The Oklahoma City Philharmonic is the most prominent performing orchestra in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and its environs.
The first Oklahoma City orchestra was formed as early as 1924. The Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1938 with Ralph Rose conducting its inaugural season. During the 1940s, 50s and 60s, under conductors Victor Alessandro and Guy Fraser Harrison, the Oklahoma Symphony became known nationally and even internationally by a regular series of radio broadcasts on the Mutual Broadcasting System and the Voice of America, listened to by American troops abroad.
In 1988, when the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra was disbanded, Joel Levine successfully founded the Oklahoma City Philharmonic with the help of a great many people—a number of culturally-minded civic leaders, the newly incorporated OKC Orchestra League, and grants from five major Oklahoma corporations (Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Oklahoma Publishing Company, Southwestern Bell, Kerr McGee, and First Interstate Bank.[1] Levine is the music director and conductor of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and continues to lead the state’s largest performing-arts organization.
In September 2001, the OKC Philharmonic opened its season in the newly renovated Civic Center Music Hall. One of the Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS), this $52.2 million renovation saw the complete reconstruction of the performance chamber into the Thelma Gaylord Performing Arts Theater. The theater design was changed from a concert hall into a Broadway theater house while maintaining state-of-the-art acoustics in any configuration.