Based in London at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, the Philharmonia creates thrilling performances for a global audience. Through its network of seven residencies (London, Bedford, Leicester, Canterbury, Basingstoke, Garsington Opera and Three Choirs) and other engagements, the orchestra has a national footprint, serving communities across the UK both in performance and through its extensive outreach and engagement programme and tours the world’s most prestigious concert halls throughout the year.

The orchestra delivers pioneering and fearless artistic programmes, performing great symphonic music at the highest level to audiences everywhere, and eliminating barriers to engagement through audience development, from concerts to the classroom, in the community, and via digital media and its innovative Virtual Orchestra. 

Founded in 1945, in part as a recording orchestra for the nascent home audio market, today the Philharmonia uses the latest digital technology to reach new audiences for orchestral music. The orchestra has worked with a "who’s who" of 20th- and 21st-century music. 

Santtu-Matias Rouvali is the Philharmonia’s new Principal Conductor in 21/22 with his first concert series Human/Nature, exploring music inspired by the natural world & the role of the arts in addressing environmental issues.

Philharmonia is embedded in its residencies through Learning and Engagement activities reaching children and people for whom visiting a concert hall can be an intimidating/unfamiliar experience and working in partnership with local schools, music hubs, communities, venues and other arts organisations.

Thriving Emerging Artist programmes include Instrumental Fellowships and Composers Academy, alongside annual Artists in Residence and Featured Artists/Composers.   These develop and highlight the next generation of instrumentalists, composers and conductors and help build the classical canon of tomorrow. 

The Philharmonia is a registered charity and relies on income from a wide range of sources to deliver its programme. It is proud to be supported by Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation, and grateful for the generosity of the many individuals who make up its supporter family, as well as the Trusts and Foundations which underpin its work.

As it looks to refresh the Board and as part of prudent succession planning, the Philharmonia is looking for new Trustees who will either join the Board in 2022 or in 2023. It is particularly interested in those with experience in strategic leadership, education & community development, or marketing and digital strategy, but welcomes those from a wide variety of professional and personal backgrounds.

The Philharmonia is keen to engage with the broadest possible audiences, whether in person or online. As such, candidates may have a background in the areas of education or community engagement, or in marketing and digital strategy and developing an organisation's online footprint. Those who didn't have experience in these areas are also welcome to apply, so long as they can bring an appropriate level of strategic vision, insight and challenge to the Board's work. That being said, financial and legal expertise are already well-represented on the Board.

The successful candidates will be joining an enthusiastic Board which is led by a proactive Chair, Lord Mervyn King, and will share an ambition for continuing to grow and develop the orchestra in its international success. There is no expectation that applicants will bring any musical knowledge, but they should have an interest in and appreciation for orchestral music.

The Philharmonia Orchestra is committed to ensuring equitable opportunities and a welcoming environment for all those that engage in its work. It strives for a more representative workforce and would like to encourage and support applications from under-represented groups in the current membership of the Board and wider UK arts workforce, particularly women, those from Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority backgrounds, from lower socio-economic statuses, Deaf and Disabled applicants, and those from the LGBTQIA+ community. It is a Disability Confident and Living Wage Employer.

Terms of appointment

This role is unremunerated, and reasonable, pre-agreed domestic travel expenses will be reimbursed. The Board normally meets six times per year in London on early Tuesday evening, with an AGM in December. Individual Trustees will normally attend a number of concerts and engagements through the season in London and residencies. The appointment is for a three-year term, which can be renewed once at the discretion of the Board.