Des particuliers, des entreprises et des fondations s’engagent aux côtés de l’Auditorium-Orchestre national de Lyon en faisant un don à la Fondation philharmonique.

Following the success of a choral society, a Schola Cantorum founded with Charles Bordes in 1903 along similar lines to its sister establishment in Paris, Georges Martin Witkowski founds in 1905 the Société des Grands Concerts de Lyon, ancestor of the Orchestre national de Lyon.

In 1938, Georges Martin Witkowski led a merger with the Trigentuor, an ensemble of 30 musicians founded in 1925. The new orchestra called itself the Association philharmonique de Lyon.

In 1969, a permanent orchestra is set up in Lyon. The Société philharmonique serves as the nucleus of the new orchestra, named the Opral, for “Orchestre philharmonique Rhône-Alpes”.

In 1971, Louis Frémaux left Lyon for the United Kingdom. Serge Baudo agreed to conduct the Opral.

In 1984, on its 15th anniversary, the orchestra was awarded the label of “national orchestra”, confirming its exclusive status as a symphony orchestra and recognising its excellence and its ambassadorial role in the Rhône-Alpes region, throughout France and abroad.