The London Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1932 by the legendary British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, who guided it for the first years of its existence. Later principal conductors have included such luminaries as Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt, and Kurt Masur. In its home concert hall the orchestra presents about forty concerts each year in addition to undertaking tours to many countries of the word, for example during the last season visiting Mexico, Spain, Germany, and Russia. For many decades the ensemble has been the resident orchestra of the famous Glyndebourne Festival Opera. It also engages intensively in recording, with about ninety albums made only since 2005 on its own label established that year. Frequently it also records film music, for instance for the Lord of the Ring trilogy.

Born in Moscow, Russian conductor Vladimir Jurowski studied music at academies in Dresden and Berlin. He first attracted major attention in 1995 conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera May Night in the Wexford Festival and Verdi’s Nabucco at London’s Covent Garden. In 2003 he was named chief guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and four years later he became its principal conductor, in which post he continues to this day. He also appears regularly as a guest with other renowned orchestras of the world, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zürich, the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, and the Staatskapelle of Dresden. In addition he is very fond of conducting operas, having led for example Rigoletto, Jenůfa, and The Queen of Spades at the Metropolitan Opera and Eugene Onegin in Milan’s La Scala.

Alina Ibragimova, a Russian violinist living in Great Britain, ranks among the most remarkable talents of the young generation. She studied violin at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal Academy of Music, and holds prestigious awards from numerous international competitions including the prize for young artists conferred by the Royal Philharmonic Society of Britain. Her broad repertoire ranges from works by Baroque masters to music of the present time. Among appearances that have won her great acclaim has been a complete performance of Bach’s partitas and sonatas in the 2015 BBC Proms. She works with many important orchestras of the world including for example the Vienna Symphony, the Camerata of Salzburg, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. On concert stages she has encountered such famous conductors as Bernard Haitink, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Paavo Järvi, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Sir Charles Mackerras. For the Hyperion label she has made many recordings of works by Bach, Mozart, and other composers.