The Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra (Luxembourgish: Lëtzebuerger philharmoneschen Orchester, French: Orchestre philharmonique du Luxembourg), abbreviated to OPL, is the national orchestra of Luxembourg, and is based in Luxembourg City. The orchestra formerly performed at the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg and the Conservatoire de Luxembourg. Its current home is the Philharmonie Luxembourg, a large concert hall opened in 2005 in the Kirchberg quarter in the northeast of the city.
The orchestra was founded in 1933 as the in-house orchestra of RTL Radio, named the RTL Grand Symphony Orchestra (French: Grand orchestre symphonique de RTL); Henri Pensis was its founder and first music director. In 1995, RTL decided not to renew its contract with the orchestra. Subsequently, the Luxembourg government established the Henri Pensis Foundation to allow for the orchestra to continue its existence. In 1996, the orchestra acquired its current name under its new auspices.[1]
After Pensis, subsequent music directors of the orchestra have included Carl Melles, Louis de Froment, and Leopold Hager. The orchestra's fifth music director, David Shallon, enhanced the reputation of the orchestra, but suddenly died in 2000 while on tour in Japan.[1] Bramwell Tovey took over as music director in September 2002, and held the post until 2006.[2] Since the 2006–2007 season, the orchestra's music director is Emmanuel Krivine.[3] In May 2009, Krivine extended his contract with the orchestra through the 2014-2015 season.[4]