The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra gives over sixty concerts from September to June in Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall and presents concerts throughout the United Kingdom, in addition to tours abroad. Members of the orchestra are involved in a number of innovative community education projects. One of the oldest concert-giving organizations in the world, the RLPO dates back to 1840. In 1957 it acquired the title ‘Royal’, and in 1991 it was the first organization to be granted the freedom of the City of Liverpool. The first professional conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic, in 1844, was Jakob Zeugheer, followed by Alfred Mellon, Max Bruch, Charles Hallé, Frederic Hymen Cowen, and Thomas Beecham. In 1942 Malcolm Sargent became resident conductor, followed in 1948 by Hugo Rignold as music director. Subsequent incumbents have included Efrem Kurtz and John Pritchard, Walter Weller, David Atherton, Marek Janowski, Libor Pešek, Petr Altrichter and Gerard Schwarz. Vasily Petrenko became Principal Conductor in September 2006. For more information, please visit their website at www.liverpoolphil.com Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.