The Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie was established in 1833 as the Chemnitz City Orchestra, under the direction of Wilhelm August Mejo. Already with a distinguished history, the orchestra came to further prominence with the establishment of the opera-house in 1909. In the years before the war the orchestra appeared with some of the greatest conductors of the time and after the war worked with Rudolf Kempe, the young Klaus Tennstedt, Robert Satanovski, Gert Bahner and Gerhard Rolf Bauer. Under Dieter Gerhardt Worm, who served as chief musical director from 1975 to 1993, the orchestral complement was increased to 120, finally taking its present name in celebration of its 150th anniversary. Worm was followed by John Carewe and, in 1996, by Oleg Caetani, with each musical director adding to the breadth of orchestral repertoire and to the orchestra’s now very considerably extended activities in Chemnitz, elsewhere in Germany and abroad.