Founded in 1928 by Vittorio Gui as the Stabile Orchestrale Fiorentina, from its inception the Orchestra plays in concerts and operas of the Teatro Comunale. Today it is still considered one of the finest orchestras both by conductors and public.
In 1933, at the birth of the Festival, takes the actual name of Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. After Gui, Mario Rossi became music director in 1937, and after the war, Bruno Bartoletti was given the position.
Major chapters in the history of the Orchestra are the musical direction of Riccardo Muti (1969 – 1981) and that of Zubin Mehta, Principal Conductor since 1985, who every season conducts major symphonic and operatic productions. In the course of its history the Orchestra has been led by some of the greatest conductors such as Victor De Sabata, Antonio Guarnieri, Gino Marinuzzi, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Tullio Serafin, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, Issay Dobrowen, Jonel Perlea, Erich Kleiber, Arthur Rodzinski, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Thomas Schippers, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Carlo Maria Giulini, Georges Prêtre, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Carlos Kleiber, Georg Solti, Riccardo Chailly, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Seiji Ozawa and Daniele Gatti.
With the orchestra have conducted their works, often in world premieres, famous composers such as Richard Strauss, Pietro Mascagni, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Paul Hindemith, Igor Stravinskij, Goffredo Petrassi, Luigi Dallapiccola, Krzysztof Penderecki and Luciano Berio.
Since the fifties, the Orchestra made numerous recordings, also for radio and television, which received major awards including, in 1990, the Grammy Award. The eightieth anniversary of the foundation receives the Fiorino d’Oro of the City of Florence.
First violins
Domenico Pierini (violino di spalla)
Ladislao Horváth (concertino con obbligo di spalla e del terzo posto)
Lorenzo Fuoco (concertino)
Gianrico Righele (concertino)
Luisa Bellitto
Luigi Cozzolino
Emilio Di Stefano
Simone Ferrari
Annalisa Garzia
Nicola Grassi
Laura Mariannelli
Leonardo Matucci
Fabio Montini
Boriana Nakeva
Anna Noferini
Angel Andrea Tavani
Second violins
Marco Zurlo (I)
Alessandro Alinari (I)
Alberto Boccacci (II)
Luigi Papagni (II)
Orietta Bacci
Laura Bologna
Mihai Chendimenu
Corinne Curtaz
Cosetta Michelagnoli
Carmela Panariello
Rossella Pieri
Giacomo Rafanelli
Sergio Rizzelli
Tommaso Vannucci
Violas
Igor Polesitzky (I)
Jörg Winkler (I)
Lia Previtali (II)
Herber Dézi (II)
Andrea Pani
Stefano Rizzelli
Flavio Flaminio
Antonio Pavani
Naomi Yanagawa
Cristiana Buralli
Donatella Ballo
Michela Bernacchi
Cellos
Patrizio Serino (I)*
Michele Tazzari (II)
Elida Pali (II)
Simão Pedro Alcoforado Barreira
Beatrice Guarducci
Anna Pegoretti
Renato Insinna
Wiktor Jasman
Sara Nanni
Double basses
Riccardo Donati (I)
Marco Martelli (I)
Renato Pegoraro (II)
Fabrizio Petrucci (II)
Stefano Cerri
Romeo Pegoraro
Nicola Domeniconi
Harp
Susanna Bertuccioli (I)
Flutes
Gregorio Tuninetti (I)
Alessia Sordini
Piccolo
Nicola Mazzanti
Oboes
Alberto Negroni (I)
Marco Salvatori (I)
Alessandro Potenza
Cor anglais
Massimiliano Salmi
Clarinets
Riccardo Crocilla (I)
Giovanni Riccucci (I)
Leonardo Cremonini
Piccolo clarinet
Paolo Pistolesi
Bassoon
Stefano Vicentini (I)
Raffaele Giannotti (I)
Gianluca Saccomani
Francesco Furlanich
Contrabassoon
Stefano Laccu
French horns
Luca Benucci (I)
Gianfranco Dini (I)
Alberto Serpente
Alberto Simonelli
Stefano Mangini
Trumpets
Andrea Dell’Ira (I)
Claudio Quintavalla (I)
Marco Crusca
Emanuele Antoniucci
Trombones
Fabiano Fiorenzani (I)
Andrea G. D’Amico
Massimo Castagnino
Bass trombone
Gabriele Malloggi
Tuba
Mario Barsotti
Timpani
Fausto Cesare Bombardieri (I)
Gregory Lecoeur (I)
Percussions
Lorenzo D’Attoma
Organizative secretary of the orchestra
Luca Mannucci
In italics members with fixed-term contract up to 12 months.