外文名：Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York 简介：The Philharmonia Virtuosi is a chamber orchestra that first performed in 1974. It was founded by Richard Kapp, who conducted the orchestra until the time of his death in 2006. 从艺历程：The Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York were a unique chamber orchestra, mixing light music with serious, performing not only in some of the leading concert venues in New York, but also on ocean liners, like the Queen Elizabeth II and Vistafjord. Of course, this world-famous ensemble will forever be inextricably linked to its founder and conductor, Richard Kapp. With him the Philharmonia Virtuosi made a series of greatest-hits recordings that were smashing successes, especially the first in the series, the best-selling Greatest Hits of 1720, a collection of Baroque favorites. While the ensemble's repertory has included much Baroque music by J.S. Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann, and many others including lesser knowns, they also regularly performed and recorded music from later periods by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Offenbach, Bizet, Wagner, Prokofiev, Copland, Bernstein, and many more. Because of its smaller size, the ensemble often augmented its number to perform larger scores, as with the Bernstein Candide Overture and the Ravel G major Piano Concerto. Over the years the Philharmonia Virtuosi appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the leading venues across Europe, Japan, and Asia. They made over 50 recordings, most still available on a wide variety of labels, including Ess.A.Y Recordings, Vox, Sony, RCA, Centaur, Rising Star, and Brilliant Classics. until 2004, when Kapp was diagnosed with cancer. The ensemble resumed concert activity in February 2006, but the return would be short-lived, as Kapp died in June that year.