Founded by the Cape Town City Council, the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra held its inaugural concert on 28 February 1914 in the Cape Town City Hall. This orchestra and its predecessors soon established a reputation both nationally and internationally with concerts and tours throughout South Africa, the UK, Taiwan, the Canary Islands and the United States. Apart from regular symphony concerts, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, regularly accompanies Cape Town Opera; Cape Town City Ballet; musicals; pop, community, family and crossover concerts, presenting 120 concerts per annum or more. Traditional venues such as the Cape Town City Hall, Artscape Opera, community and schools halls, and such outdoor venues as Kirstenbosch, Oude Libertas Amphitheatre, and Nederburg Wines, all point to the orchestra's community involvement.
Educational programs
The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra's outreach and educational programs include the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra ; Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Wind Ensemble; and the grassroots training project, Masidlale, where disadvantaged township children are taught theory and performance skills.
Centenary celebrations
To mark its centenary celebrations in 2014, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra published A Century of Symphony: The Story of Cape Town's Orchestra to record the history and heritage of symphonic music in Cape Town and beyond. International and local musicians/conductors who performed/conducted the orchestra as referred to in the book are, among others, Jascha Heifetz, Noël Coward, Sir Thomas Beecham, Igor Stravinsky, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Pretty Yende.
Recordings
Significant recordings released by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra include Mahler and Wagner songs with mezzo-soprano Hanneli Rupert ; the SchnittkeoratorioNagasaki, and Symphonies No. 0 and No. 9, a double CD of orchestral masterpieces ; the Barber and Korngold violin concerti with as soloist which won a Diapason d'Or, and the four Spohr clarinet concerti with clarinetist Maria du Toit. Marking his 50th birthday, the South African pianist, François du Toit performed all Beethoven :Category:Piano concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven|piano concerti in 2016.
Winner of the first Len van Zyl Conductors' Competition, Brandon Phillips, is conductor of the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and resident conductor of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.
