Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Israeli symphony orchestra based in Tel Aviv–Yafo, founded in 1936 by Bronislaw Huberman as the Palestine Orchestra. Huberman assembled a professional symphony orchestra of high calibre, consisting of Europe’s most talented Jewish symphonic players. Arturo Toscanini conducted the opening concerts in December 1936 and again in April 1938. The orchestra’s name was changed to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) in 1948, after the establishment of the State of Israel.

Through most of its existence the IPO was led by guest conductors of international renown who intermittently returned to conduct. Zubin Mehta, who first conducted the IPO in 1961, was music adviser from 1969 and music director from 1977. In 1981 he was named music director for life.

The IPO performs the standard central European repertoire from the Classical and Romantic periods, in addition to modern and contemporary works by Israeli and other composers. In deference to domestic disapproval of public performances of works by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, whose compositions were widely perceived as inherently anti-Semitic, the IPO did not for several decades perform the music of these two composers in concerts. By the late 20th-century, however, the unofficial prohibition had begun to loosen, although not without controversy.