Cindy Gieringer asked:

>The other day when I was listening to the radio, someone brought up the
>question of what the difference between a philaharmonic orchestra and a
>symphony orchestra is.  Does anyone know the answer?

There isn't any difference.  It's usually an historical accident which one
is used in any particular city; and in some cases it's neither, but just
"orchestra".

Often a failed orchestra with one name will be succeded by another (at a
decent or indecent interval) using the other--the Kansas City Philharmonic,
for instance, went under in the early 1980s and was succeded almost
immediatly by the KC Symphony.

In Columbus, Ohio, the first orchestra was the Symphony, a successor group,
the Philharmonic, went out of business around mid-century, and the current
one is called the Columbus Symphony.

In some cities, both names might occur simulataneously.

For example: in Cleveland, the Cleveland Orchestra is the world-class
orchestra.  There is or was an amateur orchestra called the Cleveland
Philharmonic.

In Saint Louis, the world-class orchestra is the St. Louis Symphony
oRChestra and there is a semiprofessional orchestra called the St.
Louis Philharmonic.  Similar situation in Boston.

The odd case is in New York, where there were once two competing
professional orchestras, the New York Symphony and the Philharmonic
Society of New York.  After their merger in 1928, the name became
Phlharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, and sometime about the late
1950s, it was simplified to New York Philharmonic.

Moreover, the London orchestras are the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the
London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra...There is also a BBC
Philharmonic, but that's in Manchester!

Now you know more than you ever wanted to know--in support of the simple
contention that there's no difference, purely a matter of choice.

Best wishes-

Joel Lazar
Conductor, Bethesda MD
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