Boston Symphony Orchestra

Led by world-renowned conductor and music director James Levine, the Boston Symphony Orchestra remains one of the world's leading symphony orchestras since its founding in 1881. The orchestra's sound was developed primarily by famed French conductor Pierre Monteux, whose somewhat radical changes to the orchestra's performance staff during his tenure between 1919 through 1924 contributed to the BSO's reputation of having a particularly "French" sound -- a reputation that many feel still persists to this day. Since then, many of the world's most celebrated conductors and music directors, such as Serge Koussevitzky, Seiji Ozawa and James Levine have led the orchestra to tremendous fame and repute amongst classical music connoisseurs and appreciators everywhere.