The orchestra started as a one-off, tongue-in-cheek performance art ensemble but became a cultural phenomenon over the following 10 years, with concerts, record albums, a film and a hit single.
A recording of the sinfonia playing the beginning of Also sprach Zarathustra has achieved some fame as an internet meme under the moniker "orchestra fail", further gaining popularity on YouTube via references from musician Devin Townsend.
[citation needed] The Portsmouth Sinfonia was the subject of a 2011 BBC Radio 4 documentary presented by Jolyon Jenkins in the series "In Living Memory".
In the programme Gavin Bryars disputed the notion that members were required to be novices at their instruments, saying that it was a "scurrilous rumour put about by the BBC".
[4] Michael Nyman created a similar outfit called Foster's Social Orchestra, which is heard on the soundtrack of the 1999 film Ravenous.