The Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine, based in the medieval city of Lviv, was officially established on September 27, 1902. On this day, the first concert of the newly formed orchestra took place in the Philharmonic Theater of Count Stanislav Skarbko (presently known as the Ukrainian National Academic Theater of Drama named after Maria Zankovetska). The Principal Conductor of the orchestra was Ludwik Vitezslav Czelianski (1870- 1931). Henryk Jarecki and Henryk Meltzer-Szczawinski worked alongside him as conductors of the orchestra.
During the first season, the orchestra performed nearly 115 concerts, the total number of audience members exceeding 115,000. The concert programs featured the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven, symphonic works by Felix Mendelssohn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Antonin Dvorak, Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Peter Tchaikovsky. Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, and Mieczyslaw Karlowicz performed as invited conductors with the Lviv orchestra during its first season.
In 1933, the orchestra became incorporated as the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine. According to the announcements, the “inaugural” symphony concert of the newly formed orchestra of National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine took place on November 20, 1933. Adam Soltys led the orchestra and during the first season he combined the duties as director and artistic director; he remained with the orchestra until 1938. During this period, the orchestra collaborated in performance with prominent composers Maurice Ravel, Bela Bartok, Karol Szymanowski, soloists Anton Rubinstein, Ferruccio Busoni, Wanda Landowska, Leopold Godowski, Jacob Milstein, Eugene Ysaye, and Pablo Corvadam-Szymanowska, among many others.
At the time Lviv entered the Soviet regime, the orchestra was led by Isaac Pain. Lviv composer and conductor Mykola Kolessa was also invited to work with the orchestra. During the German occupation, in 1941-1944, the Philharmonic did not operate. In the postwar period, the orchestra had to be re-assembled, which was the joint effort of Isaac Pain, Dionysius Khabal, Nestor Hornytsky, and Mykola Kolessa. The team resumed work in August 1944. The first concerts featured works by Stanislav Ludkevych, Vasyl Barvinsky, Mykola Lysenko, Stanislav Moniuszko, Camille Saint-Saëns, Peter Tchaikovsky, and Carl Maria von Weber.
During 1953-1955—and later in 1987-1989—the conductor of the orchestra was Yuriy Lutsiv. From 1964 to 1987, the symphony orchestra was led by Demyan Pelekhatyi, who worked actively with colleagues Roman Fylypchuk and Ihor Simovych. Since the 1950s, many of the world’s greatest musicians have performed with the orchestra, including Sviatoslav Richter, Heinrich and Stanislav Neuhaus, Emil Gilels, Maria Yudina, David and Igor Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gidon Kremer, Leonid Kogan, Natalia Gutman, Oleksandr Slobodyanyk, and Oleh
Krysa.
Some of the most famous conductors in classical music, including Kirill Kondrashin, Fuat Mansurov, Nathan Rakhlin, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Reinhold Gliere, Yevgeni Mravinsky, Nikolae Popescu, Kurt Masur, Saulius Sondeckis, Theodore Kuchar, and Mariss Jansons, as well as Ukrainian conductors Stefan Turchak, Fedir Glushchenko, Igor Blazhkov, Roman Kofman, Volodymyr Kozhukhar, and Volodymyr Sirenko. After two seasons as the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor, Theodore Kuchar was appointed the Principal Conductor of the Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine in 2022.
The Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine has toured extensively around the world, to countries including Poland, Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and The People’s Republic of China. During the past several seasons they have completed highly acclaimed recordings for major international labels including Naxos, Toccata Classics and Brilliant Classics.