Founded 1936 (1936) Genre Classical | Location UK | |
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Disbanded September 1939 (1939-09) Similar Adele Dixon, Robert Farnon, Nathaniel Shilkret, Dolf van der Linden, Danish National Symphon |
The BBC Television Orchestra (1936–1939) was a broadcast orchestra founded in 1936 by violinist and composer Hyam Greenbaum and led by Boris Pecker. Hyam Greenbaum's wife Sidonie Goossens was the first solo harpist with the Orchestra in that year. It was disbanded in September 1939 when the outbreak of the Second World War caused the BBC Television service to be suspended so as not to create a VHF beacon for German bombers.
The Orchestra played on the first ever programme broadcast when regular British television broadcasts commenced on 26 August 1936 to an estimated 123,000 viewers. The Orchestra also played on the opening day of BBC Television high-definition broadcast on Monday, 2 November 1936.
References
BBC Television Orchestra Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA