In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagements including the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the concerts of the Royal Philharmonic Society.

The RPO battled for survival until the mid-1960s, when its future was secured after a report by the Arts Council of Great Britain recommended that it should receive public subsidy.

In 1932, Sir Thomas Beecham had founded the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), which, with the backing of rich supporters, he ran until 1940, when finances dried up in wartime.

[1] Over the next months, Beecham and the orchestra gave further concerts with considerable success, but the LPO players, now their own employers, declined to give him the unfettered control he had exercised in the 1930s.

Four had been founder members of the LPO fifteen years previously: Reginald Kell (clarinet), Gerald Jackson (flute), James Bradshaw (timpani) and Jack Silvester (double-bass).

His choice was John Pennington, who had been first violin of the London String Quartet from 1927 to 1934, and had then had a career in the US as concertmaster, successively, of the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Paramount Pictures orchestras.

[19] In the early days, the orchestra comprised 72 players, all on yearly contract to Beecham, giving him first call on their services, subject to reasonable notice, but not otherwise restricting their freedom to play for other ensembles.

[16] A review of the London orchestral scene of the late 1940s said of the RPO and its main rival: "The Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic share a very serious disability: that neither is a permanently constituted orchestra.

In particular, the RPO became celebrated for its regular team of woodwind principals, in which Jackson was joined by Jack Brymer (clarinet), Gwydion Brooke (bassoon) and Terence MacDonagh (oboe).

The concerto soloists were the pianist Betty Humby Beecham (the conductor's second wife) and orchestral principals: David McCallum (violin), Anthony Pini (cello) and the four members of the "Royal Family".

[27] Beecham made his Proms debut two years later, conducting the RPO in a programme of music by Berlioz, Schubert and Sibelius; The Times commented on "an evening of magnificent playing".

[33] Beecham's widow[n 5] ran the affairs of the orchestra as best she could, but some senior players including Brymer and MacDonagh were unhappy with the management and they left.

Helped by strong support from Sir Malcolm Sargent, the orchestra successfully mounted its own concerts at a cinema in Swiss Cottage, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the north-west of the Festival Hall.

[36] A 1965 report to the Arts Council by a committee chaired by Alan Peacock recommended that all four independent London orchestras should receive adequate public subsidy.

[40] Five members of the original orchestra were still in the RPO for the jubilee concert: Leonard Brain (brother of Dennis), principal cor anglais; Lewis Pocock, co-principal timpani; Ernest Ineson, double bass; John Myers, viola; and Albert Pievsky, violin.

Another Arts Council report of the same period recommended that the RPO should supplement the LSO as resident orchestra at the Barbican Centre; neither proposal came to fruition.

[42] During the 1980s, the British government imposed strict constraints on public spending; to make up for lost revenue, the RPO, in common with the other self-governing London orchestras, was forced into increased reliance on business sponsorship as a primary source of funds.

[44] On 7 April 1994, the RPO, with guest leader Hugh Bean, was joined by the Cappella Giulia of Saint Peter's Basilica and the Accademia Filarmonica Romana, cellist Lynn Harrell and actor Richard Dreyfuss, in the Papal Concert to Commemorate the Shoah, conducted by Gilbert Levine.

[45] This concert was attended by Pope John Paul II, Chief Rabbi of Rome Elio Toaff, and President of Italy Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, and was broadcast throughout Europe via Eurovision and on PBS stations throughout the United States.

[48] At the Royal Albert Hall in London, the RPO gives performances ranging from large-scale choral and orchestral works to evenings of popular classics.

[44] The RPO returned to international television on 29 July 2005, when it was joined by the London Philharmonic Choir and soloists Bozena Harasimowicz, Monica Groop, Jerry Hadley, and Franz-Josef Selig performing Beethoven's Missa Solemnis under the baton of Gilbert Levine in Cologne Cathedral.

The orchestra maintains a regional touring programme, taking in venues throughout the UK, and has established residencies in Aylesbury, Crawley, Croydon, Dartford, High Wycombe, Ipswich, Lowestoft, Northampton and Reading.

[44][n 7] The RPO regularly tours overseas; since 2010 it has played in Azerbaijan, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, Turkey[52][53] and the US.

[44] In 2010 the orchestra toured England, with a repertoire preponderantly of Beethoven, including the Violin Concerto in which Pinchas Zukerman was both soloist and conductor.

In May 2013, six youth ensembles from London boroughs and a 3,500-strong choir of children from local primary schools were given the chance to perform alongside members of the RPO at the Albert Hall.

[68] From the RPO's earliest days to the end of Beecham's life, they made numerous recordings for His Master's Voice, CBS and RCA Victor.

[70] In the 1960s, the RPO also recorded commercially with such conductors as Sir John Barbirolli, Fritz Reiner, Charles Munch, Georges Prêtre, Kempe, Previn and Stokowski.

[65] Colin Davis made some of his earliest recordings with the orchestra, including Mozart and Rossini overtures, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony,[71] and Stravinsky's Oedipus rex.

[74] As well as performing works from the classical repertoire, the RPO has recorded a number of film scores, including those for Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes and The Tales of Hoffmann.

[75] With Tony Bremner, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra rerecorded symphonic suites from various episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series.