The Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova started its activity in the early 20th century, and not even the bombing of 1943, which half-destroyed the Theatre, stopped its symphonic and operatic activities.
In 1965 the Orchestra became a stable structure, with both lyrical and symphonic vocation, and since then it has continued to develop exalting the qualities of both the orchestra as a whole and of the solo parts entrusted to individual instrumentalists.
Since the 1950s, the most important conductors in the world have taken turns on the podium. Some names: Victor De Sabata, Tullio Serafin, Igor Stravinsky, Sergiu Celibidache, Claudio Abbado, Carlo Maria Giulini, Riccardo Muti. Georges Prêtre, Mstislav Rostropovič, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Peter Maag, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Myung-Whun Chung, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Oren, Antonio Pappano, Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner and many others.
There are numerous recordings, especially of opera productions recorded at the Teatro Carlo Felice, made for labels such as Deutsche-Grammophon, Decca, Sony, Tdk, Rai-Trade, Arthaus Musik, Dynamic, Bongiovanni, Denon-Nippon and BMG-Ricordi.
With a repertoire ranging from the early 18th century to contemporary music, the Orchestra is at the best levels in the Italian scene for productivity and versatility and this has allowed it to express itself in widely differentiated musical genres. Within the Orchestra, numerous groups were born, and are still working profitably, contributing, with intense activity, to the dissemination of music throughout the country.