They had met during the 1830s in St Martin's Church under the leadership of William Sudlow, a stockbroker and organist; their main interest was choral music.

[2] The Liverpool Philharmonic Society was established on 10 January 1840 with the object of promoting "the Science and Practice of Music"; its orchestra consisted largely of amateur players.

[6] Its first concert was given on 12 March 1840 in a room at the back of a dance academy in Great Richmond Street and was conducted by John Russell with William Sudlow as organist.

The programme consisted of 13 short orchestral and choral pieces, including works by Auber, Rossini, Spohr, Henry Bishop, and George Onslow, and madrigals by Thomas Morley and John Wilbye.

To raise money for its building, shares were issued and members of Liverpool society were invited to buy seats in the boxes to be included in the hall.

In 1847 the society invited Felix Mendelssohn to compose a cantata based on words from Milton's Comus to celebrate the opening of the hall.

[11] The hall was not full for the first performance; this was attributed to two factors, the high price of admission, and the fear that the building, without central supporting pillars, was unsafe.

[13] In 1852 the society widened its activities from music by arranging theatrical performances, including Charles Dickens' company and an appearance by William Makepeace Thackeray.

[20] During this period the orchestra was conducted by a series of guest conductors, who included Wilhelm Furtwängler, George Szell, Pierre Monteux, Serge Koussevitzky, and Bruno Walter.

Soloists included Pablo Casals, John McCormack, Elisabeth Schumann, Yehudi Menuhin (his first appearance was at the age of 15), Solomon, Benno Moiseiwitsch, and Maggie Teyte.

Incorporated in the hall is an organ built by Rushworth and Dreaper, the pipework being hidden behind decorative grilles either side of the orchestra platform.

The organ console rises from beneath, and was originally built on a turntable, allowing the organist to face the audience and conductor, or the choir.

[27] Until then the Philharmonic was not a permanent ensemble, but comprised a nucleus of local players augmented from a pool of musicians who also played for the Hallé and latterly BBC Northern Orchestra.

[31] The Hallé, which operated on a similar ad hoc basis, followed Liverpool's example the following year and became a permanent ensemble for the first time, under John Barbirolli.

[32] The financial situation of the society improved in 1942 when the local authority, Liverpool City Corporation, bought the freehold of the hall for £35,000; the corporation undertook to pay the society an annuity of £4,000 and to allow it free use of the hall provided that it gave an agreed number of concerts each year, and maintained a permanent orchestra.

[39] Guest conductors in the immediate postwar years included Beecham, Sir Adrian Boult, the young Charles Groves, and Karl Rankl, who made so good an impression that he was appointed musical director of the Covent Garden Opera Company.

[41] On 2 October 1949 Yehudi Menuhin and the Liverpool Philharmonic (conducted by Malcolm Sargent) played at Belle Vue, Manchester.

[42] Sargent's successor, Hugo Rignold, initially had a difficult time, partly because of his background as a jazz and dance band player.

[44] In August 1956, the orchestra, conducted by Basil Cameron, made its Prom debut with an all Beethoven programme, consisting of the Fidelio overture, the violin concerto with Campoli as soloist, and Symphony No.5.

[48] Under Pritchard's successor the competition became a seminar for young conductors, in which participants included Andrew Davis, Mark Elder, John Eliot Gardiner, James Judd and Barry Wordsworth.

[49] Pritchard was a champion of contemporary music and with the help of David Lloyd-Jones he introduced a series of concerts known as Musica Viva showcasing new compositions.

[53] After Groves' fourteen years' tenure as principal conductor, each of his three successors remained in post for much shorter periods; Walter Weller from 1977 to 1980, David Atherton from 1980 to 1983 and Marek Janowski from 1983 to 1987.

The occasion was marked by a concert at which Groves, Weller, Atherton, Janowski, Pešek and a former associate conductor, Simon Rattle, all conducted.

[68] In June 2020, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra announced the appointment of Hindoyan as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2021–2022 season.

Participants take part in ensembles and music lessons which aim to increase their confidence, wellbeing and skills, and offer opportunities to travel, learn, perform and collaborate with professional musicians, international artists and other young people.

Encouraging self-expression and skills development, the programme offers anyone experiencing mental ill-health in the local area the opportunity to access and benefit from music to aid their recovery and wellbeing.

The orchestra society made its earliest recordings before WWII with Moiseiwitsch performing Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2 (1937 with Walter Goehr) and Paganini Variations (1938, Basil Cameron) Among the early efforts were in 1943, Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, and the Arthur Bliss's Piano Concerto in B-flat, with Solomon as soloist, and conducted by Boult.

In particular, and more recently, Libor Pešek made a number of award-winning recordings with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra of Czech composers, including symphonies and orchestral music of Antonín Dvořák and Josef Suk.

A full Vaughan Williams symphony cycle and other works with Vernon Handley was also made, several of them receiving 'Best Recording in Category' of The Gramophone magazine's recommendations.

A complete cycle of all six symphonies by the Danish composer Carl Nielsen, in a new edition, has been released by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Douglas Bostock.