75th Anniversary Season 2007/08 in the Royal Festival Hall Return to articles menu page > The First Seventy-Five Years: Great Dates 7 October 1932 The London Philharmonic Orchestra performs in public for the first time - Sir Thomas Beecham conducts at the Queen's Hall 6 October 1939 The players take control, and the Orchestra is registered as a company controlled by directors taken from the orchestral membership 12 August 1940 'The Blitz Tour' starts in Glasgow with two performances per day in the city for a week, with subsequent appearances in every major British city 3 May 1951 The Orchestra takes part in the first concert at the newly opened Royal Festival Hall 25 September 1956 The Orchestra touches down in the Soviet Union with Principal Conductor Sir Adrian Boult for a two-week tour, becoming the first ever British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia 21 May 1964 The Orchestra plays at Glyndebourne for the first time, appearing at the summer festival as the Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra 23 April 1970 The Orchestra performs for the first time in the USA, beginning a major tour of the country in New York with a concert at Carnegie Hall conducted by Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink 26 September 1977 One of the great orchestra-conductor relationships begins: Klaus Tennstedt conducts the Orchestra for the first time in a performance of Mahler's First Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall 21 March 1998 The Orchestra inaugurates its Roots Classical Fusions concerts, combining musical traditions from across the globe and inspiring the Orchestra's ongoing education and community programme 16 September 2000 Kurt Masur conducts his first concert as the Orchestra's Principal Conductor featuring artists Youssou N'Dour and Herbie Hancock and works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Gershwin and the London première of America by Thomas Adès 21 April 2005 The Orchestra launches its own record label with four titles conducted by Principal Conductors Kurt Masur, Klaus Tennstedt and Bernard Haitink, and Principal Guest Conductor Vladimir Jurowski Return to articles menu page > Back to top >