The RTÉ Concert Orchestra has taken a remarkable second place in an online poll to find the World’s Favourite Orchestra on classical music website www.bachtrack.com
Over a month of voting, the poll has attracted interest from all around the world, with 11,895 votes for 417 orchestras from 97 countries. The winning orchestra was the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra, which took 20.3% of the vote. The RTÉ Concert Orchestra’s 12.4% makes the RTÉ CO the highest-placed orchestra in Europe, ahead of some of the biggest and most prestigious names in the business, among them the Berlin Philharmonic (3rd place), London Symphony Orchestra (4th place), the Czech Philharmonic (8th) and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam (9th).
Ireland certainly got behind the RTÉ CO, with Ireland second only to the USA as producing the most votes:
1. USA – 44.2%
2. Ireland – 11.8%
3. UK – 8.8%
4. Germany – 5.4%
5. Czech Republic – 2.9%
6. Italy – 2.7%
7. Netherlands – 1.7%
8. Russia – 1.6%
9. Sweden – 1.3%
=10. France – 1.3%
=10. Canada – 1.3%
The poll asked people to nominate the orchestra they feel the closest connection to, the one whose playing has touched them most:
‘How you judge it is up to you – maybe it’s the one you think is the best technically, or the one whose sound you love the most. Maybe it’s the one you’ve been going to hear for the longest time, or the one who plays on the most of your favourite CDs. Maybe there’s an orchestra whose programming makes them stand out as particularly important to you, or one whose conductor makes the biggest impression. Whichever orchestra’s playing has touched you the most – that’s the one we want to hear about.’
When word went out ten days ago that the RTÉ CO was in 26th place, a flood of votes then brought the orchestra to 7th place, and on the latest update – last Friday – the RTÉ CO had moved up to 4th. The final result, and its jump of another two places, makes the RTÉ Concert Orchestra ‘Europe’s Favourite Orchestra’!
Alison Karlin, Director of Bachtrack, said: “I am absolutely delighted that orchestras from around the globe, large and small, took our competition in the spirit in which it was intended and encouraged their audiences to take part. Hopefully this poll will further encourage those same fans to remind themselves why these orchestras are so dear to their hearts, by going to hear them play this season.”
Anthony Long, General Manager of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, commented: ‘It’s humbling for us in a small country such as Ireland to realise how important we are to our public that they would vote in huge numbers, resulting in this outcome, placing us in the top five of the world’s favourite orchestras.’