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During the 1930s, the London-based Serenaders enjoyed immense popularity by cashing in on the vogue for Hawaiian music. The group offered up an appealing blend of traditional Island music, jazz, and popular songs. ~ Leon Jackson

London's Philharmonia Orchestra is generally considered one of Britain's top symphonic ensembles and has sometimes been named as the very best. Formed by recording executive Walter Legge at the end of World War II, the orchestra benefited from the presence of several top Continental conductors in its first years and has generated an impressive recording catalog from the very beginning. Although London already boasted the world-class London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, and London Symphony Orchestras, Legge resolved to create an ensemble that would equal the best in the German-speaking musical sphere. To this end, he recruited top young musicians (some 60 percent of the players were still serving in the British armed forces at the beginning) and, after he was turned down by friend Thomas Beecham, a roster of star German conductors. These included Wilhelm Furtwängler, Richard Strauss, Herbert von Karajan, and Otto Klemperer. At first, Legge avoided the appointment of a permanent conductor, and the players learned to produce superb results under several different kinds of artistic leadership.

Primarily a recording ensemble at first, the Philharmonia began giving concerts that were often innovative in content. The young Leonard Bernstein recorded Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major with the group, and the orchestra gave the world premiere of Strauss' Four Last Songs with soloist Kirsten Flagstad in 1950 at the Royal Albert Hall. In the mid-'50s, Furtwängler died and Karajan departed for Berlin; Legge appointed the 74-year-old Klemperer conductor for life. Klemperer's performances were often idiosyncratic but just as often brilliant, and many of his recordings with the Philharmonia remain in print. A complete cycle of Brahms symphonies under Klemperer was reissued by the firm Broken Audio in the 2010s.

The orchestra ran into trouble in the early 1960s as financial problems arose and several of its best musicians, including hornist Dennis Brain, met untimely deaths. Legge attempted to disband the group in 1964, but the players, encouraged by Klemperer, formed the New Philharmonia Orchestra and continued to perform. The orchestra performed at the Beethoven bicentennial in Bonn, West Germany, in 1970. That year, Lorin Maazel was appointed associate principal conductor to reduce the workload of the aging Klemperer, but he clashed with the orchestra members, who had maintained a self-governing structure. Instead, Riccardo Muti was appointed chief conductor in 1973. Four years later, the original name was restored.

Under Muti, the orchestra often recorded opera and entered upon what was widely regarded as a second golden age. In 1981, under conductor Kurt Sanderling, the Philharmonia made the first digital recording of Beethoven's complete symphonies. Muti was succeeded in 1984 by Giuseppe Sinopoli, whose performances of key British repertory such as the works of Elgar were criticized, but who extended the orchestra's reach in Italian opera. Christoph von Dohnányi ascended the podium in 1997 and took the orchestra on tours of continental Europe and, in 2002 and 2003, to a residency in New York. Bicontinental Finnish conducting star Esa-Pekka Salonen became chief conductor in 2008 and has continued to maintain the orchestra's high standards; his departure was announced for the year 2021, creating an opening at the very top level of English music-making. The Philharmonia continued to record for EMI after Legge's departure but moved to Deutsche Grammophon under Sinopoli and has since recorded for a large variety of labels. In 2019, the Philharmonia backed innovative Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen on her debut release, with Salonen conducting. ~ James Manheim

This American soprano, who came to international prominence in the first Glyndebourne Festival production of Porgy and Bess, was well prepared for stardom, having been thoroughly schooled at one of America's leading universities. An apprenticeship at Santa Fe and the title role in an important world premiere preceded her triumph in the Gershwin opera, an experience unlike anything previously heard at the Sussex music festival. Gifted with a substantial and supple lyric instrument, she has also excelled in French, Italian, and German roles, pleasing audiences in Europe and America and especially endearing herself to the London public. One of nine children born to Reverend and Mrs. John T. Haymon, Cynthia Haymon began singing in her father's church, the New Hope Baptist Church in Clay County, FL. At the time, she had no notion that a career in music might be a possibility. The elder Haymons were supportive of their children and all nine siblings enjoyed a college education. For Cynthia, two years of study at Florida Community College in Jacksonville were followed by a degree from Northwestern University, where a music award and scholarship allowed her to complete her degree in 1984. After further studies in New York, she was engaged in 1984 as an apprentice at the Santa Fe Opera, where she had the opportunity to participate in several important productions. The American premiere of Henze's We Come to the River found her in a minor role, but for Orphée aux Enfers, she was cast as Diana and in Strauss' Die Liebe der Danae (a rarely performed work, but a key one in the company's traversal of the composer's complete dramatic works) she sang the part of Xanthe. The following year brought Haymon her first taste of celebrity when she was cast in the title role of Thea Musgrave's Harriet, The Woman Called "Moses" with the Virginia Opera. Haymon won good reviews and the opera was subsequently recorded, advancing her reputation beyond American borders. In 1986, Simon Rattle introduced Glyndebourne audiences to Porgy and Bess in a production that cast Haymon as Bess opposite Jamaican bass Willard White, already an experienced Porgy. The production won spectacular reviews and the recording that followed substantiated the generous words critics offered for the live production. Since that now-legendary production, Haymon has established herself as a lyric soprano well suited to several Puccini heroines, winning commendations for her Mimi and Liu. Glyndebourne invited her back for Eurydice in 1989 and she has enjoyed successes in Europe, notably at Munich and Hamburg, as well as in Japan. For Seattle, she has sung Susanna and Micaëla, and at the Florentine Opera in Milwaukee, she was engaged for Hänsel in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel. Married to tenor/pianist Barrington Coleman, whom she met during the Glyndebourne Porgy and Bess, Haymon resides in Illinois, where her husband is a university professor. On occasion, they have appeared together in programs of arias and duets. In addition to the Gershwin and Musgrave operas, Haymon has been featured on a recording of Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time directed by Richard Hickox and featuring her Glyndebourne colleagues Cynthia Clarey, Damon Evans, and White. Haymon is also an affecting Mimi in Chandos Records' English-language recording of La bohème.

EMI record producer Walter Legge founded the Philharmonia Orchestra after World War II to serve as his own recording orchestra. In, when planning a recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony under the direction of Otto Klemperer, Legge in 1957 founded the Philharmonia Chorus to sing in those sessions and in the public concert associated with it.

The 250-voice amateur chorus, chosen and rehearsed meticulously, immediately set a new high standard for large British choral groups, and continued in existence to provide choral singing for Legge projects.

In 1964 Legge "suspended" the Philharmonia. He intended this to be the end of both the orchestra and the chorus, but both organizations, separately, met to reconstitute themselves as self-governing organizations. Initially, Legge refused to let these new organizations carry on under the name they had made famous. Like the orchestra, the chorus went by the name The New Philharmonia. It reverted to use of the name The Philharmonia Chorus in 1977.

The members of the chorus elect a council, all of whose members must be active singers in the chorus. The council members are generally chosen for their professional expertise in such fields as law and administration, travel, public relations, and marketing. This keeps administrative costs low. The chorus holds itself available for concert organizations and promoters who wish to engage it.

Despite its close ties with the Philharmonia, the chorus and the orchestra are in fact separate bodies, allowing the chorus to perform with other organizations. It has sung with the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra. It has frequently taken tours, and has sung on numerous recordings. During this time, it has retained its position as one of the finest large amateur choirs in the world.