Founded in 1960, the Liège Royal Philharmonic (OPRL) is French-speaking Belgium’s only professional symphony orchestra. Supported by the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (Belgium’s French-speaking Community), the City of Liège and the Province of Liège, the OPRL performs in Liège – in the prestigious setting of the Salle Philharmonique (1887), throughout Belgium, as well as in prestigious concert halls and at major festivals around Europe, Japan and the United States. Moulded by its founder, Fernand Quinet, and by its music directors (Manuel Rosenthal, Paul Strauss, Pierre Bartholomée, Louis Langrée, Pascal Rophé, François-Xavier Roth and Christian Arming), the OPRL has developed an orchestral sound at the crossroads of the Germanic and French traditions. Since September 2019 this has been maintained under Gergely Madaras. The OPRL combines a determination to support new work and to promote the Franco-Belgian heritage – while also exploring new repertoire – with a recording policy that has resulted in more than 100 recordings, most of which have been widely acclaimed by the international press. The OPRL currently gives more than 80 concerts a year, of which half take place in Liège. Since 2000 it has also run the Salle Philharmonique in Liège and expanded the range of concerts there to include baroque music, world music, chamber music and major recitals on piano and organ.
For more information, please visit
the website of the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège.