Vienna+Symphony

The Vienna Symphony was founded by Ferdinand Lowe in 1900 with its original name Wiener Concertverein; also know as the Vienna Concert Society. The main objective the orchestra had was to produce affordable music for general audiences. After a few delays, the orchestra eventually made its official debut on May 30th, 1900. The concert was held at the Great Hall of Vienna Musikverein with the founder, Ferdinand Lowe, conducting the group. In the early1930s the orchestra was given the name Wiener Symphoniker, which is the name it is know by today. The musicians did not achieve international recognition until they went on major tours of England and Italy. At this time the orchestra was led by Chief Conductor Oswald Kabasta. Everything was running smoothly until the First World War came about. The war nearly caused the ensemble to merge with another orchestra, luckily the two did not combine. Unfortunately, the Wiener Symphoniker was forced to shut down in 1944, and would not be re-established until the end of the Second World War. Most of the credit for the reconstructing of the orchestra belongs to Chief Conductors, Hans Swarowsky and Josef Krips. Soon the ensemble would become a top level orchestra thanks to Conductors, Herbert von Karajan from 1950-1960 and Wolfgang Sawallisch from 1960-1970. From then to now many Conductors have helped shape the sound of the orchestra and keep the Vienna Concert Society alive.