Topic: Your favorite orchestra names

[vandermolen]

Many thanks; didn't know about the royal parishioners (hope they participate  ), but find the Café in the Crypt a fine place to recover a bit from city walks and also attended a concert here, a couple of years ago. (Mozart, but still). 

Cafe in the Crypt is a great place to eat, drink or meet up in central London. Not too expensive and nice wine!
 

[Florestan]

Oregon Symphony sounds like a piece of music, a program symphony dedicated to the wonders of that state (Mvt. 1 "Dance of the Portland Hipsters," Mvt. 2 "A Drive along the Pacific Coast," Mvt. 3 "Todd's Beethoven Collection")

You forgot Mvt. 4 "The Asian Invasion".

[TheGSMoeller]

It's a tie between The Philip Glass Ensemble and The Michael Nyman Band. 

[pjme]

Yes and no. The OSCC was renamed Orchestre de Paris and pursues an independent life, unrelated to its parent body, the Paris Conservatoire. The latter still fields an orchestra, but it is one among many teaching instruments. Conservatoire students can play in it, hear performances, but it doesn’t give concerts. It draws its players from a pool of some 350 Conservatoire students, constantly renewed and deployed in various configurations (chamber, full orchestra, etc). IOW there is a Conservatoire orchestra but nobody can hear it  .


http://www.conservatoiredeparis.fr/etudes/orchestres-et-compagnies/orchestre-du-conservatoire/

Occasionally that orchestra does perform in public. I heard them in 2005 /Paris / Cité de la Musique :

Œuvres de Varèse, Jolivet et Messiaen par Yvonne Naef (mezzo-soprano), Chœur de l'Armée française, Orchestre du Conservatoire, Pierre Boulez (direction).

Varèse: Equatorial
Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi
Jolivet: 5 danses rituelles

Memorable!

[ritter]

Occasionally that orchestra does perform in public. I heard them in 2005 /Paris / Cité de la Musique :

Œuvres de Varèse, Jolivet et Messiaen par Yvonne Naef (mezzo-soprano), Chœur de l'Armée française, Orchestre du Conservatoire, Pierre Boulez (direction).

Varèse: Equatorial
Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi
Jolivet: 5 danses rituelles

Memorable!

Wow! Must have been memorable indeed. AFAIK, the only occasion in which Boulez conducted Jolivet (a composer whose Mana and Cinq danses rituelles he admired in his youth).

It's a tie between The Philip Glass Ensemble and The Michael Nyman Band. 

Nothing compared to Daniel Barenboim’s The Boulez Ensemble. 

THREAD DUTY:

Two really imposing names from Germany: Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg.

[pjme]

Let's not forget the women only orchestras:

the Cleveland Women's Orchestra

Albert Roussel wrote his string Symphonietta for the "Orchestre féminin de Paris" (Jane Evrard conductor)

I like another tongue twister : Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (di Roma).

Brazilian / South American orchestras add exotic charm:

Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo
Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre
Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais
Mato Grosso Chamber Orchestra
Orquestra Sinfonica de Piracicaba OSP
Orquesta Nacional de Música Argentina "Juan de Dios Filiberto"
Orquesta Sinfònica Provincial de Bahía Blanca

A good wind ensemble in Belgium:
I Solisti del Vento

[mc ukrneal]

This seems like a good place to ask questions about orchestra names I don't understand or wonder about the origin. There are lots of German examples, but the one I currently am trying to figure out is French: Orchestre de l'Association des Concerts Lamoureux (a cool name too, so in keeping with the thread).

[Jo498]

Lamoureux was the founder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lamoureux

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

This seems like a good place to ask questions about orchestra names I don't understand or wonder about the origin. There are lots of German examples, but the one I currently am trying to figure out is French: Orchestre de l'Association des Concerts Lamoureux (a cool name too, so in keeping with the thread).

Lamoureux was the name of the conductor who founded the orchestra to perform weakly concerts of new music. Not knowing French, I assume something along the lines of "orchestra of Lamoureux's concert association."

[mc ukrneal]

Lamoureux was the founder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lamoureux

Huh. I missed that page somehow. Maybe I misspelled it. So what exactly is an orchestral concert society (which is what the wiki calls it)? This one gave several interesting premieres (looking at you Ken!) and had some interesting principal conductors.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Huh. I missed that page somehow. Maybe I misspelled it. So what exactly is an orchestral concert society (which is what the wiki calls it)? This one gave several interesting premieres (looking at you Ken!) and had some interesting principal conductors.

I assume it is similar to a modern orchestra subscription, people buy the subscription and get to attend the series of concerts, but on more of an entrepreneurial basis, rather than the modern government/corporate subsidized model.

[Jo498]

It could be either this. I think the Wiener Musikverein is such a case. Or simply a complicated name of the orchestra itself, regardless of the sponsoring or whatever model of financing the concerts. The original name of the orchestra Lamoureux founded was "Société des Nouveaux-Concerts"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesellschaft_der_Musikfreunde

This made me look up the "Hallé orchestra" also named after the founder (something I had not known but always wondered about the name). Turns out that the guy came from Germany and was simply named (Karl) "Halle" (like Handel's birthplace). He gave himself the accent for a more fancy name, I guess.

[Brian]

The society idea goes back to the late 1700s, when public concerts got underway in cities like London - the idea was that you probably won't be seeing an entirely identical lineup of musicians every performance (and also that, as a subscriber, you were a member of the society...).

[North Star]

This made me look up the "Hallé orchestra" also named after the founder (something I had not known but always wondered about the name). Turns out that the guy came from Germany and was simply named (Karl) "Halle" (like Handel's birthplace). He gave himself the accent for a more fancy name, I guess.

I would guess he added the accent to make it clear that the e is not silent.

[Florestan]

I like another tongue twister : Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (di Roma).

You call Italian language a tongue twister?  Then how about Symfonisch Blaasorkest "Amsterdamse Tramharmonie", Het Brabants Orkest or Koninklijk Filharmonisch Orkest van Vlaanderen? 

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

No one has mentioned my favorite US ensemble names

Grand Funk Railroad
Parliament Funkadelic

 

[Christo]

You call Italian language a tongue twister?  Then how about Symfonisch Blaasorkest "Amsterdamse Tramharmonie", Het Brabants Orkest or Koninklijk Filharmonisch Orkest van Vlaanderen? 

All easy going & flowing sounds. 

[JBS]

All easy going & flowing sounds. 

As easy at least as
Orchestra Simfonica Bucuresti or
Orchestrele şi Corurile Radio or
ORCHESTRA FILARMONICII GEORGE ENESCU or
Filarmonica „Banatul” Timişoara

[Florestan]

All easy going & flowing sounds. 

Prior to living in The Netherlands I had considered German an ugly, harsh-sounding language. After a few months in Eindhoven I thought German was a most beautiful, sweet-sounding language. 

As easy at least as
Orchestra Simfonica Bucuresti or
Orchestrele şi Corurile Radio or
ORCHESTRA FILARMONICII GEORGE ENESCU or
Filarmonica „Banatul” Timişoara

Piece of cake for an Italian, especially when taught that "ş" sounds like "sh" in English.   

[Christo]

Prior to living in The Netherlands I had considered German an ugly, harsh-sounding language. After a few months in Eindhoven I thought German was a most beautiful, sweet-sounding language. 

Eindhoven relates to the Netherlands as Galați does to Romania - but with the historical centre mostly destroyed. I.e. not the only possible entry, nor a place where the far sweeter sounds of Low-Saxon are heard.  Anyhow: love German.