Philharmonia Zurich

In 1867 the Schweizerisches Musikfest took place in Zurich, and for this purpose the old Kornhaus (Corn Exchange), on the site of today's opera house, was converted into a concert hall.

In the Grosser Tonhalle-Saal, its new concert hall built in 1895, the orchestra achieved distinction under the direction of its first Chief Conductor, Friedrich Hegar and his friend Johannes Brahms.

Several first performances of works by composers ostracised in Germany and Austria by the Nazi regime took place in Zurich's Stadttheater, such as Alban Berg's Lulu (1927) and Paul Hindemith's Mathis der Maler (1938).

The Zurich Stadttheater was also one of the leading houses in the field of operetta, particularly during the period of discrimination against numerous Jewish composers of this genre, such as Ralph Benatzky, Oscar Straus, Paul Abraham and Emmerich Kálmán.

This split occurred at the same time as the renovation of the Opera House in 1984 and the preceding heated cultural and political debate in Zurich, which had led to disturbances by young people in the city in 1980.

Its activities were soon expanded and integrated into the orchestral schedule, so that today Zurich Opera House has at its disposal a specialist period-instrument ensemble, which works together with such notable conductors in this field as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, William Christie, Christopher Hogwood and Giovanni Antonini.

Franz Welser-Möst served as Chief Conductor from 1995 until 2008 (and as General Music Director from 2005) and brought the Opera House and its orchestra international repute.

Since then, guest conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnányi, Vladimir Fedoseyev, John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Heinz Holliger, Zubin Mehta, Ingo Metzmacher, Georges Prêtre, Nello Santi, Ralf Weikert, and both Ivan and Adam Fischer have worked with the orchestra.