 under Theodore Eisfeld, who served as its inaugural conductor until 1861. The Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn held concerts at the Athenaeum in Brooklyn Heights, then the largest concert venue in the borough, until it moved to the newly opened Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1861, where it remained until 1891. The Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn was the driving force in the establishment of BAM. in 1861 the orchestra was conducted once by Johann Strauss II in 1861 who is said to have impulsively snatched a violin from one of the other players to join in during The Blue Danube.

After the departure of Eisfeld, Theodore Thomas served as conductor until 1891, a celebrated tenure. After the departure of Thomas, the Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn no longer sponsored its own orchestra, choosing instead to sponsor the Boston Symphony at BAM, which it did from 1891 onwards and from 1895 in conjunction with the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. After the first BAM burned down on 30 November 1903, the Boston Symphony series was held at the Baptist Hall of the Pilgrim church until the new BAM opened in 1908. After 1938 the Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn was "almost nonexistent" and the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences continued to present the Boston Symphony by itself through the 1972-73 season, although the Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn continued to sponsor modest chamber music concerts at BAM and elsewhere until the early 1980s.

Between 1941 and 1943 a new orchestra was formed called the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, an offshoot of the earlier Brooklyn Civic Orchestra, but it was not able to sustain itself and expired after 1943.

In 1954, the Director of BAM, Julius Bloom, led the incorporation of another new orchestra also known as the "Brooklyn Philharmonia" in concert with noted conductor JM & Siegfried Landau and arts impresario Marks Levin. Landau gave the orchestra a focus on contemporary and infrequently performed classical music.

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Wikipedia