The orchestra was founded as the Seattle Symphony and gave its first performance n 1903 under the baton of Harry West before being renamed the Seattle Philharmonic in 1911. In 1919 they returned to their original name.
Aside from their own concerts and recordings they also serve as the orchestra for the majority of the productions staged by the Seattle Opera. Their concerts are attended by an average of 300,000 a year in Seattle and they have become known for their performances of 20th Century composers, with particular concentration on Americans.
They have had a total of 15 music directors in their history including Henry Hadley, Thomas Beecham, Nikolai Sokoloff, Gerard Schwarz and the current holder of the position, Ludovic Morlot. The orchestra has performed at the Benroya Hall in Seattle from 1998 and in 2001 they opened the Soundbridge Seattle Symphony Music Discovery Center where people of all ages can interact while discovering the world of symphonic music.
It has been broadcast nationally in the series Cialis Presents the Seattle Symphony and is cited as being “one of the world’s most recorded orchestras” with around at least CDs available and 10 Grammy nominations.
Hugh Aitken recordings
Rameau Remembered for Flute and Orchestra
Artek 0004 (CD: Hugh Aitken: Aspen Concerto, Rameau Remembered, In Praise of Ockeghem)
Conductor – Gerard Schwarz
Flute – Scott Goff
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