The Listing of World's
Greatest Orchestras
This ranking is according to a Japanese
book, "Sekai no Okesutora 123" (The Orchestras)
published by the authority in classic music, "Friend of
Music" (Ongaku No Tomo, or Ontomo Mook,
Dec. 1994, 1800 yen.) Just represent one of the thousand
authorities. It is NOT the only ranking I know.
There are one hundred
orchestras ranked (excluding the Japanese ones) in this list. Each group has 10, 20, 30, 40
orchestras in them by alphabetic order. The other 23 are supposed to
be Japanese
orchestras, which will be included in this page later. They are
sorted by original names*, the English translations in parenthesis,
followed by the city and country, if available.
*except Russian Cyrillic alphabet, they are shown in English only.
These corresponding links (currently top ten orchestras) are solicited
by John Woollard who maintains the current schedules of the major orchestras. You may want to check the indispensible reviews from Gramophone magazine (from 1983 to date, more than 24,000 reviews, FREE)
Click on each conductor-to-be.
TEN
TWENTY
- BBC Symphony Orchestra
- Ceska filharmonie (Czech Philharmonic Orchestra)
- City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
- Gewandhausorchester, Leipzig (Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra)
- Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
- London Philharmonic Orchestre
- Los Angeles Philharmonic
- Moscow Radio and Television Symphony Orchestre
- Munchener Philharmoniker (Munich Philharmonic Orchestre)
- New York Philharmonic
- Orchestre National de France (French National Orchestra)
- Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal
- Orchestre de la Swisse Romande (Swiss Romande Orchestra)
- Philadelphia Orchestra
- Philharmonia (Philharmonia Orchestra)
- Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
- San Francisco Symphony
- Sinfonieorchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks (North German Radio Orchestra)
- St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra
- State Symphonique Orchestre of Russia
THIRTY
- Allami Hangrer Senyzeneker (Hungary National Symphony Orchestra) -- Budapest, Hungary
- Bamberger Sinfoniker (Bamberger Symphony Orchestra) -- Bamberger, Germany
- Berliner Sinfonieorchester (Berlin Symphony Orchestra)
- Detroit Symphony Orchestra
- Deutsches Symphonieochester, Berlin (Berlin Deutsch Symphony Orchestra?)
- Dresdner Philharmonie (Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra)
- Goteborgs Symphoniker (Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra) -- Gothenburg, Sweden
- Halle Orchestra, Manchester (Halle Orchestra) -- Manchester, U.K.
- Helsingin Kaupunginorkestevi (Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra)
- Houston Symphony Orchestra
- Kolner Rundfunks-Sinfonieorchester (Kolner Radio Symphony Orchestra?) -- Kolner, German
- Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
- Minnesota Orchestra
- Mosucow State Philharmonic Academy Orchestra (Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra)
- Mozarteum Orchester, Salzburg (Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra?)
- National Symphony Orchestra -- Washington, D.C.
- Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala (La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra)
- Orquesta Nacional de Espana (Spain National Orchestra) -- Madrid, Spain
- Oslo Filharmoniske Orkester (Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra)
- Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
- Radio Sinfonieorchester, Stuttgart (Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra) Stuttgart, German
- Radio Sinfoniker, Frankfurt (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra)
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra -- London
- Rundfunks-Sinfonieorchester, Berlin (Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra)
- Russian National Orchestra
- Staatskapelle Berlin (Berlin National Opera Orchestra?)
- Sudwestfunk(SWF) Sinfonieorchester, Baden-Baden (Southwestern Germany Radio Symphony Orchestra?)
- Tonhalle und Thearterochestra (Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich) -- Zurich, Swiss
- Tronto Symphony
- Wiener Symphoniker
FORTY
- Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra
- Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
- BBC National Orchestra of Wales
- Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
- Bayerisches Staatsorchester (Bavarian State Orchestra)
- Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra -- Bournemouth, U.K.
- Bruckner Orchester, Linz (Linz Bruckner Orchestra) -- Linz, Austria
- Budapest Fesztivalzenekar (Budapest Festival Orchestra)
- Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
- Dallas Symphony Orchestra
- Det Kongelige Kapel (Royal Danish Orchestra)
- Filharmonia Warszawska (Warszawska Philharmonic Orchestra) -- Warsaw, Poland
- L' Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo (Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestre) -- Monte-Carlo, Morocco
- Magyar Radio Televizio Szimtonikus Zenekara (Hungary Radio Symphony Orchestra)
- Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
- Musikselskabet Harmonien (Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra) -- Bergen, Norway
- No Tonkunstler Orchester (Vienna Tonkunstler Orchestra?)
- ORF Symphonieochester (Austria Radio Symphony Orchestra)
- Orchestra Strabile dell, Academia Nazionale (National Academy Orchestra) -- Rome, Italy?
- Orchestre National de Belgique (Belgique National Orchestra)
- Orchestre National du Capitole du Toulouse (Toulouse Capitole National Orchestra)
- Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (France National Raio Philharmonic Orchestra)
- Orchestre Symphonique Francais (France Symphony Orchestra?)
- Orchestre de l Opera Bastille (Bastille Oprea Orchestra?)
- Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux (Lamoureux Orchestra) -- Lamoureux, France
- Orquesta Sinfonica de la Radio Television Espanola (Spanish National Radio Symphony Orchestra?)
- Orquestra Gulbenkian (Lisbon Gulbenkian) -- Lisbon, Portugal
- Philharmonisches Staatsorchester, Hamburg (Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra)
- Radion Sinfoniaorkesteri (Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra?)
- Radiosymfonikerna (Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra)
- Rotterdam Philharmonieorkest (Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra) -- Rotterdam, Netherland
- Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra -- Liverpool, U.K.
- Royal Scottish National Orchestra -- Glasgow, U.K.
- Slovenska filharmonia (Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra)
- Statni filharmonie Brno (Brno national Philharmonic Orchestra) -- Brno, Czech
- Stockholms Filharmoniska Orquesta (Stockholms Philharmonic Orchestra)
- Sydney Symphony Orchestra
- Symphonic Kapelle of Moscow (Moscow Symphonic Kapelle?)
- Utah Symphony Orchestra
- Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Japanese Orchestras (sorted by funding of 1993)
- NHK Symphony Orchestra
- Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra
- Tokyo City Symphony Orchestra?
- Nippon Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
- Osaka Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
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