ALBUMRichard Karpen: Nam Mái / StrandlinesNeuma Records, Stefan Östersjö, The Six Tones & Seattle Symphony
ALBUMBerlioz: Les nuits d'été – Ravel: Shéhérazade – Adams: Le livre de Baudelaire (After Debussy's L. 64)Ian Bostridge, Seattle Symphony & Ludovic Morlot
ALBUMBerlioz: Requiem, Op. 5, H. 75 & La mort d'Orphée, H. 25 (Live)Seattle Symphony Chorale, Seattle Symphony, Kenneth Tarver & Ludovic Morlot
ALBUMThe Unchanging Sea (Deluxe Edition)Tomoko Mukaiyama, Seattle Symphony & Pablo Rus Broseta
Seattle Symphony's Popular Music Videos
Michael Gordon: The Unchanging Sea
Tomoko Mukaiyama, Seattle Symphony & Pablo Rus Broseta
The Unchanging Sea
Seattle Symphony, Pablo Rus Broseta & Tomoko Mukaiyama
Artist Playlists
Seattle Symphony Essentials
An orchestra with a history of depth, power, and bucolic beauty.
Artist Biography
One of the top orchestras in the US today, the Seattle Symphony has particularly distinguished itself in promoting and commissioning new works—most famously John Luther Adams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning epic tone poem Become Ocean.
Though originally founded in 1903, the orchestra was disbanded in 1921, reforming in 1926 with Karl Krueger as its conductor. Among its most notable conductors in the following decades were Basil Cameron (1932-38) and Thomas Beecham (1941-44), both English. Its earliest recordings, however, were made under the American Milton Katims during his 22-year tenure as its music director (1954-76). The orchestra made its first foreign tour in 1980 under the following music director, Rainer Miedél (1976-83).
During Gerard Schwarz’s 26-year reign (1985–2011), the orchestra championed 20th-century American composers, including Howard Hanson, David Diamond, and Alan Hovhaness. Schwarz’s successor, the French conductor Ludovic Morlot (2011–2019), continued that legacy, commissioning new works from local composers. Under Morlot’s tenure, the orchestra launched its own label, Seattle Symphony Media, in 2014.
Since 1998, the Seattle Symphony has been based at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle. It was there that in 2013 Morlot conducted the premiere of John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean, for which the orchestra won a Grammy Award. Further recordings on its label were made by Morlot’s successor, Thomas Dausgaard (2019-22). Morlot continues to conduct the Seattle Symphony as its conductor emeritus.