A major figure during the golden age of American orchestral music, conductor Pierre Monteux had an exceptionally long career that began in the 19th century, encompassed the premiere of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps, which he conducted, and extended into the 1960s. He fundamentally shaped several American orchestras in the French style.

Monteux was born in Paris on April 4, 1875. His family was of Jewish background but was not religious. Monteux's father was a shoe salesman and had little interest in music, but his mother was a conservatory graduate who gave piano lessons. Monteux started violin lessons at six, and at nine, he was admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris, where his classmates included George Enescu and Fritz Kreisler. He also made friends with pianist Alfred Cortot, and at 12, he organized an orchestra of his fellow students to back Cortot's concerts in the Paris area. Monteux became a member of the Quatuor Geloso as a violist and played in various Paris orchestras, including that of the Folies Bergère. His conducting debut came in 1895 as a substitute for Camille Saint-Saëns in a performance of the oratorio La lyre et la harpe; Saint-Saëns was dissatisfied with the organist and demanded to play the organ part himself as a nervous Monteux was drafted to step in. Monteux made his recording debut in 1903 in a group backing tenor Albert Vaguet in an excerpt from Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots.

Monteux remained a successful violinist and violist, but in the first decades of the 20th century, more and more conducting opportunities came his way. He often collaborated with ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev, and it was through that connection that Monteux came to conduct one of the most famous events in classical music in the 20th century: the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps ("The Rite of Spring") in 1913. Ironically, Monteux personally disliked the work, which caused an audience uproar at the premiere but went on to become acclaimed as a masterpiece. Monteux fought in the French army in World War I. After the war, he began working in the U.S., where he would spend much of the latter part of his career. He conducted several French operas at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and in 1919, he became chief conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. There he faced difficulties, for the orchestra's previous conductor, Karl Muck, had been forced out due to anti-German sentiment, and many players had left with him. Monteux remained in his chief conductor's post until 1924, patiently rebuilding the group by auditioning musicians of various backgrounds. The orchestra today still retains traces of Monteux's essentially French style, and he maintained close ties with the group, returning frequently to conduct and make several recordings.

Returning to Europe for a time, Monteux conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam from 1924 to 1934, also picking up the baton next at the new Orchestre Symphonique de Paris in 1929. He shaped that orchestra as well, remaining its conductor until 1938. In 1936, he also became music director of the San Francisco Symphony, remaining there until 1952 and devoting full time to it as storm clouds gathered in Europe. A school for conductors Monteux had established in France was moved to Hancock, Maine, where he lived part-time. Monteux remained active into his ninth decade, leading many European orchestras as a guest conductor and assuming the chief conductorship of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1961. Monteux conducted his last concert in April of 1964, leading the RAI Radio and Television Symphony in Milan, Italy. After a series of strokes, he died at his home in Maine on July 1, 1964. Many of Monteux's 78 rpm recordings, especially those he made with the Boston Symphony for the RCA Victor label, were reissued first on LP, then on CD, and then on streaming media; as of 2023, more than 175 albums featuring Monteux were in print. ~ James Manheim

Founded in 1904 and therefore the oldest of the city's symphony orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra became world-renowned for recordings that date back to early gramophone records in 1912. Amid decades of diverse classical programming that followed, including performances for radio and TV, the orchestra also became known for its appearances in numerous film scores, including the Star Wars series. The LSO also tours and first visited North America in 1912 (narrowly avoiding passage on the Titanic).

The ensemble's direct antecedent was the Queen's Hall Orchestra, formed in 1895 for conductor Henry Wood's series of Promenade Concerts. The summer series was so successful that a series of weekly Sunday afternoon concerts was established the same year. The orchestra, however, had never become a permanent group; its members could and often did send other musicians to substitute for them at concerts. In 1904, Wood attempted to end this practice, prompting 46 members to leave and form their own orchestra.

The London Symphony Orchestra was organized as a self-governing corporation administered by a board selected by the players. They arranged for the great Hans Richter to conduct the inaugural concert, and continued to engage a variety of conductors, practically introducing the concept of the guest conductor to the London musical scene. Soon, though, the title and post of principal conductor was established for Richter. The LSO's connection with the BBC goes back to 1924 when Ralph Vaughan Williams conducted the orchestra in the premiere broadcast performance of his Pastoral Symphony. It was the unofficial orchestra in residence for the BBC until the formation of the BBC Symphony in 1930 and continued to broadcast concerts and provide background music for many BBC productions. Other conductors most associated with the orchestra's first few decades include Edward Elgar and Thomas Beecham. During World War II, Wood was welcomed for a series of concerts.

The War took its toll on orchestra membership as it had the general populace, and a concurrent drop in private funding led to increased reliance on the state arts council. This eventually led to structural reorganization in the 1950s, resulting in increased professional standards and the abandonment of profit-sharing; players became salaried employees. The revamped orchestra made only its second tour of the United States in 1963 (the first had been in 1912), and in 1964 embarked on its first world tour. In the mid-1960s the city of London broke ground for the Barbican Arts Centre, intended as the LSO's permanent home. The building was an architectural and acoustic success, and since 1982 has provided the orchestra the solid base it lacked during the first 70-plus years of its existence. The venue opened under principal conductor Claudio Abbado, who took over for André Previn in 1979.

In the meantime, the orchestra made its Star Wars debut, performing John Williams' score for the original 1977 film. While the organization had recorded its first film score in 1935 (H.G. Wells' Things to Come) and appeared in such classics as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, and The Sound of Music, Star Wars won three Grammys, an Academy Award, and a BAFTA, among many other accolades, sold over a million copies in the U.S. and over 100,000 in the U.K., and endures as a touchstone in modern film music. The LSO went on to record music for the franchise's entire first two trilogies as well as films like 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1993's Schindler's List, 1997's Titanic, and select installments of the Harry Potter series.

During the tenure of Colin Davis, who was named principal conductor in 1995, the LSO established its own record label, LSO Live. Dvorák's Symphony No. 9, recorded at Barbican Centre in 1999 and released in 2000, bears catalog number 0001. Their 2000 recording of Berlioz's Les Troyens won two Grammys in 2002, and Verdi's Falstaff took home the Best Opera Grammy in 2006. In 2007, Davis took the position of orchestra president, its first since Leonard Bernstein's passing in 1990, and Valery Gergiev became principal conductor.

Also known for crossing over into rock, jazz, and Broadway, among other categories, they followed hit recordings such as Symphonic Rolling Stones and Gershwin Fantasy (with Joshua Bell) with albums like 2017's Someone to Watch Over Me, which had them accompanying archival recordings of Ella Fitzgerald. ~ Marcy Donelson, Joseph Stevenson & Corie Stanton Root