for its members. During the summer, these ‘Dierentuinconcerten’ or Zoo concerts were organised in the Zoo. In the winter months, the orchestra moved to the ‘Grote Feestzaal’ (the Great Festival Hall, the predecessor of the current Queen Elisabeth Hall), which was built in 1897 to host these concerts. Under the baton of Edward Keurvels and later Flor Alpaerts, the programme featured works of composers such as Edvard Grieg, César Franck and Hector Berlioz. Flemish composers such as Waelput, Blockx, Wambach and De Mol also received special attention. In 1903, another orchestra was founded in Antwerp: the Maatschappij der Nieuwe Concerten van Antwerpen under the baton of Lodewijk Mortelmans. Guest conductors such as Gustav Mahler, Siegfried Wagner, Hans Richter, Richard Strauss and Sergei Rachmaninoff conducted this orchestra. Soloists such as Pablo de Sarasate, Jacques Thibaud, Pablo Casals and Fritz Kreisler performed under the baton of Mortelmans. Vzw De Philharmonie (1955 - 1983) The orchestras of the Koninklijke Maatschappij voor Dierkunde and of the Maatschappij der Nieuwe Concerten were disbanded after World War II. Many places of civilised entertainment were severely damaged during the war, leaving very few concert halls in the city. In the 1950s, it also proved difficult to put together occasional orchestras and find suitable stages for an orchestra. Moreover, Antwerp had only one professional orchestra, that of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Opera (Royal Flemish Opera), which had a specific role in the orchestra pit. On 12 November 1955, Gaston Ariën founded De Philharmonie as a non-profit organisation, in collaboration with Jef Maes, J.A. Zwijsen and Steven Candael. On 19 January 1956, rehearsals started. After some fifty meetings, the first concert took place on 10 December 1956 in the opera house. Finding permanent accommodation proved quite a challenge for the orchestra. The ‘Grote Feestzaal’ of the Royal Zoological Society/Koninklijke Maatschappij voor Dierkunde was the only hall in the city with a sufficiently large stage to accommodate an orchestra. It was demolished in 1958, however, to build the Queen Elisabeth Hall in the same location. That is why De Philharmonie rehearsed in various spaces throughout the city, including the Zoo’s Alpaertszaal/Alpaerts Room and the Olympia sports hall in Zuid (which was later occupied by a night club called Zillion). In 1959, the Dutchman Eduard Flipse became De Philharmonie’s first chief conductor. During the 1960s, De Philharmonie flourished. In 1960, Queen Elisabeth inaugurated the new hall that would bear her name, the