Amsterdam on Top

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam tops the world. That's the official assessment of an international panel of music critics assembled by Gramophone magazine (UK). Dutch musicians are talking smack and Philadelphians are choking on their cheesesteaks.

Gramophone's Top Twenty Orchestras

1. Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam

2. Berlin Philharmonic

3. Vienna Philharmonic

4. London Symphony Orchestra

5. Chicago Symphony Orchestra

6. Bavarian Radio Symphony

7. Cleveland Orchestra

8. Los Angeles Philharmonic

9. Budapest Festival Orchestra

10. Staatskapelle Dresden

11. Boston Symphony Orchestra

12. New York Philharmonic

13. San Francisco Symphony

14. Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra

15. Russian National Orchestra

16. Saint Petersburg Philharmonic

17. Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

18. Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

19. Saito Kinen Orchestra

20. Czech Philharmonic

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Conductor's Notebook